غاية الحزن والسرور انقضاء

ما لحي من بعد ميت بقاء

Sorrow and joy alike come to an end.

No living being remains forever after the dead.

غير ان الأموات مروا فأبقوا

غصصاً لا تسيغها الاحياء

Yet the dead have passed on and left behind

choking sorrows that the living cannot swallow.

نتمنى وفي المنى يذهب العمر

فنغدوا بما تسر نساء

We wish, and life slips away in wishing,

so we become saddened by what brings joy.

صحة المرء للسقام طريق

وطريق الفناء هذا البقاء

A person's health is a road to sickness,

and this continued life is the road to extinction.

ما لقينا من شر دنيا فلا كانت

ولا كان جودها والعطاء

What evil we have suffered from this world—may it never have been,

nor its generosity and bounty!

جودها راجع إليها فمهما

تهب الصبح تسترد المساء

Its generosity returns to it, for whatever

it gives in the morning, it reclaims in the evening.

ليت شعري حلماً تمر بنا

الأيام أم ليس يعقل الأشياء

Would that I knew: do they pass over us like a dream,

the days—or does one not understand things?

قبح الله لذة قد لو تولت

نالها الأمهات والآباء

May God curse a pleasure that—if it had passed away [wording unclear]—

mothers and fathers would have enjoyed.

نحن لولا الوجود لم ندر ما الفوت

فإيجادنا علينا بلاء

Without existence, we would not have known what loss is;

so our being brought into existence is an affliction upon us.

يدرك الموت كل حي ولو

اخفته في اوج حصنها الجوزاء

Death overtakes every living being, even if

al-Jawza hid him in the heights of her fortress.

انما الناس قادم اثر ماضٍ

بدء قوم لآخرين انتهاء

People are but newcomers in the wake of those gone;

the beginning of some is an ending for others.

موت ذا العالم المؤيد بالنطق

وذا السارح البهيم سواء

The death of this learned man, aided by reason,

and that of this grazing, speechless beast are alike.

لا مثقى بفقده تبسم الأرض

ولا للتقي تبكي السماء

The earth does not smile at the loss of [unclear word],

nor does the sky weep for the pious.