مُذ بصّرَتْني تَجاريبي ونَبَّهَني

خُبْرِي بدهرِي فقدتُ العيشةَ الرّغَدَا

Since my experiences enlightened me and warned me,

And my knowledge of my fate made me lose a life of ease,

كأنَّنِي كنتُ في حُلْمٍ فأيقظَني

خَوْفي وآلَى على جفنيَّ لا رَقَدَا

It was as if I had been in a dream and was awakened,

My fear denied sleep to my eyelids.

عجزتُ عن الدنيَا فما ليَ من يدٍ

بِها وليَ الأيَدُ المساعدُ واليَدُ

I was helpless in the world, having no capable hand

To help me, though helping hands and hands to lean on abound.

ولكنّنِي لم أسْلُ عنها فأرْعَوي

ولا نِلتُ منها ما أَوَدُّ وأقصِدُ

But I never asked anything of it, to be pampered,

Nor gained from it what I wish and desire.

شَقِيتُ بما أحرزتُه من فضائلٍ

بأيسرِها يحظى الشقيُّ ويَسعَدُ

I suffered from the excellent virtues I had acquired

With the least of them the wretched attain happiness and bliss.

وفي النَّفسِ إن ناجَيْتُها باطِّراحِها

وبالزُّهدِ فيها فترةٌ وترَدُّدُ

And if my soul escaped with the shedding of its faults,

There would be in it hesitation and relapse.

فيا ربّ أَلْهمْها الرشادَ بتركِها

فإِنَّك تهدِي من تشاءُ وتُرْشِدُ

O Lord, inspire it with guidance through abandoning them!

For you guide whom you will, and you point the way.