1. Do you resent what perplexes you of my nature?
And deny what alarms you of my words?

2. It is not my fault if the imperfect are blinded
To perfection.

3. There is in me nothing but your ignorance of obscurity,
And nothing in you but my knowledge of misguidance.

4. The noblest people have the most enemies -
The people of this world are the most tiring of companions.

5. A well-mannered man cannot avoid
The frigidity of his clan and the aloofness of his family.

6. I make enemies through friendliness from some people,
And I am exhausted by generosity from some men.

7. It is enough evil for a man that you see him,
Far from affection, intimate with ropes.

8. I trusted the people of this era so they betrayed me
With a chronic treachery.

9. I sought their remedy but I was spurned by them
With what makes the doctor despair of quacks.

10. Whoever accompanies the people of this world will find them
Disloyal, even if he accompanies the secure they are like thiefs.

11. I endured hardships with the patience of a freeman
Whereby composure turns from boredom.

12. So I did not act ignorantly towards an ignorant creation,
Nor panic at the events of nights.

13. Moral character, if great, is evidence
Of the greatness of status and majesty.

14. If it were not for the lofty stand of the soul
The high objectives would not be set for it.

15. Turn away from baseness and avoid it
And prefer nothing but the nobility of deed.

16. And your soul, if you are free, do not follow
Fleeting position and despicable money.

17. Woe to you! Life is vanishing
And the living are forewarning of departure.

18. Naught remains of the vicissitudes of fate
Save the remnants of mention for past nations.

19. When will you choose the life of evil and so
Its crimes stick to your bones?

20. Contemplate the aspects of fate and look,
Stop between fact and imagination,

21. And ask about what makes you doubtful of mysteries -
Its inspiration will answer before asking.

22. If your comprehension is suspicious then accuse it
Of inadequacy in discernment and disorder.

23. What is hidden from the knowledgeable is not right
Nor does light need an example.

24. But the facts have taken refuge
In an inaccessible, difficult summit.

25. It spurns the hands of the archer, my words,
And splits the skull of the tall man.

26. A group have taken up its affairs and so are demolished,
And they do not attain the glory of hills.

27. The realities of things disappear while the ignorant
Clamor over them and the unjust judge.

28. Suffering death in an era of misguidance
And complaining of intractable people.

29. I am wary due to its concerns while fate is safe,
And the comfort of life casts its shadows.

30. It is as if its spears tear my heart
With the sharpest arrows.

31. If its ships return thirsty
I am angry at the fresh water for it.

32. And if it finds scarcity and obstacles
I block off speech from life, blocking speech.

33. I have cast off my youth and donned old age
And I asked fate about state after state.

34. So I found love only forewarning
Announcing decay in the realms.

35. The nation preserves its pillars and so remains,
And nothing remains with prolonged degradation.

36. And if hearts incline to conflict
Then the strength of nations is towards collapse.

37. The people fight each other in a country all together
And everyone indulges in talk and arguments.

38. So between doctrines there is no concord
Nor between hearts affection and connection.

39. The people, even if they seek life, have nothing
But a death titled occupation.

40. I see in Egypt a people who do not know
Whether they are in peace or war.

41. Arrows tear them but they do not see them
And swords seize them but they are not troubled.

42. It was burdened when I raised my voice to it
And the mountains were light for it.

43. If not for God and expected resurrection
I would have washed my hands of the crescent nations.

44. I looked but did not find anything for the people
Other than ruins, abandoned homes,

45. While others rolled up their sleeves, built, and elevated,
And struggled with the right and the left.

46. It ascended with resolve reviving ambitions
And it crossed the star with firm stride.

47. And it settled where Sirius lodges
While its place had been under shoes.

48. So that is my complaint and the torment of my soul,
The burning of my sides, and the wretchedness of my mind.

49. Some people of literary refinement are comforted
While I stay up as their resting-place turns away from me.

50. No liver for prolonged passion, but preoccupied,
No heart for the fire of ardour but distracted.

51. I am no burdened remover if good company wakes,
Nor am I a low outcast if asked for friendship.

52. I made the trusteeship of literary refinement my work
And it was a nation without a guardian.

53. It is as if when I placed my hand upon it
I placed my hand on some of the dependents.

54. I carried its worries and was loaded with burdens,
Heavy, picked up from it,

55. And I was not stingy to one who endangered it
Even if it was stingy with occasional bestowal.

56. If you mention the poets in a discussion
Then do not bother with the exaggerators’ misleading.

57. Only mention a small group—
Even if they exceeded the number of sands.