1. My friend, though I fall short, the truth is my master
Pity me, for since you left I have been in loss

2. Do not neglect me now that I wander desolate
In a sea vaster than oceans and narrower than a handspan

3. When cares assailed me and longing took me back
To lost thoughts, I found respite unraveling a parchment

4. On which you inscribed the exalted in line after line
You sent it when company was but fleeting

5. Say, a master gifted refuge from fate's caprice
And a face the scroll framed, though it fade to ashes

6. Let none veil it but the flash of bright blades
Lest it guide amiss and from wisdom stray

7. For few in this world are true in their faith
You see news until it becomes stale rumor

8. The mark of one steadfast, if you would know it
Is that he lends the softness of water to the hardness of rock