تدارك من زمانك ما افدتا

وما بكرائم منه استهنتا

Make up for the time you have squandered,

and for its precious portions you have held cheap.

فما بنفائس الأنفاس تمضى

سدى عوض يرجى لو عرفتا

For precious breaths that pass

in vain have no recompense to hope for, if you only knew.

ومن طلب العلى سهر الليالي

وطلق لذة الراحات بتا

Whoever seeks the heights keeps vigil through the nights

and divorces the pleasure of rest irrevocably.

ولولا حسن صبر ما تأتي

لطلاب المعالي ما تأتا

Without steadfast patience, there would not come

to seekers of greatness what has come.

فأيام الشباب هي المطايا

على العليا وأفضل ما ركبتا

The days of youth are the mounts

toward the heights, and the finest you have ridden.

إذا غلبت عليك بها المساوي

غلبت على المحاسن ان كبرتا

If faults prevail over you in those days,

they will prevail over your virtues when you grow old.

دعوتك يا على إلى المعالي

فإن تك قد خلقت لها أجبتا

I have called you, O Ali, to greatness;

if you were created for it, you will answer.

إلى علم تطيع الله فيه

على ثقة وتعرف ما جهلتا

To knowledge through which you obey God

with certainty, and learn what you did not know;

إلى ما لا تبالي حين تغني

بما واصلت منه ما قطعتا

to what leaves you unconcerned—when enriched

by what you keep of it—about what you have forsaken.

فإن العلم أعظم ما تسامت

له همم وأشرف ما اكتسبتا

For knowledge is the greatest object toward which

aspirations rise, and the noblest thing you have acquired.

فللعلما بحمل العلم فضل

يقصر عنه وصفك ان وصفتا

For scholars, through bearing knowledge, have a merit

that your description falls short of, even if you describe it.

مع العيوق نومهم وغير

عبادته بترب الأرض تحتا

Their sleep is beside Capella, while another's

worship lies below, in the dust of the earth.

مدادهم إذا كتبوا يكافي

دم الشهدا ولو نالوا وزنتا

Their ink, when they write, equals

the martyrs' blood—even if they attained [text unclear]—were you to weigh them.

بهم حفظ الإِله الدين فينا

فكن منهم تعز بما حفظتا

Through them God has preserved the faith among us;

so be one of them, and gain honor through what you preserve.

فنعم الخل في الخلوات علم

عرفت الله منه بما عرفتا

How excellent a companion in solitude is knowledge

through which you have known God, by what you have learned.

فكم وضعت لطالبه جناحا

ملئكة السماء فلا حرمتا

How often have wings been lowered for its seeker

by the angels of heaven—may you not be deprived!

إذا لم تخجل الطلاب طفلا

ورمت طلابه شيخا خجلتا

If seeking knowledge did not shame you as a child,

you would feel shame if you sought it as an old man.

يزيدك في الشباب العلم زينا

وبعد الشيب أبهة وسمتا

Knowledge adds beauty to you in youth,

and after gray hair, dignity and noble bearing.

فكرر درسه ليلا وصبحا

وجرد فيه عزمك ما استطعتا

So repeat its lessons by night and morning,

and devote your resolve to it as much as you can.

تنال به من الرحمن ما لا

ينال إذا عملت بما علمتا

Through it you gain from the Merciful what is otherwise

unattainable, if you act upon what you have learned.

نبت فكنت قرة عين راج

صلاحك في المحافل إذ نبتّا

You grew, becoming the delight of one who hoped

for your uprightness in assemblies, as you grew.

وحققت الحساب بدون عشر

تقابل في الفرائض ما جبرتا

And you mastered arithmetic before you were ten,

balancing in inheritance calculations what you solved by algebra.

وتعجب منك عند الأخذ منهم

شيوخك في العلوم إذا بحثتا

And marveling at you as you learn from them

are your teachers in the sciences, whenever you investigate.

وغظت الحاسدين بها ولكن

أزلت الغيظ لما ازددت ستا

You enraged the envious through these, yet

you dispelled their anger when you grew six years older.

فخذ بعنان نفسك عن هواها

فان أرخيته معها ندمتا

So take your soul by the rein and curb its desire;

for if you loosen that rein for it, you will regret it.

وعد عما بدا لك من قريب

فما ترجو الخلاص إذا نشبتا

And turn away from what has lately appeared to you;

for what escape can you hope for once entangled?

وبالله استعذ من شر نفس

وشيطان يصدك إن هممتا

Seek refuge in God from the evil of the self

and a devil who hinders you whenever you resolve.

واخوان البطالة خل عنهم

فهم أعدى الأعادي لو عقلتا

Leave behind the companions of idleness;

for they are the bitterest of enemies, if you understood.

وجالس من تظل وأنت تسعى

لديه مقصرا مهما اجتهدنا

Keep company with one while you keep striving,

falling short before him, however hard we strive.

ومن يدعوك بالأفعال منه

إلى ما فيه حظك لو فعلتا

And with one whose deeds call you

to what brings you benefit, if you do it.

وبالغايات لا تقنع وحزها

إلى ما لا تنال إذا سبقتا

Do not rest content with goals; seize them,

reaching for what you cannot attain if you are outstripped.

فقد أوتيت فرط ذكا وفهم

يبلغك الثريا لو أردتا

For you have been given exceptional intelligence and understanding

that would carry you to the Pleiades, if you wished.

وما ضيعت يجبره التلافي

إذا استدركت ما فيه وعدتا

Whatever you have wasted can be repaired by making amends,

if you recover what lies therein, and return.

ولكن ذاك رد بعد أخذ

وبين الرد والتأخاذ شتا

But that is restoring after taking,

and restoring and taking are far apart.

فلا تأسف على ما فات وانهض

بجد منك تدرك ما افتا

So do not grieve over what has passed; rise up

with earnest effort, and recover what you have lost.

ويعلم معشر يئسوا باني

وانك يأست ولا يأسنا

And those who have despaired will know that I

and you despaired, yet we did not despair [text unclear].

أمثلك يا علي وأنت فهماً

حسام لا تفل إذا سللتا

Could one like you, O Ali—when, in understanding, you are

a keen sword, unblunted when drawn—

تجالس بعد أهل العلم من لا

يعد لبئس منهم ما استعضتا

keep company, after scholars, with those who do not

count? Wretched is what you have taken in their place!

فكنت وأنت طفل في الثريا

فما لك بالغا منها سقطتا

As a child, you were among the Pleiades;

why, now grown, have you fallen from them?

إليّ اليّ أقبل لا اليهم

فاني ناصح لك لو سمعتا

To me, to me—come, not to them!

For I am a sincere adviser to you, if you would listen.

فما الدنيا بدارك فاجتنبها

فأنت لغيرها دارا خلقتا

This world is not your home, so shun it;

for you were created for a home other than it.

وما هي غير سوق فيه زاد

إلى الأخرى بجانبه نزلتا

It is nothing but a market holding provisions

for the next world; you have alighted beside it.

وفيه ملاعب وصنوف لهو

تجاذب من أتي فان اجتذبتا

In it are games and kinds of diversion,

drawing in whoever comes; if you are drawn in,

وملت عن ابتغاء الزاد منه

إلى شهوات نفسك واشتغلتا

and turn from seeking provisions there

to your soul's appetites, and become absorbed,

وفاجأك الرحيل بغير زاد

يعينك في مفاوزه هلكتا

and departure catches you suddenly without provisions

to aid you across its deserts, you perish.

فعمرك فرصة إن تنتهزها

وتغنم منه ما وافي ظفرتا

Your lifetime is an opportunity: if you seize it

and gain from it what comes your way, you succeed.

وإن ما طلتها يوما فيوما

تقول غدا أتوب فقد خدعتا

But if you put it off day after day,

saying, 'Tomorrow I shall repent,' you have been deceived.