1. Few fulfill the etiquette of friendship sincerely,
So who can I find, content with frugality to confide in?

2. I've tested mankind yet found no true friend
Who's affection endures without pretense.

3. Is there a noble soul who lightens hearts' burdens
With innate character inclined towards glory, lending aid?

4. I'd be content with one whom the soul does not crave closeness,
And who finds no need for affectation.

5. Had I met a miser who pleased me,
I'd not pine for my homeland amidst hostile dwellers.

6. But I live estranged among folk prone to harm
United only when misfortune strikes.

7. Their gangling limbs in their encampments
Sway like ostrich necks ‘midst withered palms.

8. Barefoot, naked, unlike the noble,
They flutter like spider webs tattered and torn.

9. From their mouths sputters the drivel of chewed cud
Like blood dripping from a cleft nose.

10. When they chatter amongst themselves you hear
Their voices like jinn wailing in the wilderness.

11. So here I am, among a dispersed flock
And longings, amidst a united folk.

12. I yearn for my family and remember my neighbors
And miss my friends, craving the familiar.

13. I cannot indulge my desires nor find
Whom I love to console my spirit.

14. Yet for my overindulgence in passion
I remain loyal in friendship to those I held dear.

15. A nature not inclined to fall for passions,
And a pact between sword and scripture.

16. Not all friendly talk is truthful
Nor every association labeled loving, faithful.

17. Morals overlap except for remnants
By which the loyal can be known from the unfaithful.

18. A man’s nobility is through his soul alone
Though he possesses inherited fortune and estate.

19. If gaining merit were easy, commoners would vie
With the distinguished people of refuge and grace.

20. If a sly soul breaks its word and promise,
I have in Ali a friend matchless and true.

21. A zealot called my name and I responded-
Welcome to him, from a devoted heart though strained.

22. Had he called me into the fray, I would have charged in
Atop a snorting steed, though untamed.

23. But I answered the call of his poem
With my darkly cracked tongue, articulating as I can.

24. When my palm strokes the parchment
Speaking his glories, all scholars pale.

25. He's the intrepid hero in every endeavor,
His might makes the faint of heart balk before presumption.

26. When he speaks he leaves no clarity for others.
When he marches he leaves no path for followers.

27. His pen, were it as sharp as the sword,
Would shred the prose of every standpoint.

28. And the torch of his mind-if its glow could light
The lamps of sky, their flames would never die.

29. So free is his mind’s realm, steadfast his certitude,
Far from anxiety's abode, unfettered and free.

30. A writer, his niche in poetry's garden
Has brought beauty to the world with its most precious adornments.

31. When its branches shine, the trite and common
Fade before his brilliant novelty.

32. A bulbul trills in it a melodious tune
Whose sound holds a plaintive musicality.

33. I befriended him with affection—why wouldn't I
Rush to return his friendship as he did for me.

34. My soul found harmony after being discordant,
As he spoke my name after I’d nearly disappeared.

35. He reconnected the channels of communication between us
With an outpouring of love in unaffected verse.

36. Among people, his heart is disposed toward friendship,
While the sickly betray their bonds, clearly deviant.

37. I anticipated goodness from him before meeting,
And praised his character after getting to know him.

38. The motions of the soul reveal
The truth in how the discriminating describe intimacy.

39. Eyes may deceive the oblivious youth,
Yet the discerning’s perception rings true.

40. I've made good on my promise to praise him, though
My words hardly do justice to his virtues and merits.

41. How could I, when even if gifted with some poetic skill,
I could not gather the universe into a few letters.