المَوتُ مِنّا قَريبٌ

وَلَيسَ عَنّا بِنازِح

Death is near to us

Death is ever drawing near to us,

And does not depart from us

And never does it drift far away.

في كُلِّ يَومٍ نَعيٌ

تَصيحُ مِنهُ الصَوائِح

Every day there is a funeral

In every day a death is proclaimed,

Whose cries make hearts bleed and weep

From which the wailing voices scream.

تَشجى القُلوبُ وَتَبكي

مُوَلوِلاتُ النَوائِح

Wailing in lament

Hearts are choked with grief as they weep,

How long will you be heedless

Amidst the lamentations of the mourners.

حَتّى مَتى أَنتَ تَلهو

في غَفلَةٍ وَتُمازِح

And engage in play and jest?

How long will you distract yourself with play,

Death every day

Lost in heedlessness and jesting?

وَالمَوتُ في كُلِّ يَومٍ

في زِندِ عَيشِكَ قادِح

Assails your life of comfort

While death, with every passing day,

So work for a gloomy day

Strikes fire against the flint of your life.

فَاِعمَل لِيَومٍ عَبوسٍ

مِن شِدَّةِ الهَولِ كالِح

Filled with intense horror

So labor for that frowning Day,

Let not the world's bliss

Which scowls from the sheer terror of its might.

وَلا يَغُرَّنكَ دُنيا

نَعيمُها عَنكَ نازِح

That escapes you, deceive you

Let not this lower world deceive you,

Hating it is beauty for you

For its pleasures are fleeting far from you.

وَبُغضُها لَكَ زَينٌ

وَحُبُّها لَكَ فاضِح

Loving it disgraces you

To loathe it is your true adornment,

While loving it brings only your disgrace.