إِذا المَرءُ وَفّى الأَربَعينَ وَلَم يَكُن

لَه دون ما يَهوى حَياءٌ وَلا سِترُ

When a man reaches forty and is still

If a man fulfills his forty years, yet has not found

Unsettled, with no refuge but his whims,

Between him and what he craves, neither shame nor veil,

فَدَعهُ ولآ تَنفَس عَلَيهِ الَّذي أَتى

وَإِن جَرَّ أَذيال الحَياة لَهُ الدَهر

Leave him; don't waste your breath reproaching one

Then cast him aside, and do not envy what he has gained,

Who drags his lifetime's rags in his own trail.

Even if Time drags the trailing hem of life for him.