Quando si parte il gioco de la zara,
colui che perde si riman dolente,
repetendo le volte, e tristo impara:

  con l’altro se ne va tutta la gente;
qual va dinanzi, e qual di dietro il prende,
e qual da lato li si reca a mente:

  el non s’arresta, e questo e quello intende;
a cui porge la man, piú non fa pressa,
e cosí da la calca si difende.

   Whene'er is broken up the game of Zara,
      He who has lost remains behind despondent,
      The throws repeating, and in sadness learns;

   The people with the other all depart;
      One goes in front, and one behind doth pluck him,
      And at his side one brings himself to mind;

   He pauses not, and this and that one hears;
      They crowd no more to whom his hand he stretches,
      And from the throng he thus defends himself.