حَياتُكَ أَنفاسٌ تُعَدُّ فَكُلَّما

مَضى نَفَسٌ أَنقَصتَ بِهِ جُزءاً

Your life is but breaths being numbered, so whenever

A breath departs, you have diminished a portion thereof.

وَيُحييكَ ما يُفنيكَ في كُلِّ حالَةٍ

وَيَحدوكَ حادٍ ما يُريدُ بِكَ الهَزءا

That which sustains you is what destroys you in every instance,

And a driver urges you forward, intending no jest.

فَتُصبِحَ في نَفسٍ وَتَمشي بِغَيرِها

وَمالَكَ مِن عَقلٍ تُحِسُّ بِهِ رُزءا

You enter the morning with one breath and walk on with another,

Yet you possess no mind to perceive the calamity.