1. Is time anything but this day and its counterpart?
Each returns to time its caprice.

2. It revolves, so from which sides did you ambush it
And follow it, start with it, and limit it?

3. There is no good in a day passing the youth
If he does not obtain in it praise renewing him.

4. So the life of a person is nothing but a testimony
To the favor of his Master, so His glory appears.

5. If he does not choose the glorification of his Lord,
Then God has chosen that which has anguish for him.

6. Else, his praise is a dwelling in the abode of annihilation
And in the abode of bliss is his eternity.

7. And my live self tomorrow, beyond grief, is dead.
Indeed, it has descended wherever descent took it away.

8. Whoever was of no benefit to the community,
His neglect among them is equal to his counting.

9. By your life, a person’s age is not his living,
But the right of age is a person’s praise.

10. So hardship with which one spent the night lacking
Nothing can retain what it cannot miss.

11. His gratitude makes him self-sufficient against plentiful living
And plentiful living does not make him self-sufficient against praise.

12. Thus the sword is nonexistent though its blade is gone
And it is not nonexistent though its sheath is gone.

13. Praise is nothing but earnestness, so it is behind it
And earnestness is nothing but striving, so it accompanies it.

14. Is the value of a person other than his deeds?
And is his worth other than his endeavor and striving?

15. If not for the person's preoccupation, his mention would not have spread.
And if not for the burning of wood, its crackling would not be lost.

16. So dyeing with your palm is more beautiful than rouge,
And lining with your eyelid is better than kohl.

17. And death of your soul is more righteous than disgrace
If you are one whose abode honor frequents.

18. So let that be the life I see
Otherwise, how gently suicide meets its sharpness!

19. I love many people with it, yet
I only love of the days what it does not love.

20. The Master has recently preferred with His blessings,
So it is no wonder that Muhammad His servant be felicitous.

21. He is the full moon, but the sublime traits are His sky,
He is the star, but virtue is His luck.

22. He is the lion, but praise is His forest,
He is the sword, but noble deeds are its sheath.

23. He is the sea safe from all blemishes - its ebb,
But its flow is toward all perfections.

24. Encompassing the parts of knowledge altogether,
So with whichever knowledge you come, its flint strikes light.

25. A renewing soul who has set out amidst its squabble
And a clarifying command whose guidance has risen today.

26. A wise one whom only jewels distract
That will be, beyond them, asceticism tomorrow.

27. The sultanate of speech altogether has shaded him,
So its symbols are pens and books, his troops.

28. He has a pen that routs every obstinate one -
It rages against the customary, so it leads him.

29. In the race of glorious deeds, he has remarkable feats
Below which the nimble player kneeled.

30. His rising toward every praiseworthy thing,
And his turning from all that hurts dignity.

31. My days of blossoming in rhetoric seek his aid,
So in my praising him, I draw from him.

32. Egypt boasts that you are its son,
And this age prides that you are its own.

33. Refined poetry sounds melodious with you
And precise thinking does good composition with you.

34. The ink of a person extinguishes with your praise
Even if the encircling sea supplies it.

35. And your like has manifested excellence
With the seasons, renewing covenant with the sublime.

36. So daybreak congratulated you and continues
Returning upon you, always happy, cooling for you.

37. Upon you, the Master rains His greetings
And in your blazing heart descends their coolness.