A yellow leaf beats against its stem
Before a storm:
A poor heart trembles
Before misfortune.

What does it matter if the wind
My lonely leaf
Whisks away, whisks away, whisks away, far away;
Will the abandoned branch
Regret the loss;

Why should a young man grieve
If fate rules that he should be
Extinguished, extinguished, extinguished in a foreign land?
Will the beautiful maiden
Regret the loss?

Translation by Katie Clayton