إِذا لَم تَكُن دُنياكَ دارَ إِقامَةٍ

فَما لَكَ تَبنيها بِناءَ مُقيمِ

If this world is not your eternal abode

Why do you build in it as one who stays?

أَرى النَسلَ ذَنباً لِلفَتى لا يُقالُهُ

فَلا تَنكِحَنَّ الدَهرَ غَيرَ عَقيمِ

I see children as a burden for the youth

So do not marry Time, barren as it is.

فَحالُ وَحيدٍ لَم يُخَلِّف مُناسِباً

تُشابِهُ حالَي عامِرٍ وَتَميمِ

The state of the childless, who left no kin,

Is like my state, and Amir's, and Tamim's.

وَأَعجَبُ مِن جَهلِ الَّذينَ تَكاثَروا

بِمَجدٍ لَهُم مِن حادِثٍ وَقَديمِ

More wondrous than the ignorance of those

Who multiplied, boasting of new and old glory.

وَأَحلِفُ ما الدُنيا بِدارِ كَرامَةٍ

وَلا عَمَرَت مِن أَهلِها بِكَريمِ

I swear this world is no abode of dignity,

None of its people have lived honorably.

سَأَرحَلُ عَنها لا أُؤَمِّلُ أَوبَةً

ذَميماً تَوَلّى عَن جِوارِ ذَميمِ

I will leave it without hoping to return

A wretch who turned away from a wretched neighbor.

وَما صَحَّ وُدُّ الخِلِّ فيها وَإِنَّما

تَغُرُّ بِوِدٍّ في الحَياةِ سَقيمِ

True love does not thrive in it, rather

It is tempted by the love of ailing life.

فَلا تَتَعَلَّل بِالمُدامِ وَإِن تَجُز

إِلَيها الدَنايا اِّخشَ كُلَّ نَديمِ

So do not be tempted by wine, though

The world bends down to it - fear every companion!

وَجَدتَ بَني الدُنيا لَدى كُلِّ مَوطِنٍ

يَعُدّونَ فيها شِقوَةً كَنَعيمِ

In every abode the people of this world

Count misery in it as bliss.

يَزيدُكَ فَقراً كُلَّما اِزدَدتَ ثَروَةً

فَتَلقى غَنِيّاً في ثِيابِ عَديمِ

The more wealth you gain, the poorer you become,

Finding yourself richly clad, a pauper.

فَسادٌ وَكَونٌ حادِثانِ كِلاهُما

شَهيدٌ بِأَنَّ الخَلقَ صُنعُ حَكيمِ

Corruption and creation - both of them

Testify that all creation is the work of the Wise!