أَعاذِلَ بِعتُ الجَهلَ حَيثُ يُباعُ

وَأَبرَزتُ رَأسي ما عَلَيهِ قِناعُ

I have shunned ignorance wherever it is sold

O blamer, I have sold my folly in the market where it is sold,

And I have held my head high, though it wears a mask

And I have bared my head; there is no veil remaining upon it.

نَهاني أَميرُ المُؤمِنينِ عَنِ الصَبا

وَأَمرُ أَميرُ المُؤمِنينِ مُطاعُ

The Commander of the Faithful has forbidden me from folly

The Commander of the Faithful has forbidden me from youthful passion,

And obeying the Commander of the Faithful is imperative

And the command of the Commander of the Faithful must be obeyed.

وَلَهوٍ لِتَأنيبِ الإِمامِ تَرَكتُهُ

وَفيهِ لِلاهٍ مَنظَرٌ وَسَماعُ

For fear of the Imam's rebuke, I have forsaken diversion

How many diversions I abandoned due to the Imam's rebuke,

In which there is frivolity and entertainment

Though in them, for the reveler, were spectacles and song.

وَرَيّانَ مِن ماءِ الشَبابِ كَأَنَّما

يُظَمّأُ مِن ضُمرِ الحَشا وَيُجاعُ

Like one who slakes his thirst with the water of youth

And [I left] many a lush youth, fresh with the water of life, as though

From the udder of a fat cow when famished

He were parched and famished by the slenderness of his waist.

قَصَرتُ عَلَيهِ النَفسَ دونَ مُدامَةٍ

هِيَ اليَومَ حَربٌ وَهيَ أَمسِ شِياعُ

I have curbed my soul without persistent effort

I confined my soul to him alone, apart from the wine,

For today it wages war and yesterday it was broken to pieces

Which is today a war to me, though yesterday it was an ally.