1. The innate nature with which
The hearts and minds of people are imbued does battle;

2. And it continues looking to see what benefits it has wrought,
Like the sun obscured by clouds, yet its light shines through.

3. Until when war arrives, they realize
That all they had done was utter ignorance.

4. Reason, in meaning and word, is to resist;
So good is reasonable, but folly makes all forget.

5. And an evildoer's exile brings about his demise,
Like a neighbor whose tether rope is severed.

6. While staying put in one's homeland is better if ruin comes,
Like a master whose lowliness is concealed in hardship.

7. The soul is accustomed to life, so its tears
Flow in remembrance of parting with it, pouring forth.

8. No dearer thing than it, and the young man
Weeps when he mounts his steed, his intimate friend.

9. Fates cannot be held back, and they are many,
Like pouring rain, aiming its flow and surge.

10. And of soldiers, his fine horse, sword and spear
Distinguish, when clouds mass and the lightning flashes,

11. Where each bolt will strike and fall.
And I have known, so I do not grieve for what is gone,

12. That what remains of my days is lesser.
The righteous seek lawful means, but I have not found

13. In this abode except fettered, its solution little.
He sleeps, tired of survival, and wakes

14. With hope in it still, not tired of that hope.
So guard your brother, and if it becomes clear

15. That his love is weak, defective and wavering,
The scabbard shudders upon meeting the blade,

16. Yet the sword has not revealed its wicked traits.
And cold suffices you from hostile eyes,

17. While the paralyzed limb benefits in trials.
And life — the wise man knows not which is better:

18. More of it threadbare, or less but sound.
Do not mock the old man; how many a night

19. Passed with him like the full moon, his waning beautiful.
Days whose cover is torn in idleness,

20. Like an eyelid ripped in excessive play.
The worst of times is when an old companion ages

21. And his youth is the sweetest time and most precious.
Why do I not make my advice understood by listeners,

22. And refrain from dictating it, making it clearest?
Time runs its course with the rider undeterred,

23. And when a life span ends, nothing diminishes it.
Poverty is an unbroken colt climbed by its calamities,

24. While ease is a trained horse, none can mount it.
I survive a first month, then expire in it,

25. And a second comes after it, which I welcome.
I sleep on the verge of death, my heels exposed,

26. So you see even slight affairs can fell him.
People are set on a misguided path, rightly-guided,

27. And a brother leads them down the wrong way.