1. عجباً عجبتُ لغفلةِ الإنسانِ

    قطعَ الحياةَ بغرةٍ وتواني

    How astonishing! I marveled at man's heedlessness:

    He spent his life in heedlessness and indolence.

  2. فكرتُ في الدنيا فكانت منزلاً

    عندي كبعضِ منازلِ الركبانِ

    I pondered this world, and it proved a lodging,

    To me, like one of the riders' stopping places.

  3. مجرى جميعِ الخلقِ فيها واحدٌ

    وكثيرُها وقليلُها سيانِ

    All creatures follow one course within it,

    And much of it and little of it are alike.

  4. أبغي الكثيرَ إلى الكثير مضاعفاً

    ولو اقتصرتُ على القليل كفاني

    I seek much added to much, multiplied,

    Yet had I contented myself with little, it would have sufficed me.

  5. لله در الوارثين كأنني

    بأخصهم متبرماً بمكاني

    God bless the heirs! I can almost see

    The closest of them, vexed at my presence,

  6. قلقاً لتجهيزي إلى دارِ البلا

    متحرياً لكرامتي بهواني

    Impatient to prepare me for the abode of decay,

    Seeking to honor me through my humiliation,

  7. متبرماً مني إذا نشر الثرى

    فوقي طوى كشحاً على هجراني

    Vexed with me—when he has spread the earth

    Over me, he turns his flank away, intent on forsaking me.