1. O heedless one, for how long will you turn away?
The caller has made his call, are you not hearing?

2. You are oblivious to what is coming,
As if the terrible news has caught you unawares.

3. We are branches whose roots have gone,
How many branches remain after they perish?

4. And crops for death that were harvested
By its hands before us from among us were crops.

5. Show fear and do good deeds,
What return is there for one who died to this world?

6. We are a journey, predecessors travelled on,
And after their tracks the rest proceed.

7. To the destined watering place is their appointment,
Where slow and swift meet.

8. Our mother, this world, is a saddle, equal before her
In loss are elderly and infant.

9. Never have we seen a mourner for her loss,
For one departed she has no tears.

10. We are all from her and she is all from us,
Neither does she satisfy, or we lie vanquished.

11. Evil is the mother who cast her children away,
By her finery! Evil is such work.

12. Not rousing them above her is their sleep,
In it till the resurrection they toss and turn.

13. She is forever harsh to us, and we toward her,
Have yearning and inclination all our days.

14. She is my night, and all people altogether,
Each has measured her - ecstasy or agony.

15. Strive, O sought one, strive with true striving,
The seeker will attain the pursued.

16. Neither mighty entourage nor impregnable fortress
Saves from His death-grip or His irresistible decree.

17. He seizes the empowered sultan, who has no power
To defend himself or the crowds around him.

18. He spares no neighbor, nor saves the far-wandering,
On distant rugged hills.

19. Do not be deluded by weak, false hopes,
In your seventies, no delays remain.

20. You have borne in your weakness the heavy burden
Of sins beyond your capacity to bear.

21. The days of your youth have passed you by
And despicable old age is upon your temples.

22. Then the period of old age led to decrepit senility,
Which is followed by swift-coming death.

23. The pasture was emptied, so what do you expect
After the pasture of your life is empty?

24. Do you see anything left but withered remnants
Scorched as the spring disappears?