AL MA'ARRI (973-1059)

The heart is like water.
Passions agitate its surface, Rippling water in waiter.
Creature-like, an [bad word] both the good and bad.
Like time, human beings body forth
As much of darkness as of light.

Just as day illuminates
Before the night,
so an extinguished star begets
Another's brilliance.

Similar to our vanished forebeats,
So we, similarly, must disappear.
Time alone
ensure its own endurance,
As plainly as you can plainly see.

Stranger in their native land are
Ardent practitoners of good,
Whose intimates sever ties and turn
Frequentation to a widening gulf.

Remember, should you have sealed
Friendship in the throes of poverty,
Should Properity arrive,remember.