ألا يا مستنِيصَ العِيسِ كدّاً

لكَ الويلات ماذا تستنيص

Alas, O coveter of livelihood so ardently

Woe to you, what do you covet?

تُرى للحرص تلهث كلّ يوم

يطير رعابلاً عنكَ القميص

You seem to pant with greed every day

Your shirt flies away from you out of fear

ومالكَ غيرُ ما قد خطَّ رزق

وإن كثر التقلب والشخوص

You have no wealth except what sustenance is ordained

No matter how much you move about and change

وقد يأتي المقيمُ المال عفواً

ويطلبه فيُحرَمُه الحريص

Sustenance comes to the content without effort

Yet the greedy one is deprived of it

رأيت معيشةَ الدنيا بواراً

تباعدُنا وإياها نليص

I saw that the life of this world is fleeting

We and it are drifting farther and farther apart

وليس كحرصنا حرص عليها

ولا غوص يكون كما تغوص

Our greed for it is not like its indifference to us

Nor is our plunging into it like its plunging

فأقوام بجمتها رواء

وقوم بالثَّماد لهم مصيص

So some people quench their thirst with its water

While others just wet their lips

وقوم يحسبون لها مِراضاً

وإن يستمكنوا فهمُ اللصوص

And some only assume it has riches

If they get a chance, they are but thieves