1. Who is he who has found rest for his thoughts
In his life, in hardship or in ease?

2. The wealthy man finds, to keep what he gathered,
Many times what the poor man finds in his poverty.

3. So this one remains discontent in his stinginess,
And this one remains fearful in his riches.

4. Jinn are to humans as destiny's rule
Makes sweet or bitter for them.

5. So if an ascetic comes to snatch an instant,
The shooting star comes with its burning and rebuke.

6. An honest prophet remains forever called a liar,
Pelted with the falsehood and sorcery of their words.

7. The scholar issuing legal opinions remains disputed
By problematic cases in gatherings where he is mentioned.

8. So woe if the tongue slips and none
Is seen to help establish his excuse.

9. Do you not see the mighty king with his armies
Held hostage to worries despite his glorious might?

10. Good news delights him, but on its heels
comes news that squeezes his palace walls.

11. The sultan's supporters are people of fears,
Though he controls them utterly by his might and coercion.

12. So sometimes he trips and cannot match
What his claws had seized in the first place.

13. The devotee's lifetime is worried;
He wants release from the fears of his grave.

14. The trader wanders anxious and thoughtful
Of what he faces in the loss of his goods' value.

15. The father of a household owns its worries, while
A childless man's regret nests in his breast.

16. And every companion envies his companion,
In wealth or poverty, with hidden spite and hatred.

17. And perhaps one who longs for restful sleep
Sees disturbing dreams that addle his mind.

18. The child emerges from its mother's womb
To screams of weaning that terrify its infancy.

19. The wild creature meets harm out on the range,
While the whale meets its end in the sea.

20. Perhaps predators will come to a corpse
And drag it from the depths of its grave.

21. I envied birds in their nests
But found among them what earns them trouble at dawn.

22. How to enjoy life in an existence
That remains fearful and oppressed?

23. By God, if a lad lived with his family
A thousand years with his affairs under control,

24. Delighting with them in every delight,
At ease with life the span of his days,

25. No loss affecting his fortunes
Or worries occupying his thoughts,

26. All that would not suffice
To counter one night spent lying in his grave!

27. My brother, how does one escape what you see?
Patience with the sweet and bitter in destiny!