1. أَلَم يَأنِ لي يا نَفسُ أَن أَتَنَبَّها

    وَأَن أَترُكَ اللَهوَ المُضِرَّ لِمَن لَها

    Has the time not come, O my soul, for me to awaken

    and abandon the diversion that harms whoever indulges in it?

  2. أَرى عَمَلي لِلشَرِّ مِنّي بِشَهوَةٍ

    وَلَستُ أَرومُ الخَيرَ إِلّا تَكَرُّها

    I see how eagerly I act for evil,

    yet I seek good only reluctantly.

  3. كَفى بِامرِئٍ جَهلاً إِذا كانَ تابِعاً

    هَواهُ مِنَ الدُنيا إِلى كُلِّ ما اشتَهى

    It is ignorance enough for a man if he follows

    his desire toward whatever he craves of this world.

  4. وَفي كُلِّ يَومٍ عِبرَةٌ بَعدَ عِبرَةٍ

    وَفي المَوتِ ناهٍ لِلفَتى لَو هُوَ انتَهى

    And in every day is lesson after lesson,

    and in death a warning for a man, if only he would desist.

  5. وَكُلُّ بَني الدُنيا عَلى غَفَلاتِهِ

    تُواجِهُهُ الأَقدارُ حَيثُ تَوَجَّها

    And every son of this world, amid his heedlessness,

    is met by the decrees of fate wherever he turns.