مِنَ الناسِ مَيتٌ وَهوَ حَيٌّ بِذِكرِهِ

وَحَيٌّ سَليمٌ وَهوَ في الناسِ مَيِّتُ

There are people dead whilst still alive through memory of them,

And there are living sound while among folk they're dead.

فَأَمّا الَّذي قَد ماتَ وَالذِكرُ ناشِرٌ

فَمَيتٌ لَهُ دينٌ بِهِ الفَضلُ يُنعَتُ

So he who's dead, his virtues still fresh in men's minds,

Is a dead man blest by religion—the perfectest life was his!

وَأَمّا الَّذي يَمشي وَقَد ماتَ ذِكرُهُ

فَأَحمَقُ أَفنى دينَهُ وَهوَ أَموَتُ

And he who walks about when his fame is dead and gone,

Is most foolish, has wasted his faith—and his life is done.

سَأَضرِبُ أَمثالاً لِمَن كانَ عاقِلاً

يَسيرُ بِها مِنّي رَوِيٌّ مُبَيَّتُ

I will strike similitudes for whoso of reason makes use,

Whereby to walk aright my lay before him I'll lay plain;

وَما زالَ مِن قَومي خَطيبٌ وَشاعِرٌ

وَحاكِمُ عَدلٍ فاصِلٌ مُتَثَبِّتُ

Never have the rhymes been silent in my tribe of him

Who as just judge decides, firm-set, and speaker right fain;

وَحَيَّةُ أَرضٍ لَيسَ يُرجى سَليمُها

تَراها إِلى أَعدائِها تَتَفَلَّتُ

The smooth, safe earth bears not the serpent kind right glad—

You shall see it its foes hate-swollen belly rip and tear.