لا أسعدَ اللهُ مسعودا فَصَنْعَتُه

كوجِهه كلُّ قُبْحٍ منه مُخْتَصَرُ

No one blessed by God should alter what He made,

Like his face—all ugliness in it abbreviated.

لا يَحْلِق الرأسَ إلا مرة وبها

تُغْنيه عن عودةٍ ما مَدَّة العُمُر

One only shaves his head a single time, and that

Suffices him, returning never for life's duration.

لأنَّ أَلْطَفَ لمسٍ من أَنامِلِه

سَلْخٌ ومهل بعد سلخٍ ينبت الشَّعَر

For a hand's gentle touch is far smoother than

A scrape—after a scrape, hair grows back again.

فلو نَوى حلقَ رأسٍ في ضَمائِره

بفطنةٍ كاد منه المخ ينتثر

So if one's mind intends to shave what's in his head

He's apt by his own brains to find himself misled.