Alas! This rolling tumbleweed

Living alone in this world – Oh why? Oh why?

Long have I left my roots and gone

Resting never, day nor night

From east to west, from south to north.

A whirlwind rises, blowing me

into the clouds, where I thought

was the ends of Heaven

But all of a sudden –

I fall

deep into an abyss.

I am carried out by a rapid gust.

If only it were to take me back to the fields!

Southwards I am bound, but it takes me north;

Supposing it blows to the east, it turns to the west.

Straying, drifting, with nothing to rely on –

“Surely I expire,â€? I say, but my life goes on

To wander through the hills and plains

Turning, tumbling, with no place to stay –

Who would understand my agony, I pray?

May I be grass growing in a forest

To burn when autumn flames rage fiercest!

Destroyed by fire – know I naught of the pain?

I’d rather that, but with my roots remain.