1. قل عَلى الدنيا سلام واعترف

    بمخاز رغم ود تقترف

    Say farewell to the world, and confess

    To shameful deeds you commit despite your wishes.

  2. انتَ في جهل وَعَهدي بالَّذي

    في ربوع الجهل يَخطو للتلف

    You dwell in ignorance, and I know that whoever

    Dwells in ignorance's realms walks toward ruin.

  3. أَنتَ ذو حظ الى امثاله

    عَن سَواد اللَيل دين وَسلف

    You have a fortune to whose like

    The blackness of night owes a debt and a loan.

  4. أَنتَ في نوع ابتسام واذا

    فحصوا ما فيك قالوا في اسف

    You wear a sort of smile; and when

    They examine what is in you, they say in sorrow:

  5. أَنتَ كَالتَنوين وَالعَلياء في

    جهة اخرى كلام والف

    You are like nunation, while eminence lies in

    Another direction, like lām and alif.

  6. كلما اسمعت شمر قلت لا

    أَو سمعت العلم يَتلى قلت اف

    Whenever you are told, “Roll up your sleeves,” you say, “No,”

    Or hear knowledge recited, you say, “Ugh.”

  7. هكها مني نَصيحات الَّذي

    حفه سقم انحطاط فنحف

    Take them from me—the counsels of one

    Whom the sickness of decline beset, so he wasted away.

  8. هكها عَن بركات اللَه يا

    ايها المَغرور خذها لا تَخَف

    Take them with God's blessings, O

    Deluded one; take them, do not fear.

  9. قَد تَقضي يَوما الماضي وَقَد

    آن يوم السعي وَالوَقت ازف

    The past's two days have ended, and now

    The day of striving has come, and the hour is near.

  10. هذه أَيام ارباب الحجى

    ليسَ للصمصام فيها من حرف

    These are the days of the masters of reason;

    In them the keen sword has not a word to say.

  11. فاخلع الخف الى العلم وَلا

    ترجعن من بعد أَوقات بخف

    So take off your boot in pursuit of knowledge, and do not

    Return, after a time, with a boot.

  12. وادخلن بستانه يا املي

    واجن باقات المَعالي واِقتَطف

    And enter its garden, O my hope,

    And gather bouquets of lofty attainments, and pluck them.

  13. سر وَخف السير لا تركن الى

    غيره أَولا فللاوصاب خف

    Go, and quicken your pace; do not incline toward

    Anything else; otherwise, fear afflictions.

  14. انما العلم اب الدنيا وَما

    فَوقها ممن تعرى وَالتحف

    Knowledge alone is father to the world and all

    Upon it—the naked and the cloaked.

  15. هُوَ ذاكَ الرتل في سرعته

    حيث في الفَيفاء تلقاه يزف

    It is that train in its swiftness,

    There in the desert you find it speeding along.

  16. هُوَ في المنطاد روح واذا

    قلت روحا كنت بالحق اصف

    It is a soul within the balloon; and when

    I call it a soul, I describe it truthfully.

  17. هُوَ ذاكَ السلك ياتيك بما

    في زَوايا الأَرض من غير كلف

    It is that wire, bringing you what lies

    In the corners of the earth, without trouble.

  18. هُوَ ذاكَ الرعد ان جئت الوَغى

    هُوَ ذاكَ البرق ان جئت الغرف

    It is that thunder when you enter the fray;

    It is that lightning when you enter the chambers.

  19. هُوَ آيات الهنا هُوَ الَّذي

    ما له مَهما سعينا من أَرف

    It is the signs of joy; it is that

    Which has no bounds, however hard we strive.

  20. ليت شعري هَل توجهنا له

    يا بني الأَوطان صفا بعد صف

    Would that I knew: have we turned toward it,

    O sons of the homelands, rank after rank?

  21. ما لَكم في جهلكم واعجبي

    فوقَ سطح الأَرض صرتم كجيف

    What ails you in your ignorance—oh, my astonishment!

    Upon the earth's surface you have become like carcasses.

  22. لا تَموتوا فوقها قد لاح ما

    سار بالشرق لموت وانكشف

    Do not die upon it; now there has come to light what

    Led the East to death, and it stands revealed.

  23. لات ساعات البكا ان تندبوا

    حظكم من بعد او حظ الخلف

    It will be too late for weeping if you mourn

    Your lot afterward, or the lot of posterity.

  24. فاِركَبوا اجنحة العلم وَلَو

    فوقها صرتم كردف مرتدف

    So ride the wings of knowledge, even if

    Upon them you become like a rider seated behind another.

  25. أَو اريحوا روحكم من عيشها

    وانزعوها فهو اشهى واخف

    Or relieve your soul of its life,

    And wrench it out, for that is sweeter and lighter.