1. Old age betrays in its decline,
Increase in decrease is but decline,

2. Be not deceived by eyes that see,
They're only eyelids and pupils vain,

3. How many glances went astray,
By a look, a mere look of disdain,

4. My dreams when I sleep hold me hostage,
And maybe I dream while awake and sane,

5. Look with your mind, for eyes do lie,
And hear with your senses, hearing is profane,

6. Say not all with eyes have sight,
Shepherds see what seers don't attain,

7. Leave wealth to men who strive for it,
Wealth is but excess of vain toil and pain,

8. Cast off your shoes of miserliness and hope,
No sword cuts unless it be naked and plain,

9. A friend I feared would betray me,
As if I knew the unseen and he divined,

10. Chance allured him to ambition,
Knows he not that rizq has destain?

11. He was deceived to see himself ahead,
As "In the name of God" titles prestige and fame,

12. I hired a lad to face fate's caprice,
No lion of the jungle, but a man humane,

13. My refuge is Ali's lofty principles,
Eras will pass with them on earth's terrain,

14. The path is harsh but may be smoothed,
By wishes from it or homelands regained,

15. The Giver gave steeds named already,
As if named in the air before they had reign,

16. Each moment to the wind they surpass,
Among them are gift and free spirit unchained,

17. Colts prancing in their stylish gait,
And spirited ones their long necks arraigned,

18. Moses' rod but what was allowed it,
So it came as serpent with magic insane,

19. Yearning wells whose water if touched,
Would shake or slip from it while thirst remained,

20. Their bleeding nearly creates corpses,
Say not these are idols or gods proclaimed,

21. Dead until their eyelids tremble, then you know,
Armors on warriors are but bloody shrouds lain,

22. My soul is yours, not equal nor a price,
Though the buyer tomorrow be monster or djinn,

23. They weighed iron against evasion, but
It didn't match, only measures and weights ascertained,