أَكرِم بَياضَكَ عَن خِطرٍ يُسَوِّدُهُ

وَاِزجُر يَمينَكَ عَن شَيبٍ تُنَقّيهِ

Honor your whiteness from a danger that blackens it

And restrain your right hand from vice that pollutes it

لَقَيتَهُ بِجَلاءٍ عَن مَنازِلِهِ

وَلَيسَ يَحسُنُ هَذا مِن تَلَقّيهِ

You met it with clarity from its dwellings

And it is not good, this reception from you

أَلا تَفَكَّرتَ قَبلَ النَسلِ في زَمَنٍ

بِهِ حَلَلتَ فَتَدري أَينَ تُلقيهِ

Did you not think before having children in a time

In which you dissolved, so you would know where to lead them

تَرجو لَهُ مِن نَعيمِ الدَهرِ مُمتَنَعاً

وَما عَلِمتَ بِأَنَّ العَيشَ يُشقيهِ

You hope for them from the bliss of time the unattainable

Yet you did not know that life makes them suffer

شَكا الأَذى فَسَهِرتَ اللَيلَ وَاِبتَكَرَت

بِهِ الفَتاةُ إِلى شَمطاءَ تَرقيهِ

He complained of pain so you stayed up nights and got up early

With him the young woman climbed the hill to heal him

وَأُمُّهُ تَسأَلُ العَرّافَ قاضِيَةً

عَنهُ النُذورَ لَعَلَّ اللَهَ يُبقيهِ

And his mother asks the fortune teller judging

About him, vowing offerings, perhaps God will keep him alive

وَأَنتَ أَرشَدُ مِنها حينَ تَحمِلُهُ

إِلى الطَبيبِ يُداويهِ وَيَسقيهِ

While you are more rightly-guided than her when you take him

To the doctor who treats him and gives him medicine

وَلَو رَقى الطِفلَ عيسى أَو أُعيدَ لَهُ

بُقراطُ ما كانَ مِن مَوتٍ يُوَقّيهِ

If the child was treated by Jesus or Hippocrates was brought back to life for him

It would not save him from death

وَالحَيُّ في العُمرِ مِثلُ الغِرِّ يَرقَأَُ في

سورِ العِدى وَإِلى حَتفٍ تَرَقّيهِ

The living in life are like the spinning of wool, climbing

The battlements of time, and to death you lead them

دَنَّستَ عِرضَكَ حَتّى ما تَرى دَنَساً

لَكِن قَميصُكَ لِلأَبصارِ تُنقيهِ

You have defiled your honor until you see no defilement

But your shirt to the sights you purify