إِذا شِئتَ أَن تَرقى جِدارَكَ مَرَّةً

لِأَمرٍ فَآذِن جارَ بَيتِكَ مِن قَبلُ

If you wish to transcend your wall one time

For some matter, then first notify your neighbor

وَلا تَفجَأَنهُ بِالطُلوعِ فَرُبَّما

أَصابَ الفَتى مِن هَتكِ جارَتِهِ خَبَلُ

And do not surprise him with your rising, lest

The young man be stricken by your violating his privacy

وَمازالَ يَفتَنُّ اِمرُؤٌ في اِختِيالِهِ

وَفي مَشيهِ حَتّى مَشى وَلَهُ كَبلُ

And man continues to be tempted by his imaginings

And his gait until he walked bound in shackles

وَإِِنَّ سَبيلَ الخَيرِ لِلمَرءِ واضِحٌ

إِلى يَومٍ يَقضي ثُمَّ تَنقَطِعُ السُبُل

Verily the path of good for a man is clear

Until a day he settles, then the paths are cut off

وَيَسمَعُ أَقوالَ الرِجالِ تُعيبُهُ

وَأَهوَنُ مِنها في مَواقِعِها النَبلُ

And he hears the words of men blaming him

While arrows in their settling are lighter than them

يَحُلُّ دِيارَ المُندِياتِ بِرُغمِهِ

وَيَرحَلُ عَنها وَالفُؤادُ بِهِ تَبلُ

He visits the abodes of beautiful women against their will

And departs from them while his heart within him melts

إِذا مُسَكُ العَيشِ اِنقَضَت وَتَقَضَّبَت

فَما يَسأَلُ الضِرغامُ ما فَعَلَ الشِبلُ

When the pleasures of life have passed and withered

The grown hyena asks not what the cub has done

عَلِقتُ بِحَبلِ العُمرِ خَمسينَ حِجَّةً

فَقَد رَثَّ حَتّى كادَ يَنصَرِمُ الحَبلُ

I clung to the rope of life for fifty pilgrimages

So it frayed until it almost snapped

وَهَل يَنفَعُ الطَلُّ الَّذي هُوَ نازِلٌ

بِذاتِ رِمالٍ عِندَما جَحَدَ الوَبلُ

Does rainfall descending on shifting sands avail

When the clouds have cruelly withheld their gift?