1. أَرى الخَيرَ في عُمُري حَسرَةً

    لِأَنّي عَن فِعلِهِ عاجِزُ

    I see goodness in my life as a source of regret,

    because I am unable to do it.

  2. إِذا رُمتُهُ مَرَّةً في الزَمانِ

    رَجَعتُ وَلي دونَهُ حاجِزُ

    When I seek it once in the course of time,

    I turn back, with a barrier between me and it.

  3. يُماطِلُ جَدٌّ أَخا حاجَةٍ

    لَهُ أَجَلٌ بِالرَدى ناجِزُ

    Fortune keeps a man in need waiting,

    whose allotted term is promptly brought to an end by death.

  4. وَلَم أَرقَ في دَرَجاتِ الكَريمِ

    وَهَل يَبلُغُ الشاعِرَ الراجِزُ

    And I have not climbed the heights of the noble man;

    and can the rajaz versifier attain the poet's stature?