1. ليسَ الذي يرجو الخلودَ بخالد

    والمرءُ مرتهنٌ بحتفِ الراصدِ

    He who hopes for immortality is not immortal.

    And man is held in pledge to death lying in wait.

  2. والناس هامٌ رائثٌ ومعجلٌ

    وردَ النهال تواردت للذائد

    And people are but heads—some delayed, some hastened—

    like thirsty camels coming to water, arriving in turn before the one who drives them away.

  3. فالرزء كان أبو حكيم إنه

    خلى علينا غير فقد واحدِ

    Thus the grievous loss was Abu Hakim; indeed, he

    left us with more than the loss of a single man.

  4. خلى يتامى كان يحسنُ حملهم

    وبكفلهم في كل عام جاحد

    He left orphans whose burdens he had kindly borne,

    and whose upkeep he provided in every barren year;

  5. وعجائزاً شمطاً وكلَّ مُعيلٍ

    وأرملةٍ تواري قاعد

    and gray-haired old women, and everyone with dependents,

    and a widow sheltering a homebound person.

  6. تبكي بعين لا تجفُّ دُموعُها

    كانت تُرى في نعمةٍ ومجاسدِ

    She weeps with an eye whose tears never dry;

    she used to be seen in prosperity and saffron-dyed robes.

  7. ومهمة الحلماءِ يُخشى فتقها

    تأسو وأمُّ دماغها كالفاسد

    And a crisis troubling the wise, whose rupture was feared,

    you would heal, though its brain's membrane seemed diseased.

  8. قد كنت آسيها وكنت طبيبها

    حتى تؤديها كعهدِ العاهِد

    You were indeed its healer, and you were its physician,

    until you restored it to the state remembered by one who knew it.

  9. رحب الفناء وما تغلق دارهُ

    حين الشتاء من الضعيف الصارِد

    His courtyard was spacious, and his house was never shut

    in winter to the weak man shivering with cold.

  10. قدمت معروفاً وتصنع نائلاً

    جزلاً فذالك خيرُ ذُخرٍ ماكِد

    You offered kindness and would bestow bounty

    in abundance—for that is the best enduring treasure.