1. إِدأَب لِرَبِّكَ لا يَلومُكَ عاقِلٌ

    في سَجنِ هَذي النَفسِ أَو إِدآبِها

    Strive for your Lord; no sensible person will blame you

    For confining this soul or making it toil.

  2. سَنَؤوبُ في عُقبى الحَياةِ مَساكِناً

    لا عِلمَ لي بِالأَمرِ بَعدَ مَآبِها

    We shall return to dwellings at life's end;

    I know nothing of what follows its return.

  3. لا تَأمَنَنَّ مِنَ الدُهورِ تَغَيُّراً

    حَتّى تَكونُ ظِبائُها كَذِئابِها

    Never feel safe from the ages' changes—

    Even to the point that their gazelles become like their wolves,

  4. وَيَصيرُ في شَيبانَ مَجنى غَرسِها

    وَيَعودُ مَسقِطُ ثَلجِها في آبِها

    And the harvest of their plantings comes in Shayban,

    And their snow falls again in their Ab.

  5. أَبقَت أَحاديثَ الرِجالِ وَأَهلَكَت

    سَلَفي عُتَيبَتَهَا وَآلَ ذُؤابِها

    The ages have preserved men's tales and destroyed

    My forebears—their Utayba and the clan of their Dhu'ab.