عدة الموت قنوط محبط

والحياة الحق أن لا تقنطوا

Death's weapon is crushing despair.

And true life is that you do not despair.

إنما العيش رجاء يوصل

فقنوط الحي سم يقتل

Life is but hope that leads to attainment.

So the living person's despair is a poison that kills.

يأسك القبر إليه ترجع

إن تكن ألوند فهو المصرع

Your despair is the grave to which you return.

Even if you are Alvand, it is your downfall.

ربت الخيبة في أكنافه

ونما العجز على ألطافه

Failure has flourished in its folds.

And helplessness has grown upon its favors.

آه من نوم الحياة المخدر

إنه آية ضعف العنصر

Ah, the stupefying slumber of life!

It is a sign of weakness in one's nature.

كحله في العين يعمى البصرا

ويرد الصبح ليلا أكدرا

Its kohl in the eye blinds the sight.

And turns the morning into a murky night.

نفس منه سموم للحياه

كل ينبوع به جف ثراه

A breath from it is a deadly hot wind to life.

Through it, every spring's soil has dried.

وهو للغم حليف واصل

إنما الغم لحي قاتل

And it is sorrow's closely bound ally.

Sorrow is nothing but a killer of the living.

يا سجين الغم أبصر واسمع

من رسول الله لا تحزن وعي

O prisoner of sorrow, look and listen:

From God's Messenger, 'Do not grieve'—and take heed.

ذلك النصح سرى في قلبه

فغدا الصديق صديقا به

That counsel flowed through his heart.

Thus al-Siddiq became truly truthful through it.

إنما المسلم مثل الكوكب

باسم في سعيه والدأب

The Muslim is indeed like a star.

Smiling in his striving and perseverance.

حرر النفس من الغم ودع

إن عرفت الله أغلال الطمع

Free your soul from sorrow, and cast off—

If you know God—the shackles of greed.

قوة الأيمان تحيي فاعلمن

ورد لا خوف عليهم فاقرأن

Faith's power gives life—know this well.

It is stated, 'No fear shall be upon them'—so read.

قلبه من لا تخف قلب سليم

حين يمضي نحو فرعون كليم

His heart, through 'Do not fear,' is a sound heart,

When Kalim goes forth toward Pharaoh.

خوف غير الله قتل العمل

وهو للأحياء قطع السبل

Fear of anything but God is the death of action.

And it cuts off the paths of the living.

وبه العزم يخاف الغيرا

وترى المقدام منه حذرا

And through it, resolve fears others.

And you see the bold man grow wary because of it.

من نما ذا البذر يوما في ثراه

حرمته مر تجليها الحياه

Whoever once grew this seed in his soil,

Life denied him the bitterness of its revelation.

فهو فل وهو شاد يعزف

بيد شلت وقلب يرجف

So he is broken, and he is a minstrel playing

With a paralyzed hand and a trembling heart.

يسرق الرجل قوي تسيارها

يسلب الرأس قوى أفكارها

It robs the leg of the strength of its stride.

It robs the head of the power of its thoughts.

إن تجلى لعدو خوفكا

هان كالورد عليه قطفكا

If your fear becomes plain to an enemy,

Plucking you is as easy for him as plucking a rose.

سيفه يزداد فتكا في اليد

عينه فيك حسام لا يدى

His sword grows deadlier in his hand.

His eye upon you is a sword that pays no blood money.

غلنا الخوف وكم في بحرنا

من عباب مائج في دهرنا

Fear has shackled us—yet how full is our sea

Of billowing swell in this age of ours!

إن أبى النغمة يوما مزهرك

فمن الخوف تندى وترك

If your lute one day refuses a tune,

Then your string has grown damp with fear.

فاعرك الأذن يثر فيه الغناء

ويهز اللحن آفاق السماء

So twist the ear, and song will stir within it.

And the melody will shake the horizons of the sky.

كل شر في فؤاد يضمر

أصله الخوف إذا ما تبصر

Every evil harbored in a heart

Has fear at its root, if you look closely.

من ديار الموت عين قدما

مثل ميم الموت قلب أظلما

It is an ancient spy from the abodes of death.

Its heart has grown dark like the mim in the Arabic word for death.

عينه تلبيس آثار الحياه

أذنه تدليس أخبار الحياه

Its eye distorts the signs of life.

Its ear falsifies the tidings of life.

يزهر الخب به والملق

ونفاق القلب منه يورق

Deceit and flattery bloom through it.

And the heart's hypocrisy puts forth leaves from it.

ثوبه للزور ستر والريب

حجره الفتنة فيه والحرب

Its robe is a covering for falsehood and doubt.

In its lap lie discord and war.

حرم الخوف طموح الهمة

فهو خدن لحليف الذلة

Fear has deprived resolve of its soaring ambition.

Thus it is a close friend to humiliation's ally.