تعلمْ من الختلِ ما تنقي

به كيدَ كلِّ فتىً خاتلِ

Learn from the crafty one what purifies

you from the deceit of every sly youth.

وخذ لمشيبكَ مكرَ الشبابِ

ومن حادثِ العامِ للقابلِ

Take for your old age the cunning of youth

and from the events of time, lessons for the future.

وإن كانَ جُلُّ الورى في جنونٍ

فما أنتَ وحدكَ بالعاقلِ

And if most of creation is in madness,

you alone are not the reasonable one.

فكنْ عالماً عاملاً بينهم

فهم خدمُ العالمِ العاملِ

So be, among them, a knowledgeable, working man

for they are the servants of the world's worker.