إِذا ما خَلَوتَ الدَهرَ يَوماً فَلا تَقُل

خَلَوتُ وَلَكِن قُل عَلَيَّ رَقيبُ

If you find yourself alone one day, do not say

I am alone, but say, God is with me, observing me.

وَلا تَحسَبَنَّ اللَهَ يُغفِلُ ما مَضى

وَلا أَنَّ ما يَخفى عَلَيهِ يَغيبُ

Do not think that God forgets the deeds of the past,

Or that the hidden is concealed from Him.

لَهَونا لَعَمرُ اللَهِ حَتّى تَتابَعَت

ذُنوبٌ عَلى آثارِهِنَّ ذُنوبُ

Our frivolity, by God's life, continues,

Until sins upon sins accumulate.

فَيا لَيتَ أَنَّ اللَهَ يَغفِرُ ما مَضى

وَيَأذَنُ في تَوباتِنا فَنَتوبُ

I wish that God would forgive what is past

And permit our repentance, so we can repent.

إِذا ما مَضى القَرنُ الَّذي كُنتَ فيهِم

وَخُلِّفتَ في قَرنٍ فَأَنتَ غَريبُ

When the era in which you were has passed,

And you are left in a new era, you feel a stranger.

وَإِنَّ امرَأً قَد سارَ خَمسينَ حِجَّةً

إِلى مَنهَلٍ مِن وِردِهِ لَقَريبُ

A man journeys fifty pilgrimages

To a spring from which his drink is near.

نَسيبُكَ مَن ناجاكَ بِالوِدِّ قَلبُهُ

وَلَيسَ لِمَن تَحتَ التُرابِ نَسيبُ

Your family are those whose hearts embraced you with affection

Not those under the soil, who are no kin.

فَأَحسِن جَزاءً ما اجتَهَدتَ فَإِنَّما

بِقَرضِكَ تُجزى وَالقُروضُ ضُروبُ

So reward well those who strove,

For only by your aid you will be rewarded, and rewards have categories.