فَلَم أَرَ كَالدُنيا بِها اِغتَرَّ أَهلُها

وَلا كَاليَقينِ اِستَأنَسَ الدَهرَ صاحِبُه

I have never seen the like of this world, by which its people are beguiled,

Nor the like of certainty, through which its possessor finds solace in the turn of time.

أَمُرُّ عَلى رَمسِ القَريبِ كَأَنَّما

أَمُرُّ عَلى رَمسِ اِمرِئٍ ماتَ صاحِبُه

I pass by the grave of a kinsman as though

I am passing by the grave of a stranger whose companion has died.

فَوَاللَهِ لَولا أَنَّني كُلَّ ساعَةٍ

إِذا شِئتَ لاقَيتَ أَمرَأً ماتَ صاحِبُه

For by God, were it not that at every hour—

Should you wish, you would encounter a man who has lost his friend—

إِذا ما اِعتَرَيتَ الدَهرَ عَنهُ بِحيلَةٍ

تُجَدِّدُ حُزناً كُلَّ يَومٍ نَوادِبُهُ

Whenever you seek to deflect fate from him by some artifice,

The wailing women renew the sorrow every single day.