1. Take for yourself a chisel and hammer,
And make whenever you wish a knife and nail.

2. Or take for yourself a saw and plane,
And be like Noah the prophet of God, a carpenter.

3. Or be a craftsman who casts rods that emerge
From his workshop in rows for the women, dinars.

4. Or take for yourself a flute and drum,
And live well as a drummer and piper.

5. Or be, my soul, a trumpeter, then no harm upon you
If you become a trumpeter in the morning.

6. Or be like your lowly companion Abu Hasan,
I mean Ali, the youth of Imran the saddle-maker.

7. Or follow the son of the craftsman in his drapery,
Or walk behind the youth of Shansuh the butcher.

8. Or ask the son of the craftsman about his craft,
Which will benefit you with the quintar, dinars.

9. Or treat maladies in their medicines and be
Sharwa Khamis ibn Khadhdhamooh the veterinarian.

10. Or dig out clay from Rashalah and make
Jars from it and live as a jar-maker.

11. Or pack the jenny-asses and load wood above them
For it’s best if you become a donkey-driver in the morning.

12. Or take up the trap and go wherever you wish and hunt
With it birds for the lads of the neighborhood.

13. And if you hear my saying then go trusting
In your God sailing the seas a sailor.

14. And if you spurn this then greet with
Asking your Lord’s forgiveness, you’ll meet God forgiving.

15. Or as a muezzin in God’s houses making us hear
Your sweet call to prayer, dawns and nightfalls.

16. Or as a lyricist praising the best of mankind Haydarah
Or a reciter in the streets’ corners stories.

17. And don’t blame a quarter of poetry, for it
Has mange, you lagged behind its course when it raced.

18. My exquisite poetry, a long-necked bird
Has circled round, so refrain from it when it flew.

19. And here it is, hot like firebrands, blazing
Through your heart, do not set it aflame.