1. If you desire the guidance of the Imams,
Prepare yourself, for tribulations will assail you,

2. With patience of spirit and acceptance of fate, at every disaster,
And a heart that perseveres though in dire straits it remains steadfast.

3. Your tongue is guarded, your glance restrained,
Your secret concealed, though broadcast before the Lord.

4. Your remembrance obscured, your affliction masked,
Your mouth smiling, your belly empty.

5. Your heart is wounded, your commerce stalled,
Your merit buried, your specter a common topic.

6. Each night you swallow a morsel of bitterness
From fate, false brethren, though your heart acquiesces.

7. Your days are filled though you bestow no favors,
Your nights are wakeful, no dawn breaks them.

8. So seize this night before the morrow comes,
Grim day in which pretexts fail and excuses vanish.