1. تَمُرُّ لِداتي واحِداً بَعدَ واحِدِ

    وَأَعلَمُ أَنّي بَعدَهُم غَيرُ خالِدِ

    My peers pass away, one after another;

    And I know that after them I shall not live forever.

  2. وَأَحمِلُ مَوتاهُم وَأَشهَدُ دَفنَهُم

    كَأَنّي بَعيدٌ مِنهُمُ غَيرُ شاهِدِ

    And I carry their dead and witness their burial,

    As though I were far from them, not a witness.

  3. فَها أَنا في عِلمي بِهِم وَجَهالَتي

    كَمُستَيقِظٍ يَرنو بِمُقلَةِ راقِدِ

    So here I am, in my knowledge of them and my ignorance,

    Like one awake who gazes with a sleeper’s eye.