1. If you have no skill in criticizing men,
Then look to death and see how death criticizes.

2. It goes around the earth, seeking out people,
The best of a tribe, and is not pleased with what it finds.

3. A mighty hunter, it wants the noble falcon,
Boasting of it, but if it does not find it, a sparrow will satisfy it.

4. When it unsheathes its sword, the head is its target,
And when it shoots an arrow, it aims for the liver.

5. O awe-inspiring king, it makes a mockery of him!
This is the king it ridicules when he comes.

6. O lion, oppressor in his power
Over the beasts of waste―this is the lion!

7. O hero complaining of weapons, do you see
Where are the weapons, and what prevents the coat of mail?

8. Your promises have betrayed what you hoped for from an army
When death comes one day, the armies die.

9. Every child of woman since his creation
Has been prey amidst the hands of trembling death.

10. O you who say "Tomorrow!" Leave off talk of tomorrow,
For man has no tomorrow in this time.

11. For death, every father who walked the dust
And every mother who bore children and gave birth.

12. We were created from dust, to dust is our return
Like water that goes back to the hail.

13. We enjoy plump bodies that we pamper,
While worms thank us for what we store up.

14. There is a funeral in the land of the dead
And a gathering call in the land of the grave.

15. Fate drops a tear from every eye that flows
And a burning coal that flames in every heart.

16. When will you count the unharmed? Then set
A counter on your rosary until the number comes.

17. I commend to God whoever yesterday bade me farewell,
Though against my will―patience and steadfastness have left my heart.

18. He kept us company for ages and comforted us,
Why has he now parted from us today?

19. Death competed with us out of envy for his person
And misery, until even death was envious.

20. It tyrannizes us without restraint or support,
And from us neither palms nor arms are useful.

21. A full moon has disappeared in the east―strangely―
And people saw in it other than what they were used to.

22. If the horizons had pitied it, they would not have risen
In grief over it, and sadness would have covered its horizons.

23. O blessed resting place, was he who occupies you
Embraced or did the country know him?

24. May God honor you with a guest you have obtained,
For guest and host have always honored each other when they arrive.

25. Recognize the eminence of one whose station
The elite of mankind and pillars have acknowledged.

26. Take care of every bone among his joints
For that is believed to be the noblest relic.

27. O you made drunk without wine being your habit,
From whose drunkenness none awakens!

28. I see you near me, not keeping your distance,
Yet you are further than anyone in the world who distances himself.

29. You have no awakening on the Day of Assembly,
Oh woe! What absence whose appointment is endless!

30. Why do your eyes not cease to remain shut
Their eyelids, while mine have no rheum?

31. This is the last glance we bid him farewell with―
So, do we lack conversation from you to ask about?

32. Will you return our greetings from afar
And will messages for us come back?

33. You ascended, O Most High, to a sphere
Whose furthest range from you is beyond sighting.

34. You are the stranger―and who do I have
That there should be strangenesses in elegy for us?

35. The gusts of wind blew over your grave, weeping,
As if grief and sadness had stripped them naked.

36. This is the lasting residence, its supplies
Are provisions―not money or children.