1. How much clamoring over the ruins
And our lifetimes are so brief

2. We wish for what cannot be attained
Of permanence, which is impossible

3. Our lives persist in decay
Yet our hope is everlasting

4. If it were said you shall remain forever
Not a wick would be added to our limit

5. No power, no power O boy
Patience with us is goodly

6. As if the pigeons had strayed
Their caller summons to depart

7. And disease permeates our bodies
While the healthy among us falls ill

8. And whoever cares for you
Can only weep for your sake

9. And where is Noah and where is Shem
How many a generation follows a generation

10. And how many Ezra are well respected
Who have become humbled by mortality

11. O heart consumed with greed
How much you plunge into peril

12. And how often you fall on hard times
Yet the pious and generous prevail

13. And their end is beautiful
What is past does not return, farewell

14. And your breeze has no substitute
So stand devoted before your Lord

15. For the matter, my lord, is momentous
Are we awake or sleeping?

16. Or has our thought become barren
And if we doubt this speech

17. We need the sun as evidence
Glory to the Originator of mankind

18. So excellent is the Sustainer, the Sponsor
Blind of vision so does not perceive

19. Nor digress to interpretations
And best is an ending

20. That mentions the noble Prophet
The prayers of my Lord and peace