دعْ صاعداً يقتني الدنيا وزِبرِجها

في العلم باللَّهِ مما ناله عِوضُ

Let one who is ascending acquire the world and its ostentation,

In knowledge of Allah I have gained in lieu of what he attained.

ما بالُ من جَوْهَرُ الأشياء قُنْيتُه

يأسى ويحسدُ قوماً حظُّهم عَرَضُ

What is the concern of one whose essence of things is his contentment,

Who despairs and envies a people whose lot is but show.

إنّي لأعجبُ من قوم يشُفُّهمُ

حُبُّ الزخارفِ لا يدْرُونَ ما العرضُ

I wonder at people who are appeased

By love of trappings, not knowing what honor is.

ألا عُقُولَ ألا أحلامَ تَزْجُرهُم

بلى عُقولٌ وأحلامٌ بها مرض

Oh minds, oh dreams to deter them!

Rather minds and dreams in them is sickness.

سعيُ السُّعاةِ لفضل المال بعد غِنىً

حِرمٌ كما طلبُ الأقواتِ مُفترض

The striving of the ambitious for surplus wealth after being rich

Is forbidden, like the seeking of sustenance when already obligated.

أليس جُرماً تناسي المرءِ خَالقَهُ

إذا أليحتْ له الأذهابُ والفضَضُ

Is it not a crime, one's forgetting his Creator,

When strayings and trappings have adorned themselves to him.

لا سيما والذي يكفيه حاضِرُه

لعارفِ اللَهِ من هاتيك مُمْتعضُ

Especially when the present suffices him,

The knower of God is averse to such things.

لو آمنتْ أنفسٌ باللَّهِ ما شُغِلْت

عنه بما ليس في فقدانِه مَضَض

If souls had faith in God, they would not be preoccupied

By what is lost without anguish.

كلا ولا اضطجعتْ إلا ومَضْجعُها

كأنه حائلٌ من دُونه القَضَض

Nay, nor would they retire, except that their retirement

Is as though an obstacle between it and the final ingathering.