أما في ثمانين وفيتها

عذيرٌ وإن لم اعتذر

Is there not, in the eighty years I have completed,

an excuse, even if I have offered none?

فكيف وقد جزتها صاعداً

مع الصاعدين بتسعٍ أخر

How much more so, now I have passed them, ascending

with those who ascend, by nine more years?

وقد رفع اللَه أقلامه

عن ابن ثمانين دون البشر

And God has lifted His pens

from the eighty-year-old, unlike other mortals,

سوى من أصر على فتنةٍ

وألحد في دينه أو كفر

except one who persists in strife,

and strays in his religion or disbelieves.

وإني لمن أسراء الإله في

الأرض نصب صروفِ القدر

And I am indeed among God's captives on

earth, a target for the turns of fate.

فان يقض لي عملاً صالحاً

أثاب وإن يقض شراً غفر

So if He decrees a righteous deed for me,

He rewards me; and if He decrees evil, He forgives.

فلا تلح في كبرٍ هدني

فلا ذنب لي أن بلغت الكبر

So do not reproach me for old age that has broken me;

for it is no fault of mine that I have reached old age.

هو الشيب حل بعقبِ الشباب

فأعقبني خوراً من أشر

It is gray hair that came on the heels of youth,

and brought me frailty in place of wanton exuberance.

وقد بسط اللَه لي عذره

فمن ذا يلوم اذا ما عذر

And God has extended His indulgence to me;

so who would blame me when He has excused me?

وإني لفي كنفٍ مغدقٍ

وعز بنصرِ أبي المنتصر

And I am indeed under bountiful protection,

and in honor through the support of Abu al-Muntasir.

يُباري الرياحَ بفضل السما

حِ حتى تبلَّد أو تنحسر

He rivals the winds through abundant generosity,

until they grow sluggish or subside.

له أكد الوحيُ ميراثَه

ومن ذا يُخالِفُ وحيَ السُّوَر

Revelation has confirmed his inheritance for him;

and who would defy the revelation of the surahs?

وما للحسودِ وأشياعه

ومن كذَّب الحقَّ الا الحجر

And what of the envier and his followers?

And who denies the truth but a stone?