1. Let nobility be for the helpless coward,
And cease any glimmering spoils you've acquired,

2. And be not fooled by the words of the weak,
Claiming you are tight-fisted

3. And your life does not emulate
The path of the lowly, nor their ways.

4. The trifles laugh at their affair,
While the strong keep a stern gaze,

5. So submit not to the likes of them,
Should you be tempted by guile someday.

6. Remain not alone in disgrace,
Climb high whatever ladder there may be.

7. For even if your lineage were pure,
And you courage and nobility defined,

8. More truthful than the ringdove in speech,
And tougher than solid ice in truth,

9. You gave the creation the purity of clouds,
And in merit the rank of a lone planet,

10. An honourable man fingers point to,
And who is titled with an unmatched flag,

11. When your share of livelihood,
Exceeds that of the lame beggar,

12. Advice comes to you from an earnest friend,
Refined through the fire of experience,

13. You will seek it when faced with calamities,
Baring its sharp canines to rip and shred.

14. Make your crowded life on both sides,
Free of deceit at the watering hole,

15. Filled with strong arms that draw,
And chaste ones that firmly resist.

16. Be a crafty fox within it,
And a bold untiring lion.

17. Be the ideal man of the time,
Hopeful of what comes tomorrow,

18. Lest you become depressed,
Dragging through the worst of lives,

19. Humiliated if you walk on,
Unmissed if you remain behind.

20. If you don't make circumstances
Suit you whatever the flawed harm,

21. When you churn the souls of men,
From loved ones to the most estranged,

22. And pause your soul to scrutinize,
Lofty claims from an observatory,

23. You will know that what they claim,
Of glory, is yet to be born.

24. They are people, no better than beasts,
Without cunning seeking their aim,

25. So come not to the court of these wolves,
Matching them in reckless chatter.

26. Take instead claws for yourself,
And fangs of lies, and become a lion.

27. Feign no devotion but hypocrisy,
No faith but deception in your worship.

28. Pray over all taboos,
As an oath-breaker swears at the mosque.

29. Repay any injustice you see,
With forgiveness for the unjust.

30. Glorify the lowly with disgraces,
That dare question one's due esteem.

31. Spare not your soul in benefaction,
Nor tax your mind in doing good.

32. It will hide the pride of ancestry,
And crush the dignity of birth.

33. It will destroy the edge of honours,
And undo legitimate acclaim -

34. The blather of an unjust claimant,
And the nonsense of a corrupt bigot.

35. I say to my soul as it whines-
"Men have had far worse, O whiner!

36. Think not that I am trapped,
With little to sing and a narrow pass.

37. Farfetched! You will not reach purpose,
By walking slowly with no aim.

38. If you do not risk life,
With the spirit of adventure, you will be enslaved.

39. You must take the plunge,
Else inevitable exile is your fate.

40. The fate of one provoked and defiant,
Is nobler than one compliant and tame."

41. I saw the risk-taker in a stance,
Wherein he ransoms his soul.

42. Vile tongues assail him,
And showers of insults surround.

43. Alone as one outcast,
He walks away humbled by abuse.

44. Little time passed before
His woes of old fully passed.

45. He became the prince, the leader,
The exemplar of excellent youth.

46. Revered both far and wide,
Foremost in every assembly.

47. A pleasure for every mouth his name,
Whenever mentioned in praised company.

48. He and the likes of him are lessons,
By whose light the guided find their way.