VII: Since He created thee for well-doing and virtuous…

Since He created thee for well-doing and virtuous actions,
It behoveth not, O man! that thou shouldst evil commit.

Unto the Creator, day and night, render due meed of praise:
Let it not be that thou for a moment fail in doing so!

Upon the throne of contentment sit, and a sovereign become;
And under what obligation wilt thou then, to lord or chieftain be?

The world's duration is but short: it will soon pass away!
If thou art anxious as to thy award hereafter, now is thy time!

Be prudent, and do not the world's transient pleasures pursue!
Let it not be that the prosperous be ruined by the adverse.

The torrent of death hath carried whole peoples away;
Then what stay canst thou make upon the face of the flood?

Thou wilt be awakened, at last, by the herald's summons,
Notwithstanding thou mayest upon the softest couch repose!

In no way shalt thou be able the toils of death to escape,
Even shouldst thou with seventy thousand screens thyself surround!

Since sweet existence is ever melting like unto snow away,
How much longer, with harp and rebeck, wilt thou revel and rejoice?

Sometimes the green corn is cut down; sometimes the ripe:
What dependence canst thou place, then, upon youthfulness or age?

Fear, O Khwajah Muhammad! fear, fear for thyself!
There, what answer wilt thou make, if the Almighty question thee?

The hopes of Khwajah Muhammad are upon THY mercy placed:
If THOU rebukest him he hath not the power to reply!