خلعت العذار بشيب العذار

فما يقبل اليوم منكَ اعتذار

You cast off the bridle as the hair on your cheeks grayed.

So no excuse from you is accepted today.

وقالوا المشيب وقار الفتى

وهذا المشيب فأين الوقار

And they said, “Gray hair is a young man's dignity.”

And here is gray hair—where, then, is dignity?

جلا صبحه عنك ليل الشباب

فشمسك مؤذنة باصفرار

Its dawn swept the night of youth away from you,

so your sun warns of its yellowing.

أراك صحبت حياة الغرور

وتسحب جهلا ذيول اغترار

I see you have kept company with a life of delusion,

and ignorantly trail the hems of self-deception.

ألست ترى كدرا صفوها

ونجمك قد مال يبغي انكدار

Do you not see its clarity turned murky,

and your star already declining, seeking to fall?

وكيف تنام على غرّة

وسيف المنية ماضي الغرار

And how can you sleep in heedlessness,

while the sword of death is keen-edged?

فلو كنت تحذر صرف الردى

إذن لفى النوم عنك الحذار

For if you feared the onslaught of death,

then dread would banish sleep from you [uncertain reading].

عبرت مراحل عمر الأشدّ

ولست أرى لك فيها اعتبار

You have passed through the stages of life's prime,

yet I see no lesson you have drawn from them.

وجرت بها عن طريق الهدى

صلاة وتعدو على أن تجار

And in them you strayed from the path of guidance.

Prayer [unclear in context]—and you race on, hoping to be granted refuge.

أتاك الرحيل فشمّر له

فإما لى جنّة أو لنار

Departure has come upon you; gird yourself for it:

either to Paradise or to the Fire [uncertain reading].

وكيف تقرّ بدنياك عينا

ولم تدر أين يكون القرار

And how can your eye rest content in your worldly life,

when you do not know where your final abode will be?