1. Be wary of the turns of fate,
Time accepts no excuses from one making apologies.

2. Do not rely on calm therein,
For you are in a castle, and in Hellfire.

3. Every stream leads to thirst,
And every safety calls to delusions.

4. Every living being, death is its end,
And every benefit draws one nearer to harm.

5. How many lofty noses does time humble!
Without fault, yet time and fate oppress them!

6. Say to the dim-witted minister: today
The raids of the enemy galloped in your garden.

7. O son of Abu al-Fath, a lineage inverted!
No conquest came from you, nor victory!

8. A ministry which its holder could not find,
From its ill fortune, any to share its burden.

9. In the ascendant of bad luck were you girded with its rank,
All things in the grasp of destiny!

10. What test did you not impose
Upon a body cursed or an opinion?

11. The buyer regrets the loss to him
And the cream is burnt away from the moon!

12. O you who are fruitless, no deeds to your name!
O you barren tree, no fruits to claim!

13. O prodigal of ignorance and folly! You are not reckoned
Except among the cattle and beasts!

14. O habitual harbinger of spite and vulgarity!
Who distinguishes not between oppressor and innocent!

15. O camel-like of complexion, kindling
With envy afire with embers!

16. O justice of a packed saddle, O base seated one
Filled with suspicion and filth!

17. O one who travels to lewdness, roaming the night,
With Lord of the hunt at dawn!

18. Without shame, no heeding of God,
In manner or conscience!

19. O one whose glory is dead, who sees
The sons in law of notables as a pride to boast!

20. They were originally Nabataean or Abyssinian,
No lesson for you in that, O unconsidering one!

21. O you deficient in religion, chivalry, intellect,
With a tongue that babbles nonsense!

22. O son of vileness, no veil drawn,
Your talk, O son of corrupt origin!

23. O mule of a mill, spinning therein,
The diligent traveler, eyes tightly shut!

24. In ten months you have ground them down,
So O millstone of ill omen and ruin, turn!

25. By God! You were no star, but
Only a monkey of monkeys!

26. And who is Abu al-Fath among dogs? What
Importance in days has an ignorant one?

27. Time concealed your shame from you,
Though it leaves nothing concealed today!

28. A grocer's stall walking on a horse
While a bull of marriage promenades with ink!

29. No favor is gained by one who quarrels,
No tongue makes clear any news.

30. No hand aspires to generosity,
No clarity comforts from gloom.

31. My pact with that forehead - its branches
Are filled with scattered, flowing blood!

32. My pact with that thick nape - it has
Extended to the striking place of the executioner's sword!

33. A vengeful palm has cast you into the sea,
A powerful palm has thrown you to the whale!

34. O bereavement of your little children, and their
Perplexity after that in maturity!

35. O sterility of their mother, deaf,
With death coming unawaited!

36. By God, from her loss came to them
No expectation afterward, nor comfort!

37. By God, O contemptible man! Only your foot moved
From her to Hellfire!

38. May God afflict you with abasement and not
Pasture you among those you left from your flock!

39. Night is not punished with morning,
Nor does lightning race the rain.