1. من بطن أمك للجدث

    ما كان بينهما عبث

    From your mother's womb to the grave,

    whatever lay between them was futility.

  2. يطغى ابن آدم معجبا

    والبطن ملأى بالخبث

    Adam's son oversteps, full of self-admiration,

    while his belly is full of filth.

  3. وحياته مقسومة

    ما بين أكل أو رفث

    And his life is divided

    between eating or lewdness.

  4. أو ليس أكبر لذة

    لك في لذائذها الطمث

    And is not the greatest pleasure

    for you, among its delights, intercourse?

  5. والمرء فيها حادث

    وكأنه ما قد حدث

    And man in it is an occurrence,

    as though he had never come to be.

  6. والعمر يجري لاهثا

    لو كان يخطو ما لهث

    And life's span runs, panting;

    were it to walk, it would not pant.

  7. والكل فيها راحل

    من ذا الذي فيها مكث

    And everyone in it is departing;

    who is it that has remained in it?

  8. فاعلم بأنك ميت

    ودع الرقى فيمن نفث

    So know that you are destined to die,

    and leave incantations to whoever blows them.

  9. لا تركنن لفيلو

    ف في الحياة إذا بحث

    Do not lean upon a philoso-

    -pher when he investigates life,

  10. حيث التكهن مطلقا

    فيه السمين وفيه غيث

    where conjecture is unbounded,

    with fat within it, and rain.

  11. لم يجن من خيراتها

    إلا الذي فيها حرث

    None has reaped its bounties

    but the one who ploughed within it.

  12. أما السماء فلا وصو

    ل لها استرح فالحبل رث

    As for heaven, there is no reach-

    -ing it; rest, for the rope is frayed.

  13. إن الحياة وكنهها

    سر إلهي لا يبث

    Indeed, life and its essence

    are a divine secret, not divulged.

  14. انظر مآلك من أبي

    يحيى وقد لم الشعث

    Consider your end at the hands of Abu

    Yahya, who has gathered what was scattered.

  15. ما صده شيء على

    أمر نواه إذا انبعث

    Nothing held him back from

    a task he intended, once he set forth.

  16. غلث الخبيث بطيب

    ماذا عيه إذا غلث

    He mixed the foul with the good;

    what faltering is there in him when he mixes them?

  17. قد عاهد اللّه على

    قبض النفوس وما نكث

    He has pledged to God to

    take souls, and has not broken his pledge.

  18. يمشي بأمره لا يمه

    ل في المسير ولا يحث

    He walks at His command, never delay-

    -ing on his journey, nor hastening.

  19. ما حاد يوما عن طري

    قته ولا بفتى اكترث

    Never for a day did he stray from his pa-

    -th, nor pay heed to any youth.

  20. ما كان يغرس في الترا

    ب من الأنام به يجث

    Whatever was planted in the ear-

    -th from among mankind is uprooted by him.

  21. لا ضير ويحك أن تقل

    من بطن أمك للجدث

    There is no harm—alas for you—in being carried

    from your mother's womb to the grave.