1. Time promises separation and decline
And its tribulations set examples

2. O Lord of a life that brought bliss to its people
With its bounty, but it is said that bliss is fleeting

3. O you who seek the world to burden yourself
Surely traveling light tomorrow will be the better state

4. We are in an abode where we see amassing wealth
That remains not for its owner, nor meagre wealth either

5. My brother, wealth, if you send it forth
Is not yours, and if you keep it back, it is not wealth to you

6. My brother, all things will inevitably fade
So for whom do I see you amass riches?

7. My brother, be content with sufficiency and shun
Those who vie in vain things and overreach

8. How many kings lost their kingdoms
As if those kingdoms were but phantoms

9. Time is the gentlest vanquisher, its gentleness undoes you
And time is the most cunning of archers aiming arrows at you

10. For how long will you rise morn and eve playing
Seeking permanence and aspiring to hopes

11. Indeed I have seen disasters hastening
Announcing fate and drawing near the appointed time

12. I have seen dwellings stripped of their dwellers
And buildings and shades emptied

13. I have seen one who had the means to build
Erect his palace and heighten it

14. I have seen the empowered and the enthroned
And the glib of speech, saying this and that

15. I have seen time annihilate them in old age
And annihilate them in their youth

16. I have seen death hasten among them
Now to the right, now to the left

17. So ask the events, they will not hide the truth from you
And ask the graves, question them closely

18. They will inform you that they were created for that
Which they were created, so they went forth for it as messengers

19. Seldom does life stay pure for its people
Until they are replaced one after another

20. Seldom is cheer sustained for a group
And time has often betrayed and been unjust

21. Seldom are you pleased with all the traits of a brother
You have befriended, except you come to hate some traits

22. Seldom does the soul freely give of goodness
Until it battles against that giving

23. My brother, man in his deeds
Should take on the best of deeds

24. So when people refrain from shouldering
Enlightened principles, be their bearer

25. Shorten your pace from greedy desires in chastity
From them, for they have a slippery ground

26. Wealth is more worthy for you to earn in spending
Or withholding if that is lawful

27. And if rights come in succession, be patient with them
Forever, even if they weigh heavily upon you

28. It suffices the seeker of humility to be exalted
And it suffices the seeker of loftiness to be debased

29. My brother, whoever loves supremacy, I fear
Lest he become tyrannous and innovate misguidance and error

30. My brother, ahead of us are grave tribulations
With turmoil, and ahead of us are terrors

31. My brother, the times are in decline, though
We see its decline as ascent

32. My brother, do not allow those who watch
For your lapses to have a case against you

33. Man is sought for the mettle of his soul
In a seeking that alters his states evermore

34. And man is not content with a single occupation
Until his occupation begets more occupations

35. How often a lover has sweetness for them
That will one day become trouble upon him

36. And I see bonding in life, so leave not
Your utmost for your brother as long as you live and are connected

37. My brother, creation in its strata
Rises morn and eve as God's dependents

38. God is more generous than any you hope for His gifts
And God is greater than any who attain gifts

39. A King before Whose might kings bow
In awe and majesty, Glory be to Him and Exalted

40. Nothing of His subtle kindness surrounds
The worlds more closely, nor anything more Majestic His Majesty