حاجي نَظيمُ جُمانٍ وَالحَياةُ مَعي

سِلكٌ قَصيرٌ فَيَأبى جَمعَها القِصَرُ

Haji Nazim of Juman Life accompanied me,

A short path, so brevity refused to unite them,

أَمّا المُرادُ فَجَمٌّ لا يُحيطُ بِهِ

شَرحٌ وَلَكِن عُمرَ المَرءِ مُختَصَرُ

As for what is intended, it was a whole, not encompassed

By explanation, though a person's life is brief,

وَالدَهرُ يَخطُبُ أَهلَ اللُبِّ مُذ عَقَلوا

ما خافَ عِيّاً وَلا أَزرى بِهِ الحَصَرُ

And time solicited the intelligent since they had reason,

Neither fearing the weak, nor confined by shackles,

وَالغَيُّ في كُلِّ شَيءٍ لَيسَ يَعدَمُهُ

باغيهِ حَتّى مِنَ الأَعنابِ تُعتَصَرُ

And transgression in everything, its transgressor does not lack it

Even from grapes they would be pressed,

وَالشَرُّ في عالَمٍ شاهَدتُهُ خُلُقٌ

ما صَدَّهُم عَن أَذاهُ الحُرُّ وَالخَصَرُ

And evil in a world I witnessed was a trait

Neither virtue nor chains deterred them from harm

فَالصُمُّ مِن عُنصُرِ الإِفسادِ حاسِدَةٌ

لِصَحَّةِ السَمعِ خُلداً ما لَهُ بَصَرُ

So deafness from the element of corruption is an envious one

Of the health of hearing, eternally sightless.