1. O you who are surprised at my premature grayness
The vicissitudes of time make every scholar gray

2. I did not gray from old age or from distress
But from prolonged grief and loss of a beloved

3. And from the decline of virtues
And the injustice of events and calamities

4. And from time wantonly destroying all that was built
By me, heaping on me every strange thing

5. Until it was as if my wisdom and courtesy
Were sins in the eyes of time

6. No era lasts that does not punish an ignorant one
And inflict harm on every sensible person