1. For whom are these abandoned dwellings that I ask of?
Once inhabited, now vacant and still

2. When at dawn I saw it lamenting
Both its heights and its depths

3. I used to see it bustling with people
But its inhabitants have departed

4. And everything in the path of fate
Meets adversaries and struggles

5. And there is no path
Untouched by the tricks of fate

6. It defeats those who fight it
And exhausts those who resist it

7. It opposes any who dare it
And sometimes toys with them

8. Other times, it delays them
And sometimes, hastens them

9. It is enough when it descends
Upon a people, to destroy them

10. How many a mighty king
Surrounded by his armies

11. People fear his strength
And hope for his bounty

12. He preens and takes pride
In his character and qualities

13. But when the truth descends on him
Falsehood turns from him

14. He closes his eyes to death
And his joints grow limp

15. And fate continues to carry him
To one who will wash him

16. Who prepares him for a grave
Where many will betray him

17. And he will wake to find his abode
Narrow, while his women weep

18. With hair disheveled and garments torn
How many hopes have lingered on

19. Never to be attained by the hopeful!
I have seen the truth that cannot be obscured

20. Nor can its consequences be obscured
Look to yourself, what provisions do you carry

21. To a solitary grave, where you will descend?
Dug narrow and short, with planks overhead

22. In a place of difficult, distant visitation
O graves! In you are those we dwelt with

23. And those we traded and dealt with
Those we accompanied and associated with

24. And those we kept intimate company
Those we contended and vied with

25. And those we overlapped with
Those we drank with

26. And those we shared food with
Those we walked with

27. And those we dwelt with
Those we honored

28. And those we flattered
Those we rarely parted from

29. And those we kept strong ties with
Each has settled in a place, with their ropes cut off

30. Lo! Death is inevitable, and all shall meet it
The late ones will perish, like the early ones before them

31. By your life! The scholar and ignorant are not equal
So that all with deeds may know

32. That God will question them
The quickest to good words and deeds prevails.