1. قائِدُ الغَفلَةِ الأَمَل

    وَالهَوى قائِدُ الزَلَل

    Hope is the guide to heedlessness,

    and desire is the guide to error.

  2. قَتَلَ الجَهلُ أَهلَهُ

    وَنَجا كُلُّ مَن عَقَل

    Ignorance has slain its people,

    and all who used reason have survived.

  3. فَاِغتَنِم دَولَةَ السَلا

    مَةِ وَاِستَأنِفِ العَمَل

    So seize the season of well-

    being, and begin your work anew.

  4. أَيُّها المُبتَني القُصو

    رَ وَقَد شابَ وَاِكتَهَل

    O you who build pal-

    aces, though you have grown gray and reached middle age,

  5. أَخبَرَ الشَيبُ عَنك أَن

    نَك في آخِرِ الأَجَل

    Your gray hair has revealed that

    you are at the end of your allotted span.

  6. فَعَلامَ الوُقوفُ في

    عَرصَةِ العَجزِ وَالكَسَل

    Why, then, stand in

    the arena of helplessness and sloth?

  7. أَنتَ في مَنزِل إِذا

    حَلَّهُ نازِلٌ رَحَل

    You are in a dwelling where, when

    a lodger settles, he departs:

  8. مَنزِلٍ لَم يَزَل يَضي

    قُ وَيَنبو بِمَن نَزَل

    A dwelling that has never ceased to nar-

    row and be inhospitable to whoever settles there.

  9. فَتَأَهَّب لِرِحلَةٍ

    لَيسَ يَسعى بِها جَمَل

    So prepare yourself for a journey

    on which no camel travels:

  10. رِحلَةٍ لَم تَزَل عَلى

    الدَهرِ مَكروهَةَ القَفَل

    A journey that has always, throughout

    the ages, had a dreaded return.