تَنافَسَ قَومٌ عَلى رُتبَةٍ

كَأَنَّ الزَمانَ يُديمُ الرُتَب

People vie for rank

As if time will make rank endure

وَدُنياكَ غُرَّ بِها جاهِلٌ

فَتَبَّت عَلى كُلِّ حالٍ وَتَبّ

Yet your world has fooled an ignorant one

So it faltered at every state and stumbled

وَكَم مِن بَعيرٍ قَضى دَهرَهُ

بِشَدِّ البِطانِ وَعَضِّ القَتَب

And many a camel lived out its life

With tight saddles and biting halters

وَآخَرَ في مَرتَعٍ هامِلٍ

تَظالَعَ مِن أَشَرٍ أَو عَتَب

While another in a fertile pasture

Watched out for harm or knotty reins

وَلي عَمَلٌ كَجَناحِ الغُرابِ

أَو جِنحِ لَيلٍ إِذا مارَتَب

As for me, my work is like the raven’s wing

Or the folds of night when it grows dark

فَإِن كانَ يَكتُبُهُ كاتِبٌ

فَقَد سَوَّدَ الصُبحَ مِمّا كَتَب

So if a scribe records it

He has blackened the dawn with what he wrote