الدَهرُ يَزبِقُ مِن حَواهُ كَأَنَّهُم

شَعرٌ يُغَيَّرُ فَهوَ أَحمَرُ أَزبَقُ

Time passes by fulfilling its course as if they

Are a poem whose rhymes keeps changing, now red now green

وَالبَهمُ يُربَقُ وَالأَنامُ بَهائِمٌ

أَبَداً تُقَيَّدُ بِالقَضاءِ وَتُربَقُ

And fate keeps rhyming while people are like beasts

Always shackled by destiny's decree

فَلَكٌ يَدورُ عَلى مَعاشِرَ جَمَّةٍ

وَكَأَنَّهُ سِجنٌ عَلَيهِم مُطبَقُ

A cycle turns over crowds of gathered stars

As if it's a prison closed over them

في كُلِّ حينٍ يَستَهِلُّ مِنَ الأَذى

مَطَرٌ يَخُصُّ أَماكِناً وَيُطَبِّقُ

At every moment, harm pours down from the rain

Targeting places selectively and blanketing

مُهَجٌ تَهارَشُ في الخَسيسِ وَإِن غَدَت

كَالنابِحاتِ فَكُلُّ طَعمٍ خِربَقُ

Passions clash meanly even if they become

Like mourners where every taste is rotten

لا تَفرَحَنَّ بِما بَلَغتَ مِنَ العُلا

وَإِذا سَبَقتَ فَعَن قَليلٍ تُسبَقُ

Do not rejoice at what you have attained an ascent

And if you raced ahead, soon you will be outrun

وَلِيَحذَر الدَعوى اللَبيبُ فَإِنَّها

لِلفَضلِ مَهلَكَةٌ وَخَطبٌ موبَقُ

So let the sensible beware of boasting which is

For merit a lethal disaster and a wretched pitfall

لَو قالَ بَدرُ التَمِّ إِني دِرهَمٌ

قالَت لَهُ السَفهاءُ أَنتَ مُزأَبِقُ

If the full moon said I am but a coin

Fools would say you are tarnished and fake

إِيّاكَ وَالدُنِّيا فَإِنَّ لِباسَها

يُبلي الجُسومَ وَطَيبُها لا يَعبَقُ

Beware of this world for the dress it wears

Wears out bodies while its scent does not last

وَلَها هُمومٌ بِالنُفوسِ لَوابِقٌ

وَسُرورُها بِصُدورِنا لا يَلبَقُ

It has anxieties that ruin souls precipitously

While its joys in our hearts do not befit

وَاللَهُ خالِقُنا لِأَمرٍ شاءَهُ

أَبَقَ العَبيدُ وَعَبدُهُ لا يَأبَقُ

And God who created us for a purpose He intended

Slaves flee while His servant does not