1. I saw you reap what you had sown
So do not deny that it was roughage

2. And pardon the splinter or pull it out perforce
While he who wanted only the thorns—let him pardon

3. And do not think what we dislike breaking
Is safety, for from nearness it turns to conflict

4. Nor feel secure from hidden rancors
For the prudent one is he who fears the unseen and is wary

5. We are but marks for the fates
That hit the core or miss the fringe

6. And it is the same in my losing circumspection
Whether I felt safe or was wary of fear

7. Why should my truest friends serve me
Drafts of sorrow that were not delectable

8. If my companion falls sick from harm
It gladdens me not that I stay healthy

9. And I escape no evil that befalls my fellows
And heal by stinginess I choose and revel in

10. Leave me; do not turn me away seeking
Nor wear anything but the cloak of deception

11. How many houses of yours were desired in humiliation
Yet you made no partition to protect them

12. Had you, when you winked your eyelids
Over malice, widened them in sagacity

13. And cured the illnesses when they were mild
How many strong ones arose from the weak

14. You met as you wished and we wished in you
But it is most sublime that disagreement be avoided

15. It is as if you are a band on blowing wastes
Driving steeds to salvation bare

16. With a perdition I steered which destroyed its rider
And many a time he sniffed the dust and traveled

17. When she flapped her wing, she merely extended
The servant girls of Banu Lakhm their hands

18. May God water a people who went their way
And filled the roads of greed with integrity

19. Theirs is a stream they were granted or they initiated
Palms that serve the draft quick and bountiful

20. They answered the noses of death despite our noses
So what did that screeching screech harvest