1. She said, and though she was silent, her silence was not in vain,
Have words failed you, or have they come to an end?

2. We knew you had generosity,
Though we never knew you to be sparing.

3. So unleash your thoughts to flow freely,
And untie your tongue to unknot dilemmas.

4. Of what value is a man of conviction
If he does not tell people what he believes?

5. And an army at the ready fully prepared
If it was not readied for war?

6. The light concealed, so I said to her
Enough blame, and shorten the hostility.

7. What good is a voice raised up high
If that voice has no echo?

8. The light emanating and spreading
If it does not provide guidance to the people?

9. The succession of events
Have changed my confusion into composure.

10. My mind and pen have not failed me,
But I saw poetry had come to a halt.

11. My youth was there and I had hope
As deep as an ocean and as long as time.

12. Friends like a garden's fragrance,
And companions as numerous as its roses.

13. But when I stretched out my hand
And turned my eyes, I found no one.

14. Childhood passed and passion went with it,
And old age had arrived.

15. So if today I see a flirtatious lady,
I avert my eyes as if cataracts cloud them.

16. And if a cup is passed around, I pass it by
Though once I would blame whoever abstained.

17. And if I hear the shouts of a reveler,
I block my hearing and my liver from it.

18. I buried my dreams and told them
Sleep, for passion has slumbered.

19. The calamities that fell upon me silenced me,
Just as storms silence the songbird.

20. A life-long friend who swore to me
That if I flew, he would fly, if I walked, he would walk.

21. I believed him and made him my support
And I stood for him as a pillar.

22. But when I stretched out my hand
And turned my eyes, I found no one.

23. India - just the mention of her name
And I suppose snakes recoil or senses numb.

24. She was a goddess I used to worship
Adore and revere - how much worship that was!

25. How often I visited her alive and alert
And left her alive and awake.

26. And how many times I stood with her at the pond
As the wind wove brocade above it.

27. And the earth danced under us, enraptured,
While the stars danced above us, envious.

28. And how many times we sat in the gardens together
With no fear of spies or ambush.

29. The night draped over the earth
And clouds froze over the moon.

30. Passion met me closely at times
And complained to me when distant.

31. But when I stretched out my hand
And turned my eyes, I found no one.

32. A people I once captivated
Brought me sorrow and despair.

33. They had promised if I stretched out my hand
Every youth would stretch his to mine.

34. They said tomorrow our clouds will rain,
So I went back saying tomorrow.

35. I thought I would catch up to the four,
Whether they hid underground or ascended.

36. So I went walking happily on the ground,
Whether seated in a group or alone.

37. The holy warrior attained his goal
Or the pauper if he was blessed.

38. But when I stretched out my hand
And turned my eyes, I found no one.

39. They threatened me when I cried out at them
My ferocious cries of criticism.

40. And I saw in their pupils a spark
And I saw in their throats rage.

41. And I heard one of them cry out to them
To kill me wherever I was found.

42. So I went back seeing them as brutes
Lost in confusion, and seeing myself as a child.

43. Nights passed, beyond count,
And I was sad, dejected, frozen.

44. I shudder if I see any one of them
Like a frightened rabbit seeing a lion.

45. And if I sleep, I sleep restless,
And if I wake, I wake shaking.

46. But when I stretched out my hand
And turned my eyes, I found no one.

47. Do not mention them if they ask,
And if they ask, do not mention me at all.

48. Not one of them can fill a barn,
Yet they have promises that would fill a country.

49. Oh how I wish I never knew them
Before I ever knew anyone.