1. Man fears things that can do him no harm,
And hopes for things, though death is a certainty.

2. Wealth and loved ones are but loans to man,
Loans which one day must be repaid.

3. So man's wishes will not be fulfilled,
They are like mirages haunting the sleeper.

4. Yet in abandoning some ambitions there is comfort,
While many ambitions, Lord, end in grief.

5. Old age and Islam refused to let me follow desire,
Old age and Islam curb mankind.