لِلنّاسِ حِرصٌ عَلى الدُنيا بِتَدبيرِ

وَصَفوُها لَكَ مَمزوجٌ بَتَكديرِ

People have a greed for this world and its gains

People harbor greed for the world with endless scheming,

Though its pleasure for you is mixed with pains

Yet its purity is forever mixed with murkiness.

كَم مِن مُلِحٍّ عَلَيها لا تُساعِدُهُ

وَعاجِزٍ نالَ دُنياهُ بِتَقصيرِ

How many worthy men it does not aid

How many persist in its pursuit, yet it aids them not,

And weaklings gain their worldly goods with little pains

While the incompetent attains his fortune despite his negligence.

لَم يُرزَقوها بِعَقلٍ حينما رُزِقوا

لَكِنَّهُم رُزِقوها بِالمقاديرِ

They were not granted it by their wisdom when granted

They were not granted provision based on intellect when they were endowed,

But it was granted by divine ordains

But rather, they were granted it through divine decrees.

لَو كانَ عَن قُوَّةٍ أَو مُغالَبَةٍ

طارَ البُزاةُ بِأَرزاقِ العَصافيرِ

Had it been by power or efforts impelling

If it were a matter of strength or forceful conquest,

Vagabonds would have taken the birds' grains

The falcons would have flown off with the sustenance of the sparrows.

وَلُقمَةٌ بِجَريشِ الملِحِ آكُلُها

أَحَبُّ مِن لُقمَةٍ تُحشى بِزَنبورِ

A morsel with salt is dearer to its eater

A single morsel eaten with coarse salt

Than a sumptuous feast that is filled with disdains

Is dearer to me than a morsel stuffed with a hornet.

كَم لُقمَةٍ جَلَبَت حَتفاً لِصاحِبِها

كَحَبَةِ القَمحِ دَقَّت عُنقَ عَصفورِ

How many a morsel brought death to its taker

How often has a bite brought doom to its owner,

Like a grain of wheat that cracked a sparrow's brains

Like the grain of wheat that snapped the sparrow's neck.