1. He is righteousness in a sea, even if the land is still,
When he brought good, he did not lack for evil.

2. How could this world bestow a favor upon me
When my soul was saddened by it, evils multiplied over joys.

3. The companion of life meets what he dislikes,
Even if it were only locusts and grit.

4. Its reversals have encompassed the grown and the young,
The child of the land, the old man, the slave and the free man.

5. When a soul is joined to the body, it and
Its corpse suffer hardships and harm.

6. Joy appeared from a wedding feast, but did he not know
What evil deeds he chose and what he dragged along?

7. Father of mankind, Adam, strove to harm
Offspring that in his loins were like motes.

8. People have followed the path of their father;
His sons were deluded in life as he was deluded.

9. The ignorant say, "Khidhr lives," may well-being
Be upon them! A fine night of tribulations has become verdant!

10. Had they told the truth, they would not have escaped from evil circumstances
In which they suffer travel, disheveled and covered in dust.

11. But he who told them the news was making it up,
And, like a dam, he gathered and fabricated it.

12. A speaker obtained wealth by lying;
One whose need drives him to it may be excused.

13. Take now to what we are in and leave
Tomorrow, for it has not come, and yesterday, for it has passed.

14. None but I knows if what I have tasted
Was sweet or bitter when it passed my mouth.

15. It is the nature of man to be ungrateful, and an ignorant man
Attempts kindness with one who has eaten grit.

16. I am amazed by this sun: our day passes,
When it sets, until it rises again.

17. It has a watcher who does not know how many times it has circled around,
Nor how many motes since the King said to it, "Circle!"

18. And our hours race on to an extent,
Your revolutions galloping, not equipped with housing.

19. Pleasure belongs to someone, and made subservient
To him is the expanse of the whale, that he may seek pearls.

20. Except me, who herds the sheep and drives them
And, in earnest, not by effort, I milk the pearls.

21. And who is he who will put on the garment of his permanence,
Pure white, which no speck has soiled?