1. Budding amidst roses since his days of youth
May Allah suffice him among roses though he stumbles

2. He aimed the arrow at the breast of youth
And shot it into its most precious margins

3. With a hand that knows not evil nor
Was it made except to play with pure wine

4. It was outstretched to poison and rope but was not
Outstretched to a goblet or lute

5. May Allah forgive him what harmed him
Even if he had fulfilled the pleasure of a fleeting life

6. He did not enjoy the days of his youth
Or its nights, neither beginning nor end

7. The old man wishes from him an hour
Behind a veil of hearing or the light of sight

8. There is nothing in Paradise that resembles it
Neither its lightness of shade nor perfume of palace

9. For the eternity of youth is abundant and lasting
While the youth of the world is rare and brief

10. Each day tells of an event
He grew weary of life and whoever grows weary leaves

11. He rid himself of the world after having
Wooed it, gifted it, and paid its dowry

12. His soul parted from it on its wedding day
May Allah have mercy on the blossoming bride

13. Life became too narrow so he rushed
From the cliff of despair and the evil descent

14. Traveling the lifetimes of wishes
Going the terms of blossoms

15. Fleeing from the field of life though he
Had not reached its deep end or deceits

16. I see the days only as battlefields
And the armor in them for whoever is patient

17. Many weak-spirited in them were routed
Died of cowardice and caused caution

18. People blamed him though they did not wrong him
And few forgave or offered excuse

19. But your shroud has given you ample excuse
Cast into the grave, carried to your sleep

20. Some said: “A stroke of fate,”
Though long ago people wronged fate

21. Others say: “Rather, it was madness,”
Yet I see reason rarely among people

22. Some say: “Indifference overtook him”
From a father whose heart was harder than stone

23. And a test made severe by the harshness
Of a teacher, ignorant though excelling

24. I see only a corrupt system
That undid the boy and destroyed the family

25. Among its victims—and how many—
That life-hating in the prime of youth

26. He saw in life nothing that pleased him
And the lightest life is what is disliked and delightful

27. He came down into life only to find
The region of worries and wilderness of thought

28. And days that hold no fortune
Nights that have no conversation

29. Lessons whose harvest no scholar,
However excellent, can pick while teaching

30. Indeed, scarcity wears him down
An appearance of sickness and abasement

31. And he faces hostility from the arrogant ones
Of envy and vileness among the kin

32. Brothers not joined by womb
Some of them walk to poison the others

33. The angel of love did not flutter upon
Their parents or bless the crops

34. Allah created love for mankind
And built kingdom upon it and peopled it

35. Goodness grew slowly—you murdered
The soul in youth, misguided and lost

36. Had you disobeyed the lying despair
Youth does not immolate the weary soul

37. You harbor despair of life yet know not
Of the events of life or what they offer

38. Why do you wrong your fathers
With the pains of bereavement in old age?

39. And disobey a land that remained
Between caring for you and caution

40. For the kingdom to lose its youth
Is like the land losing its fresh crops

41. None among you knows what
Could be granted if he had patience and waited

42. How many a child has misery released
Who, as a young man, met with rain of bounty

43. And an infant whom the world has armed
Grew between might in it and danger

44. And a noble whose father did not disgrace—
Who is the sun’s father? Who is the moon’s ancestor?

45. A revolving heaven and a world that did not last—
Neither fortune nor misfortune in it enduring

46. Delight your heart with the joys of youth
For grey hair is sphere enough for gloom

47. Seek wisdom and heal with it
And chant what was lost of it in verse

48. And read the manners of those before you
Perhaps the living taught one who passed

49. And make use of what Allah has subjected for you
Of beauty in meanings and forms

50. And seek knowledge for its own sake, not
For credentials and others’ approbation

51. How many indolent boys in their lessons
Became oceans of knowledge, the age’s professor!

52. And excellent ones among them became indolent—
None among the absent or the present

53. Killing the soul, even if it belonged to him
Would offend Allah and not satisfy people

54. The field of life belongs to Allah who
Made roses with His leave, and breasts

55. The soul dies only by His name
He decreed death upon it and conquered

56. He allows the spirit to the young man
In the moment of fear when the throng quarrels

57. For then there is reward and pride together—
Who lives is praised; who dies, rewarded