I: O Thou, for ever, with the cares of…

O THOU, for ever, with the cares of the flesh, distracted!
Why awaken for thy soul, sleeping misfortune and calamity?

The wise act not according to the counsels of their enemies:
Then why takest thou the advice of the devil, carnality?

Have some degree of shame for this white beard of thine!
And, moreover, in broad day, robbery cannot be effected.

Look thou well to this thine own fast fleeting breath;
Since to depart, every respiration raiseth the cry--Begone!

For what evil are worldly goods accumulated with thee?
When the bees fill the comb, they are of the honey deprived.

In the sight of God, as a man among men, thou art well;
But not, in the world's eye, a self-made Shaykh and Mulla.

When the pus exudeth from the sore, the invalid ease obtaineth;
But thou, at the passing away of this world, bewailest.

The hand of despair he will soon place upon his hip,
Who girdeth up his loins, in the world's people confiding.

O Hamid! the fostering of the flesh's lusts is improper;
For no one, surely, showeth affection for an inveterate foe!