1. Do not blame him, for blame inflames him
And do not reproach him, for reproach pains him

2. Leave off obstinacy, for fate's decrees are fixed
You spoke truly, but he does not hear it

3. You exceeded the limit in blaming him, which harmed him
Claiming excessive blame makes him relent

4. You blamed hoping it would benefit him
If he were to yell out from where you decided blame profits him

5. So use gentleness instead of harshness in reproaching him
Not yelling at him with blame that keeps felling him

6. And soften your words when you meet
Instead of violence—it rends his heart and pains him

7. He has borne heavy sorrows that burdened him
Seeking the lowest fortune though it lifted him high

8. And news reached him from near
So the strokes of fate tore open his flanks

9. It's enough that memories alarm his heart and shatter it
Yes, and it's enough that parting from his scolding beloved

10. Saddens him each day with what startles him
He traveled without a journey disturbing him

11. Or fate's expectations tempting his greed
He did not willingly rise without disappointment jolting him

12. Toward a journey despite his reluctance impelling him
It's as if he is a wanderer moving from camp to camp

13. Eating the pickings the trail gives him that he swallows
As if when he travels the waste alone

14. He is assigned by God's expanse that he farms
If he sees promise in traveling, he finds wealth

15. In wandering, and roaming to the very end fills him with longing
And if refusal in remoteness gains him some wish

16. Even to China he would go while it occurs to him
Desires refuse anything but to burden him

17. With what he cannot bear, so they cast him down and deter him
He found no comfort without earning

18. Sustenance through toil—and how many bid him farewell!
Man's struggle does not bring him

19. Wealth, nor does his wisdom profit what he desires
Indeed, neither does man's activity attain provision for him

20. Nor his supplication cut it off
But God has apportioned people their sustenance

21. Wisdom does not draw what the Merciful withholds
Rather, all creation has sustenance by decree—

22. God created no creature only to abandon it
But they are filled with greed, so you do not see

23. Among them a brother whose hope relies on God
You will find no one content with adequacy or

24. A beggar whom anything less than all things would satisfy
And striving for provision when fates have decided it

25. And distributed it—fruitlessness altogether has clenched it
So cease seeking sustenance in effort and request

26. For man's greed is what fells him
Fate gives the youth what he does not seek

27. As a gift from the abyss of nothingness it raises him
Thus it grants him what he does not expect

28. One day, and denies him from where it tempts him
I entrusted to God in Baghdad a moon for me

29. In my heart its distance kindles and rekindles its flame
In a piece of my rib its tower, and it rose