1. Ask if they have seen a creature remain alive forever,
Or if they know of anyone immune from death.

2. Far from us, O Salim and son of Salim,
To escape death even if we climbed to the highest star.

3. The young man lives only as long as he is destined,
For he will inevitably meet his death which severs all hopes.

4. How strange that one like him consoles another,
When both are doomed to fade and perish.

5. Behold, we are already dead, children of death itself,
With deceased fathers, elders and youth alike.

6. The lot of the wretched among people in the distribution of ruin
Is like one who turned a rebel among his people.

7. The cup given to every misguided one to drink
Has been served by death to all who went astray.

8. The lame she-camel carries the most pious,
Bearing the loads of good and evil alike.

9. How many men of wealth now lie in barren soil,
Leaving it naked, without even a palmful.

10. Know that the world is but fragrant meadows,
While we are cattle and hope has become our herder.

11. We pluck the sleeves of its flowers with our hopes,
And water it with our treachery, endlessly roaming.

12. We are startled only by dirges, when they turn
Our keen mourners to tear us apart.

13. Though the deceased who walked upon it is buried,
Tomorrow we will all forget, grazing obliviously to our death.

14. Far from me to forget a stranger and his daughter,
Who made me love them and treat them as family.

15. They were leaders of the righteous, from whom
Even when my mind wandered, remembrance did not.

16. They were killed in the heat of the day, and revived
Through devout vigil and prayers before dawn.

17. A stranger, a stranger - and she was strangely beautiful,
In a land where I found my people and helping hands.

18. By their virtuous deeds, not favors, were they immortalized -
As long as two mourners remain, they shall endure.

19. But for me the Prophet is the perfect example,
However the world appears, this I see clear.

20. If weeping could return the departed, we would live
And none would die, remaining tearful forever.

21. But some of us advance, and some follow behind,
Each destined to meet the fate written for him.

22. Inevitably we shall find ourselves tomorrow
In a place of meeting, may God make it pleasant.

23. The new moon of Cancer watered their twin graves,
While I lamented, my companionship severed.

24. By God's mercy they were comforted,
To the highest places in eternity they ascended.

25. May the Lord of the Throne bless them,
And grant them the finest companionship in the hereafter.