تأهّب يومَ فطرِكَ للمعاصي

وخذ شوّالَ ويحكَ بالقصاصِ

Prepare on the day of your break from sin

Make ready on the Feast of Breaking Fast for sins anew,

And take Shawwal and beware of punishments

And take the month of Shawwal—woe to you!—to exact your due,

وصل أيامَهُ بالليل حتى

ترى الستينَ ليس بذي انتفاص

Join its days with the night until

Connect its very days unto its nights, until you find

You see sixty with no decrease

The sixty measures full and whole, with nothing left behind,

ورأسُ الأمرِ في إحرازِ ظبي

تقلّبهُ وتدفعُ في المعاصي

The essence of the matter is preserving prey

The summit of the matter lies in winning a gazelle,

Juggling it and pushing into sin

To hold and tumble, plunging deep where sinful pleasures dwell,

فهذا اللهوُ لا لهوٌ بيومٍ

عبوسٍ فيه يُؤخذُ بالنواصي

This playing is no playing on a

For this is distinct pleasure, not the portion of that Day,

Gloomy day when seizings happen by the forelocks

So stern, when by the forelock men are seized and dragged away.