III: There is no return for thee, a second…

There is no return for thee, a second time, unto this world!
To-day is thy opportunity, whether thou followest evil or good!

Every thing for which the opportunity is gone, is the phoenix of our desires;
But the immortal bird hath never been caught in any one's net.

The stream, that hath left the sluice, floweth not back again!
The hour, which hath passed away, returneth to us no more!

For time is, alas! like unto the dead in the sepulchre's niche;
And no one hath brought, by weeping, the dead to life again.

If thou hast any object to attain, be quick, for time is short:
Flatter not thyself on the permanency of this brief existence!

Each target, of which, in thy heart, thou considerest thyself sure,
Through pride and vanity, thou wilt surely miss thine aim of.

Over-sanguine hope hath rendered many desponding:
Be not off thy guard as to the deceit and fraud of time!

When thy mouth becometh shattered by the stroke of death,
In what manner wilt thou then offer praises with it?

The bereaved woman, who giveth utterance to her bewailings,
Lamenteth over thee, if thou understandest what she says.

Thou art not a child, that one should teach thee by force:
Thou art wise and intelligent, and arrived at maturity's years.

Exercise, then, thine own understanding as to good and evil,
Whether thy well-being lieth in this, or in that.

Conceal thy face beneath thy mantle, and open thine eyes:
Fly not far away on the winds of vanity and ambition!

Soar not unto the heavens with thy head in the air,
For thou art, originally, from the dust of the earth created.

At the last day, inquiry will not be made of thee,
As to whether thou art the son or grandson of such an one.

To the bride, who may not be handsome in her own person,
What signify her mother's or her grandmother's good looks?

Practise goodness in thine own person, and fear evil!
Presume not on the virtues of thy father or thy mother!

These precepts, O my friend! I urge upon myself:
Be not then grieved that I have made use of thy name.

I use thine and those of others, but speak to myself alone:
With any one else, I have neither motive nor concern.

Whatever I utter, I address the whole unto myself:
All these failings and defects are only mine own.

Had I a place for these sorrows within my own breast,
Why should I give utterance unto these declamations?

Since the racking pains of mortality are before thee,
Why dost thou not die, O Rahman! before they come?