1. With your alluring eyes I believed in magic,
Is there any infidelity after the faith of youth?

2. So do not depend on estrangement to kill a lover,
For deaths do not exceed estrangement.

3. If it were not for you, desire would not have shackled my tears,
Nor would the embers of passions have flared up in my chest.

4. And I am patient with what you have done,
Knowing that triumph is the fruit of patience.

5. If only he who gave advice of blame in love,
Saw good omens or spoke of news.

6. He saw me unconscious and thought ill of me,
And thinking badly is the cause of sin.

7. What is it to him while he is devoid of passion,
If I yearned with longing or recited poetry?

8. If I am obsessed then even the forbearing
Sometimes yield to desire and love is a spell of magic.

9. And which man can restrain an outburst
When it flares up and catches fire on burning coal?

10. On the condition that I have not slipped in love
To embarrass you if mentioned in gatherings.

11. Rather I roamed in the world of youth
And returned without being attached to any disgrace.

12. It is the disposition of a soul that chose what pleases it
And people have morals according to it.

13. I controlled my hands from all evil and my words
So I lived with a pure soul without blemish of excuse.

14. I thought well of a friend and perhaps
I met my enemy cheerfully and with glad tidings.

15. So I became well-known for my manners, beloved
To people, pleasing, chaste, and aloof.

16. I am not wanted by a musical ensemble
Nor am I obsessed with tunes on a string.

17. I was content with the life even if I were wealthy
With the chastity of a soul that does not incline to affluence.

18. And I was sincere to the Merciful in my intentions
So He dealt with me gently from where I knew not.

19. If God wills good for His servant,
He guides him with the light of facility in the darkness of hardship.

20. So O Ibn Abi, people are the sons of one,
Take on my morals for they are the pearl of thought.

21. If you want to live happily then do not be
Harsh nor repel the hand of gentleness with force.

22. Do not scorn one in need for perhaps
You will meet him as a bold one who shows kindness to the wealthy.

23. Many a poor man may fill the heart with wisdom
While many a wealthy man does not feather nor hatch.

24. Be moderate, neither leaning towards recklessness
Nor content, seeking favor through belittlement.

25. The best of a young man’s morals are what equalized,
At a position between humility and pride.

26. Do not admit to humiliation in seeking wealth,
For wealth with humiliation is worse than poverty.

27. And beware of surrendering to the unseen before
You see evidence that clarifies the ambiguous matter.

28. And be cautious of the affection of those whose love and hatred you desire,
And be of those whose hearts are alert.

29. For the intimate friend may betray due to a whim
And pleasure comes after enmity and evil.

30. And among people there are those you meet in the guise of a devout worshipper
Yet in their intestines lies a scorpion that creeps.

31. If an opportunity enables them, their nature—that grew
On treason—takes them to evil.

32. Nor should you think forbearance prevents its people
From harm occurring, for water and fire are from a stone.

33. So these are my morals, retain them and you will obtain
What you wished for in attaining fortune in life.

34. I am one who experienced my fate and it
Increased me in wisdom to be patient with the sweet and the bitter.

35. I reached fifty years of age and gained seven more
With which I walk in the footsteps of Al-Khidr.

36. How then do you see me today fearing misguidance
While my white hair is a lantern by whose light I walk?

37. I say by nature I no longer need
After it the frequented spring or the rugged path.

38. In my soul, if I intended, lies a lamp and volume
That gives light, and that makes one recoil.

39. If my disposition overflows, my words pour with pearls
And it is no wonder for pearls originate from the sea.

40. Contemplate my words if you do not know my successor
In order to know me, for the sword is known by its strike.

41. Do not wonder at my words if all the land
Is perfumed by it, for it is the basil of the age.

42. After death, he who did not meet me will remember me in poetry
For the memory of a youth after death is from lives.