1. Do not trust time, for time is treacherous
It gives but the gifts of time are privation

2. Think not the eyes of time are sleeping
Time is awake while man is nodding

3. Reckon not that death is heedless of you
It has its sights on you, though you see it not

4. Weep not for an old man hidden in dust
In the earth are many of God's prophets and men

5. Where are the kings and their followers?
In glory or where are Jonah and lizard?

6. Did death honor the noble for their nobility?
Or did a sultan escape it with wealth?

7. How many kings has the caprice of time cast down
Till they woke in the dust, settled there

8. They had a kingdom, glory, and grandeur
But after that glory, it was as if they never were

9. And how many a mighty prince has had
No power over his body, after that grandeur

10. Death lays low every son of woman
Elders and youths are equal in its grasp

11. Those nights - if they are gentle, still
In their kindness to a man are sorrows

12. The deluded youth longs for their help
But their aid to a man is desertion

13. He thinks consorting with them is profit
Not knowing that profit is loss

14. Nothing stays forever in one state
Time and eras run their course

15. The sun is eclipsed, the stars revolve
The moon must wax and wane

16. Time brings anguish, days travel on
Galloping with their rider, and life is an arena

17. To God belongs the kingdom, rule is not shared
And God has no helpers in His judgements

18. Death is truth, though not every youth
Weeps for him when loss makes itself known

19. A man of widespread virtues does not die
Like one who has no merit or renown

20. Sciences die with the death of those who know them
And their death is a sign of the ruin of the abode

21. Restrain the steeds a while, for after them
People are not people, and countries not countries

22. And you, O Time, do what you will, for indeed
The pillars of knowledge are demolished

23. Daily we see the people of virtue
Declining in number, and fools proliferating

24. He who was master of every science is dead
With his expansive knowledge, care, and perfection

25. The caliph, garden of virtue -
How many branches it yielded to students!

26. O you who seek its reach, do not overstep
The lame do not compete with racers

27. If I weep long for him or bewail him
That is the venting permitted to one of worth

28. My patience was resolute, driving me to attain it
While his tears upon it flowed unrestrained

29. Give him good tidings and pardon one who memorializes him
For the caliph has departed to where all must go

30. O Lord, bestow on him mercy from You
For You, O Lord, are Forgiving and Merciful

31. And permit that prayers be offered for him
By whom You ennobled the tribes of Adnan and Qahtan