1. Leave laziness and free yourself of blame and shackles
Saddle your camel and journey on as an exile

2. And disobey the soul that desired
To reside in the abode of humiliation, blame and disgrace

3. Why do you stay in a house where
The wicked are honored and the virtuous are disgraced?

4. A house where the noble suffers harm
While the ignoble dwells in glory and eminence

5. How can the youth resign himself to degradation
When God has ordained sustenance and taken responsibility?

6. So if one suffers harm in his homeland
Let him leave and find another home

7. And if exile spares me its harm though I'm a stranger
Blessed is a homeland if I settle there

8. O how blessed are the leaves of the barren tree in loftiness
And how wretched are its favors in humiliation and paucity

9. Leave me be, let my journey and purpose be mine
And tend to your own affairs and find something to busy you

10. The home is just a home, and I can replace my neighbors
And find pastureland and camels instead of barrenness

11. If my critic says "shame," I say "no"
And if he calls it homeland, I say "it is not"

12. I will leave this land full of regrets
Prostrating humbly on its soil, blaming and criticizing,

13. Until I find a home where I will be
An honored leader, with pure and unblemished dignity

14. For man accomplishes nothing worthy
Unless he toils against his soul's desires

15. Man has only two roles in his time:
Either a shepherd of camels or a tender of sheep

16. And know that you are paired with and related
To a like-minded friend, be they noble or base

17. So choose for yourself which of the two
Will be your pair, and the best advice is that which is accepted

18. The best provision a man can store up
Is fear of God, and the best words are those put into action

19. For if a man lacks insight and discipline
It's no surprise if he rides the days ignorantly