1. They saw the racetrack, people of the time
And strived like steeds of stakes

2. But few of them raced to it
As did the heroes of spears

3. Some took rank of virtues
Easily, and some by tongue

4. If words established repute
Then every soul would be of stature

5. Today, the critics are gone
We saw rubbish in front of daggers

6. They look not at words
Rather, they look at so-and-so

7. Men of time are like time, passing
With the first replaced by the next

8. No era is without men
Nor do men perish from eras

9. Poetry met misfortune of Jesus' clan
Giving them a share in meanings

10. If they drank not of people's vessels
Then thirst is quenched by dew of vines

11. In Beirut is a branch not called
Branch of date palm, but of eloquence

12. If given growth, in little time
We see it a palm giving freely

13. A brave lad came with ode
Humiliating cloak of the coward elder

14. He composed eulogy for me, which I'm not from
As if he were a defiant adversary

15. A lad with heart of an elder in chest
And in cloak, branch of basil

16. We saw in his hand lines racing
Scripts of odes and of excuses

17. If etiquette was not with disposition
Then it is neither of era nor place

18. If the tutor gave excess knowledge
He gives not skill in gardens

19. Nor does the generous father give nobility
If your soul threw itself into disgrace

20.
So be of the company of Bedouin, cultivated