Abu Bakr ʿAbd Allah said: I also heard Maḥmūd al-Warrāq recite:
[metre: al-mutaqārib]
A man of reason pictures in his mind
his coming trial before its appointed time;
so if the blow should fall without a sign,
it does not startle him—he has rehearsed the climb. ⦗82⦘
He saw that every worry finds an end,
and brought that ending forward to the start, as friend.
But the ignorant feels safe in careless days,
forgetting how the men before him passed away.
Then, when the turns of fate assail his ease
with some calamity, he lifts his voice and grieves.
Had he allowed forethought to order his affair,
patience would have taught him how to bear.