تَبارَكتَ إِنَّ المَوتَ فَرضٌ عَلى الفَتى

وَلَو أَنَّهُ بَعضُ النُجومِ الَّتي تَسري

Blessed are you, death is ordained for the youth

Even if he were one of the stars that run their course

وَرُبَّ اِمرِئٍ كَالنَسرِ في العِزِّ وَالعُلا

هَوى بِسِنانٍ مِثلِ قادِمَةِ النَسرِ

And many a man is like an eagle in power and sublimity

Yet fell with a spear just like an eagle falls

وَهَوَّنَ مانَلقى مِنَ البُؤسِ أَنَّنا

بَنو سَفَرٍ أَو عابِرونَ عَلى جِسرِ

And we made light of the misery we encountered

Since we are travelers or passersby on a bridge

وَما يَترُكُ الإِنسانُ دُنياهُ راضِياً

بِعِزٍّ وَلَكِن مُستَضاماً عَلى قَسرِ

And man leaves not his world content

With power, but aggrieved and forced

وَما تَمنَعُ الآدابُ وَالمُلكُ سَيِّداً

كَقابوسَ في أَيّامِهِ وَفَنا خُسَرِ

Nor do manners and possessions stop a lord

Like Kabis in the days of vanishing ruin

مَتّى أَلقَ مِن بَعدِ المَنيَّةِ أُسرَتي

أُخَبِّرهُمُ أَنّي خَلصتُ مِنَ الأَسرِ

When I meet my loved ones after death

I will tell them I have been freed from captivity

سَما نَفَرٌ ضَربَ المِئَتَينِ وَلَم أَزَل

بِحَمدِكَ مِثلَ الكَسرِ يُضرَبُ في الكَسرِ

An arrow struck hundreds and yet I remained

By Your grace, like a fraction within a fraction