1. The hands of fate in days and nations
Are more cutting than a sharp piercing sword

2. So let not him whose safety has been prolonged
Think that the decrees have given him the reins of peace

3. All are mortgaged to what the days bring about
And the end of everything existing is to perish

4. Whom fortune has made happy, its reversals will embroil him
It has vicissitudes for him from the elite of afflictions

5. So let not the world and its ornaments deceive you
Even if it loved you with the red of horses and bounties

6. For what is the pleasure in a life whose end
Is death that takes you from a palace to a tomb

7. O heedless one whom false fancy has played with
Fear the consequences and beware of stumbling

8. And look at the handsome one in the beauty of his form
The turns of fate from nations have come to him

9. Neither did a flashing sword that stained him
The day of battle protect him from necks and summits

10. Nor a wide-backed steed diving down
Like a diver, cutting, protect him

11. Nor the virgins of Bakr and her sisters
With whom Bakr boasted, people of courage and nobility

12. They used to ransom him with groomed horses
And wealth, family, children and in-laws

13. Alas! O Bani Wa’il, your lion has died
So weep for him with ample flowing tears and blood

14. He used to be, if an afflicting darkness befell
And the tribe’s protectors despaired, he did not worry

15. And if a time grew hard or bit with its fetus
He would give the destitute without reluctance or boredom

16. He has gone and did not know the intoxication of youth or
What hopes caprice made him deviate from reason to sin

17. Nor would he strut in the precincts of the Quarter swaggering
A frisky, prancing stallion stepping proudly

18. And his concern was not drinking wine or
Plucking the strings of lutes with tunes

19. Rather, his ambition was wealth he would distribute
To the destitute and daring against calamities

20. And he would not cease fasting voluntarily for his Creator
And standing vigil in the darkness of night

21. So O Abu Ja’far, you have continually been in a state
Of calm; do not agonize for his fate is not blamed

22. And O Abu Hassan, patience, for every youth
Will depart, and a person's life is like a dream

23. And death, every person will inevitably taste it
Whether lifespan shortened or led to old age

24. Where are the kings and the followers of kings and who
Ruled over the tribes, the ‘Aad and the Iram?

25. And where are Tasm and the sons of lizards from
The sons of donkeys and the masters from insects?

26. And where are the clan of Mudhadh among their tribes
From Jurhum dwelling luxuriously in the sanctuary?

27. It made them perish and passed around the overflowing cup
In Waa’il and made them drink what they did not deserve

28. It felled the son of Murrah fallen in battles and he had
The leadership from his ancient fathers

29. And he who warded harm, fate enabled it
To reach him, deliberately, not missing

30. And Al-Hawfazaan whom Bakr used to boast of
Fate made him drink from cups of afflictions

31. And the horseman of purebred Arabs, if
Bastam were mentioned, it would stretch to him a withered palm

32. So his rule was usurped by force and dethroned,
Throwing him to the ground, his cheek and tradition violated

33. And he encountered the elephants on the Day of Qadisiyyah, then
Destiny made him drink the cup of returning by coercion forcefully

34. And caused Shabeeb in his prime youth
To taste the cup of variegated swords without sword or sickness

35. And their swelling deluged the Muzainah
And an unleashed torrent from its copious valley flooded them

36. And it did not spare Haani’ who was
The one the nomads took vengeance through and prevailed over the non-Arabs

37. And Al-Haarith ibn ‘Ubaad, Sacat
Felled him, the horseman slitting necks with swords

38. And Al-Haarith ibn Sadaus, his sons did not
Ransom him and did not bother themselves for him

39. And Al-Ja’da did not save Maslamah
His father had built which had enclosures

40. And Hawtha ibn ‘Ali, he dethroned violently
Tearing the crown off his head deliberately without dignity

41. And the Shaykh of ‘Ijl did not give Abu Ma’dan
Any respite, so no blood money was asked for him from them

42. And the horseman of Arabs and their chief
I mean Kulayb, butcher of Arabs and non-Arabs

43. Numbers did not protect him, nor
Did the death blow that came from Bani Jusham repel

44. And ‘Adi had no protection after him
Who was ‘Adi? Which protector?

45. And the family of Kulthum, chiefs of yard-long arrows
It did not spare any protection or sanctuary for them

46. Those are the noble ones from the chiefs of your two tribes
The people of forbearance, ardency, covenant and protection

47. And such are the traits of the world and its habit
Regarding those who passed and all the rest of nations