1. I am of the progeny of Eve, burdened
On this vast earth, reveling or suffering.

2. We exhausted the beasts that walk the land,
Then turned to plunder the depths of seas,

3. Unsatisfied with all we could ensnare,
Some dared consume its swimming life.

4. Seeking pearls in their dwelling places—
Perhaps a handful could suffice our greed.

5. With verdant wood they built great ships
To ride the waves and all defy.

6. The birds in numbers, weak and strong,
Even eagles, sharp of talon, could not fly

7. Beyond their guile. Their sly ways gained them
No good. Ruin meets all treachery.

8. Superficial semblance belies the essence
Like uninvited guests who proved untrue.

9. Worldly delights resemble verses in a poem
Without the rhyme that binds and gives it form.

10. No intimate fulfilled his lover with fidelity,
No friend fulfilled his counterpart and norm.

11. Our motherland, though we reproach and blame,
Is lashed by a harsh tongue's vicious scorn.

12. Who can bear beauties here imported,
Though it gleams and glitters like the morn?

13. The soul seeks a cure to heal its condition,
But shuns the Lord who can transform and heal.

14. It settled in a home, believing it a lasting refuge,
While the home's owner sought it to evict.

15. Our hopes in wealth were lofty establishments,
Our dreams in frivolous winds mere blowing dust.

16. These dusty bodies of ours will surely turn
To motes of dust when death arrives to sift.

17. O progeny of Adam, your drowning souls
Did not empower you to know and see.

18. You crossed the seas pursuing worldly needs
But never journeyed inwardly to find the peace.

19. Your tools exceeded you when ceased your labor,
Companions ruin what companionship can be.

20. The soul cannot be turned from self-obsession.
Furnaces must refine it to be free.

21. The noble soul will strip itself of all,
Embracing the bare desert ardently.

22. A traveler with his camel journeyed on,
You voyaged to your destinations faithfully.

23. But none can please all tastes, as his detractors
Find fault in all his deeds, or in their deficiency.

24. When ravaged by time, this life cannot be mended,
My brother's talents here are nullified.

25. Death is the malady from which none recover,
No hopes exist that God will be its remedy.

26. Death's rider is no better than its walker,
The rich may die just like the poor who begged.