1. كأنك بالمصرع الكائن

    وجسمك في صورة البائن

    It is as though you were at the death that awaits,

    and your body in the form of one departed;

  2. وقد صرت في أمل خادع

    كذوب إلى أجل حائن

    and you had come, amid a deceptive hope,

    a lying one, to an end whose hour had come.

  3. وقام الذي صنته برهة

    يحث على نقله الصائن

    And the one you had protected for a while arose,

    urging the guardian to have it moved.

  4. فمن ناقلين الى غاسل

    الى حاملين الى دافن

    Then from those who move you to one who washes you,

    to bearers, to one who buries you.

  5. فلما ارتهنت بدار البلى

    حصلى على العمل الراهن

    Then, when you were held in pledge in the abode of decay,

    you were left with the deeds at hand [verb unclear in the source].

  6. وقد كنت تسكن في ظاهر

    فأصبحت تسكن في باطن

    And you once dwelt above ground,

    but now you dwell beneath it.

  7. ستترك بيتا وثيق البناء

    الى بيتك المظلم الواهن

    You will leave a firmly built house,

    for your dark, frail home,

  8. ودارا يعيش بها الساكنون

    الى منزل ميت الساكن

    and a dwelling where the inhabitants live,

    for an abode whose inhabitant is dead.

  9. فلا يغبنن امرؤ نفسه

    فويل من الغبن للغابر

    So let no person cheat himself;

    so woe from such deceit to the one left behind.