على الدهر لى عتب فهل هو زائله

ولى عنده حق فهل أنا نائله

I have a complaint against fate, will it disappear?

And I have a right with it, will I get it?

تعثر حظى بين دهري وأهله

فلا أهله أهل ولا الدهر قائله

My luck stumbled between my fate and its people

So neither its people are loyal, nor is fate saying it

سأكتب فى طرس المعالى بهمة

لها قلم عزمى ورايى شاكله

I will write with the ink of high ambitions

With the pen of my determination and opinion like it

واستخبر الأيام عن قصدى الذى

يطالبها قدرى به وتماطله

And I will ask the days about my intention which

My fate demands of it and procrastinates it

فانى وإن أبديت منى تغافلا

ففى النفس أمر ليس تخفى دلائله

So even if I pretended to be oblivious from myself

In the soul there is something, its signs are not hidden

سيعلمه يا صاح من كان جاهلا

به ويراه رؤية العين عاقله

It will be known, O friend, by one who was ignorant of it

And sees it with the sight of a wise eye

ألا أن عمرا أنفقته يد الهوى

على عيلة الغفلات غالت غوائله

Indeed, a lifetime I spent by the hand of passion

On providing for the family of heedlessness, increasing its disasters

فما أغفل الإنسان عن قدر نفسه

وأجهله في بذل ما هو باذله

So man is oblivious to the worth of his soul

And his ignorance in giving what he is giving

تضمن ما لا يستقل ببعضه

سواه وشاعت فى الانام فضائله

It contains what nothing else

Can independently handle some of it except it, and its virtues spread among people

فانى رضى بالنقص بعد اتصافه

بما تقتضى منه الكمال عوامله

So I am content with the deficiency after being characterized

By what the elements of perfection require of it

فواخجلة الانسان من فضل ذاته

وقد شاع عنه نقص ما هو فاعله

So man is ashamed of the virtue of his essence

And the deficiency he did has spread about him

أضاع نفيس العمر واغتال حتفه

لقد تب من بيعت عليه قواتله

He wasted the precious lifetime, and murdered his end

He has repented from the allegiance he sold its killers to

تجلى له بدر الوجود بعيد ما

ثوت فى زوايا العدم قدما أوائله

The full moon of existence appeared to him after

Its first steps firmed in the corners of nonexistence

وأهله من كان أحسن صنعة

لاسرار علم قد أضاءت مشاعله

And it qualified him, whoever was best in making

The secrets of knowledge whose torches enlightened

فلا العلم أوعاه ولا النفس صانها

ولا عقله عن معقل النقص عاقله

So neither did knowledge contain him, nor did his soul protect him

Nor did his mind guard the fortress of deficiency

فيا ليته اذ لم يفز بفضيلة

تحرج أن تكسوه ذلا رذائله

So oh how I wish when he did not win a virtue

He would be embarrassed to be clothed with humiliations

أما فى ذهاب العمر للمرء مزعج

اذا فاته والمرء يشتد باطله

Is it not troubling for man when time passes

While falsehood in him becomes strong?

بلى تزعج الاحرار أنفاس ساعة

تفوت سدى والعلم صفو مناهله

Yes, free souls are troubled by the breaths of an hour

Wasted in vain while knowledge is the purest of its springs

أما العلم اكسير السعادة للفتى

أما العلم عز لم يفارقه حامله

Is not knowledge the elixir of happiness for the young man?

Is not knowledge honor that did not part from its carrier?

لعمرى ان العلم روح وجسمه

وجود الفتى والعقل يا صاح عامله

By my life, knowledge is his spirit and body

And the existence of the young man, and the mind, O friend, is its worker