لك اللهم تبت من المعاصي

أنبت إليك من طوع المعاصي

To You, O God, I have repented of sins.

I have turned back to You from submission to sin.

وألقيت العصي إليك حتى

كأن لما يكن كفي بعاصي

And I cast down the rods before You, until

It was as though my hand had never been disobedient.

فإن عفوا فمنك العفو راج

وإن عذبتني عذبت عاصي

If You grant pardon, I hope for pardon from You;

And if You punish me, You punish a sinner.

ذنوب كل يومٍ في ازدياد

وعمرٌ كل يومٍ في انتقاص

Sins grow more numerous every day,

And life grows shorter every day.

لأعمال القبائح فهو دانٍ

وعن عمل المصالح فهو قاصي

He is near to shameful deeds,

And far from doing what is beneficial.

له قلب إلى الأهواء لين

ولكن عن فعال الخير قاصي

He has a heart pliant toward desires,

Yet far from deeds of goodness.

أرى الآمال تطمعني حياةً

يزيد بها على الدنيا احتراصي

I see hopes make me long for a life

Through which my craving for this world grows.

نسيت أبي وأترابي وولدي

وجيراني الأداني والأقاصي

I have forgotten my father, my peers, and my offspring,

And my neighbors, near and far.

مضوا وبقيت بعدهم كأني

حلي الدار أندب في العراص

They passed away, and I remained after them, as though I were

The house's ornament, lamenting in the courtyards.

حدا بهم إلى الأرماس حاد

وأحصاهم ليوم الحشر حاصي

A camel-driver sang them onward to the graves,

And a reckoner counted them for the Day of Gathering.

ونحن بإثرهم يحدى سريعا

بنا حدو الظعائن بالقلاص

And we, in their wake, are swiftly driven,

Urged on like women in litters on young she-camels.

ومن يك سنه خمسين عاماً

يحور إلى انتقاص وانتكاص

And whoever is fifty years of age

Turns toward decline and regression.