1-8 Say to my lord, and repeat to my kid of the mountains, with beautiful horns; to my horse of the mountains, with an eagle's claws; my date-palm, growing on untouched ground and with fresh dates hanging from it: this is what the captain of pledged troops (2 mss. have instead: soldiers), Aba-indasa -- who, by means of prayers for his king, greatly pleases his king's heart -- your servant, says:

9-10 You are mighty, my lord; I will follow you (1 ms. has instead: let me be your soldier)! Let me be the courier of your business (1 ms. has instead: I will stand before him attentively)!

11-13 When a boat is available, I will steer with the rudder; when water is available (1 ms. has instead: when a father is available), I will plunge in; (2 mss. add: when a son is available, I will thresh;) (1 ms. adds: ...... I will make ...... shiny;) when wind is available, I will winnow (1 ms. has instead: I will ......).

14-15 I am a scribe and I write on stelae. (2 mss. add: ...... business concerning the troops.) I will ...... business which has been neglected in the assembly, when it ....... (1 ms. adds: ...... business which makes good ...... equal.)

16-19 But like a tree planted in riverine thickets, I am bowed down in dirt. They have bound a rope around my hands, on my chair where they have tied me. In my city, where I would wear clean clothes, I am clothed instead in mourning dress. When I wash away clods of soil, dust still gets into my eyes.

20-23 Dogs devour corpses, lifting their chests. When dragons kill, what is left from their mouths is put aside. Fire consumes reed-beds even though they have waterways. The sun, which eats butter, which eats cream, nevertheless touches the table of the poor. (1 ms. adds: Grant me my life and hold my hands! I am a son of a widow, and I have no one to take care of me.)

24 As for me, when will the heart of Culgi, my lord, be restored to me? (1 ms. adds: May my lord attend to me and restore me to my mother.)