1. أَرى الأَشياءَ لَيسَ لَها ثَباتُ

    وَما أَجسادُنا إِلّا نَباتُ

    I see that things have no permanence,

    And our bodies are nothing but vegetation.

  2. بِإِذنِ اللَهِ تَفتَرِقُ البَرايا

    لِطيَّتِها وَتَجتَمِعُ الثُباتُ

    By God's leave, creatures disperse

    Toward their destinations, and groups assemble.

  3. أَجَلَّت سَبتَها أَشياعُ موسى

    أَسَبتُ القَطعِ ذاكَ أَم السُباتُ

    Moses' followers revered their Sabbath;

    Is that a Sabbath of cessation, or of slumber?

  4. سَأَلتُ عَنِ البَواكِرِ أَينَ أَضحَت

    وَعَن أَهلِ التَرَوُّحِ أَينَ باتوا

    I asked about the early travelers: where did morning find them?

    And about the evening travelers: where did they spend the night?

  5. وَهَل أَرواحُ هَذا الخَلقِ إِلّا

    عَوارِيُّ المَقادِرِ لا الهِباتُ

    And are the souls of this creation anything but

    Loans from fate, not gifts?

  6. تَبَغَّضُ ساعُنا أَبَداً إِلَينا

    وَهُنَّ إِلى النُفوسِ مُحَبَّباتُ

    Our hours forever make themselves hateful to us,

    Yet they are beloved by souls.

  7. جِيادٌ ما يَزالُ لَها خَبيبٌ

    قَوارِبُ بِالأَنيسِ مُقَرِّباتُ

    Noble steeds whose trotting never ceases,

    Bound for water, cantering with their human companion.

  8. وَمَن يُحمى وَنُسوَةُ آلِ كِسرى

    وُقوفٌ بِالعَراءِ مُسَلَّباتُ

    And who is protected, when the women of Khosrow's house

    Stand in the open, despoiled?

  9. وَما يَدري الفَتى وَالظَنُّ جَهلٌ

    وَأَقضِيَةُ المَليكِ مُغَيَّباتُ

    And what does a man know? Conjecture is ignorance,

    And the Sovereign's decrees are hidden.

  10. لَعَلَّ بَناتِ نَعشٍ وَالثُرَيّا

    وَشَرقَةَ لِلرَدى مُتَأَهِّباتُ

    Perhaps the Daughters of the Bier and the Pleiades

    And Sharqah, the sun, are making ready for death.