1. لا غروَ أن جارَ الزمانُ وحافا

    وألمَّ حادثُهُ بكمْ وأطافا

    No wonder that time has been unjust and oppressive,

    and its calamity has befallen you and circled round you.

  2. مَن أصبحتْ أيدي الخطوبِ تنالُه

    لم ينجُ من أيدي الخطوب كِفافا

    Whoever the hands of calamity have come to reach

    does not escape the hands of calamity unscathed.

  3. ومتى يَزن ثِقلَ الرزايا إِمرؤٌ

    ينؤ بهنَّ بلاؤهُنَّ خِفافا

    And whenever a man weighs the burden of misfortunes,

    he staggers beneath them, even when their trials are light.

  4. إن تُفجَعوا أخرى الزمان بألفكمْ

    فهي المنايا تفجعُ الألاَّفا

    If in time's latter days you are bereaved of your dear companion,

    for it is death that bereaves close companions.

  5. أحسنُ لم يُنصِفْ محاسِنَكَ البِلى

    إن البِلى لا يُحسِنُ الإِنصافا

    O Hasan, decay has not done justice to your graces;

    indeed, decay does not know how to be fair.

  6. كم خائفٍ طولَ السقامِ عليك قد

    ألقتْ مخافتُهُ إلى ما خافا

    Many a person who feared for you throughout your illness has

    been cast by his fear into what he feared.

  7. ما كنتَ إلا الغُصنَ أقبلَ مُورقاً

    غضّاً وأسرع بعد ذاك جَفافا

    You were only a branch that came forth in leaf,

    fresh and tender, and soon afterward dried up.

  8. إن يحوِ ذاك الشخصَ أطباقُ الثَّرى

    فلقد حَوَتْ منه تقىً وعفافا

    If layers of earth enclose that body,

    then they have surely enclosed his piety and chastity.

  9. يا طَوْدَ عِلْمٍ ضُعْضِعَتْ أركانُهُ

    لما تطاولَ شامخاً وأنافا

    O mountain of learning, whose pillars were shaken

    when you rose lofty and towered high.

  10. صبراً بني سلمون صبراً إِنها

    دُوَلُ الزمانِ فَمُبْتلىً ومعافى

    Patience, sons of Salmun, patience, for these are

    the turns of time: one is afflicted, another spared.

  11. إنَّ المنايا كيف عارضَتِ الورى

    وَجَدَتْهُمُ لسهامها أَهدافا

    Indeed, death, however it confronts humankind,

    finds them targets for its arrows.

  12. بل لو تجافتْ حادثاتُ الدهر عن

    قومٍ لكانتٍ عنكمُ تتجافى

    Yet if time's calamities ever kept away from

    any people, they would keep away from you.