16 – Muhammad ibn al-Husayn narrated to me; Abu al-Fadl, the freedman of the Banu Hashim, narrated to me. He said: A man was asked, “How are you this morning?” He answered:

Life ebbs away while sins keep growing;
The youth’s first slip is pardoned, then he returns.

17 – Another narrator added:

A man is questioned about the span of his years—
He wishes them fewer, yet from death he turns aside.

18 – ʿĪsā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān recited to me:

You have spent your lifetime shielding yourself
From winter’s cold and summer’s heat;
Far better it would have been to shield yourself
From sin, for fear of the Fire.