أقصر عن لهوه وعن ضربه

وعف في حبه وفي عربه

He has desisted from his amusement and his playing,

and been chaste in his love and his passion.

فليس شرب المدام همته

ولا اقتناص الظباء من أربه

For drinking wine is not his concern,

nor is hunting gazelles among his desires.

قد آن للقلب أن ينيق وأن

يزيل ما قد علاه من حجبه

It is time for the heart to awaken, and to

remove the veils that have covered it.

ألهاه عما عهدت يعجبه

خيفة يومٍ تبلى السرائر به

What turned it from what I knew delighted it

was fear of a day when secrets are put to the test.

يا نفس جدي وشمري ودعي

عنك ابتاع الهوى على لغبه

O soul, be earnest, gird yourself, and put

aside the pursuit of desire, despite its weariness.

وسارعي في النجاة واجتهدي

ساعية في الخلاص من كربه

Hasten toward salvation and strive,

seeking deliverance from that day's anguish.

علي أحظى بالفوز فيه وإن

أنجو من ضيقه ومن لهبه

May I gain triumph on that day, and

escape its constriction and its flame.

يا أيها اللاعب المجد به ال

دهر أما تتقي شبا نكبه

O you at play, though treated in earnest by

time—do you not fear the sharp points of its calamities?

كفاك من كل ما وعذت به

ما قد أراك الزمان من عجبه

Of all the warnings given you, sufficient for you

are the wonders time has shown you.

دع عنك داراً تفنى غضارتها

ومكسباً لاعباً بمكتسبه

Leave aside an abode whose freshness perishes,

and gain that toys with its earner.

لم يضطرب في محلها أحدٌ

إلا نبا حدها بمضطربه

No one ever strove within its domain

but its bounds proved inhospitable to his endeavors.

من عرف اللَه حق مرعفةٍ

لوى وحل الفؤاد في رهبه

Whoever knows God with true knowledge

turns away, his heart dwelling in awe of Him.

ما منقضي الملك مثل خالده

ولا صحيحُ التقى كمؤتثبه

Passing dominion is not like dominion everlasting,

nor genuine piety like its adulterated form.

ولا تقي الورى كفاسقهم

وليس صدق الكلام من كذبه

Nor are the pious among mortals like their sinners,

nor is the truth of speech akin to its falsehood.

فلو أمنا من العقاب ولم

تخش من اللَه متقي غضبه

For even if we were safe from punishment, and

those wary of God's wrath did not fear Him,

ولم نخف ناره التي خلقت

لكل جانبي الكلام محتقبه

and we did not fear His fire, which was created

for every offender in speech who bears its burden [wording unclear],

لكان فرضاً لزم طاعته

ورد وفد الهوى على عقبه

steadfast obedience to Him would still be a duty,

and sending desire's delegation back upon its heels,

وصحة الزهد في البقاء وإن

يلحق تفنيدنا بمرتقبه

and true renunciation of permanence here, and that

our censure should fall on those who expect it.

فقد رأينا فعل الزمان بأه

ليه كفعل الشواظ في حطبه

For we have seen time's dealings with its

people, like flame dealing with its firewood.

كم متعبٍ في الإله مهجته

راحته في الكريه من تعبه

How many a man exhausts his soul for God,

his rest lying in the hardship of his toil.

وطالبٍ بإجتهاده زهرة الد

دنيا عداه المنون عن طلبه

And many a seeker, striving for the bloom of the

world, is turned by death from his quest.

ومدركٍ ما ابتغاه ذي جذلٍ

حل به ما يخاف من سببه

And many a man who gains his wish, rejoicing,

finds what he fears befalling him through it.

وباحثٍ جاهدٍ لبغيته

فإنما بحثه على عطبه

And many a seeker toiling for his goal

finds his search leads only to his ruin.

بينا ترى المرء سامياً ملكاً

صار إلى السفل من ذرى ربته

While you see a man exalted, a king,

he falls to the depths from the summits of his eminence.

كالزرع للرجل فوقه عملٌ

إن ينم حسن النمو في قضبه

Like a crop over which a man must labor,

if its shoots put forth fine growth.

كم قاطعٍ نفسه أسىً وشجاً

في أثر جد يجد في هربه

How many a man rends his soul with grief and anguish,

pursuing fortune that strives to flee him.

أليس في ذاك زاجرٌ عجبٌ

يزيده ذا اللب في حلى أدبه

Is there not in that a wondrous deterrent,

adding to the discerning man's ornaments of refinement?

فكيف والنار للمسيء إذا

عاج عن المستقيم من عقبه

How much more, when fire awaits the wrongdoer if

he swerves from the straight course of his path?

ويوم عرض الحساب يفضحه الل

ه ويبدي الخفي من ريبه

And on the day the reckoning is displayed, he is exposed by

God, who reveals what is hidden of his misdeeds.

من قد حباه الإله رحمته

موصولةً بالمزيد من نشبه

One whom God has favored with His mercy,

joined to an increase in his wealth,

فصار من جهله يضرفها

فيا نهى اللَه عنه في كتبه

then, in his ignorance, goes on to spend it

on what God has forbidden in His books—

أليس هذا أحرى العباد غداً

بالوقع في ويله وفي حربه

is he not, of all servants, most deserving tomorrow

to fall into his own woe and ruin?

شكراً لربٍ لطيف قدرته

فينا كحبل الوريد في كثبه

Thanks to a gracious Lord, whose power

is within us, as close as the jugular vein,

رازق أهل الزمان أجمعهم

من كان من عجمه ومن عربه

who provides for all the people of the age,

whether non-Arab or Arab.

والحمد للَه في تفضله

وقمعه للزمان في نوبه

And praise be to God for His bounty,

and His subduing of time amid its calamities.

أخدمنا الأرض والسماء ومن

في الجو من مائه ومن شهبه

He has made earth and heaven serve us, and whatever

is in the sky—its water and its shooting stars.

فاسمع ودع من عصاه ناحيةً

لا يحمل الحمل غير محتطبه

So listen, and leave whoever disobeys Him aside:

none bears the load but the one who gathered its wood.