إذا رمت أن تحظى وتستقرب المدا

إذا رمت أن تحظى وتستقرب المدا

وتستنزل الأعلى وتصطحب العنقا

وتستنزل الأعلى وتصطحب العنقا

If you seek to win favor and find distant reaches near,

If you seek to gain favor and draw near the great,

And bring down the highest and take the phoenix as your companion,

And attain the highest ranks and keep lofty company,

تحامق من الدنيا فإن أولي النهى

تحامق من الدنيا فإن أولي النهى

غنيهم أكدى وأسعدهم أشقى

غنيهم أكدى وأسعدهم أشقى

Play the fool for this world's sake, for those endowed with reason—

Renounce this world, for the most wretched of men

Their rich are impoverished, and their happiest are most wretched.

Are the richest, and the most prosperous, the most miserable.

وما الدهر إلا ناظر ضد ما نرى

وما الدهر إلا ناظر ضد ما نرى

يرى حمقنا عقلا وأعقلنا حمقا

يرى حمقنا عقلا وأعقلنا حمقا

And Time sees only the opposite of what we see:

And Time is but an onlooker, contrary to what we see,

It sees our folly as wisdom, and our wisest as fools.

It sees our foolishness as wisdom and our wisdom as folly.