1. A friend who shields you from sorrow though sharing
And a tear that spills from the eye, yet is deceitful

2. And a heart that seeks out grief when it suffers pain
So from your gentle sleep it might find relief

3. The dwellers wept, the raiders ruined, and the
Encampments decamped, as separation cried out

4. Yet just yesterday, no she-camel was let loose
By a stealthy gesture of mine, no driver took flight

5. Ask about him in what desolate places he left me
While my gaze tended him, and my glances outpaced

6. The world turned against our love though feigning
Affection if it sensed our boredom mounting

7. Except that we are fooled, O day! by things immediate
While calamities deferred are lightning strikes

8. With borrowed beauty it tried to trap us, yet its
Finery was but flimsiness and trenches

9. It smiles though the kissing mouth is rending
And regrets though the clasping hand is burning

10. I awaited favor from it though it never wed
And no people ever enjoyed it though mature

11. Did it kill my brotherly love or did some bloom
Of life forsake me or some towering edifice crumble

12. A cloud shaded me, then its shower cleared
And I had been blind while it bore tidings

13. I count out days hoping for his recovery
Yet I know not that death was outpacing us

14. I temper my fears with doubts, excusing myself
Oh what evil truths have been forced upon me

15. By one I won't forget, of gentle character, whose
Radiant morn passed before mine and fled

16. I called but my voice went unanswered, blocked by
Some obstacle preventing any response

17. The cure surpassed the illness, though well-tested
Yet the insight of the skilled doctor went unheeded

18. We betrayed your trust when you felt safe
And betrayed you the day you lay dying, though confident

19. We gathered and gave you a wide berth
While throngs pressed in, anguished around you

20. We ignored your aims though relying on you, and you
Allowed yourself to be led by our whims, complying

21. We bid you welcome when the visitor came to us
Yet altogether ignored you the day fate knocked upon your door

22. A group put aside their rivalry and the
Jealous adversary was equal to me, your friend

23. Affections passed that had bound us, ties were
Severed I'd united, and bonds I'd nurtured

24. My joy is confined to your path - I stopped it there -
And the delight of life after you departed has dissolved

25. Hold fast to what we once held, do not undo
Agreements, though havoc and ruin press on compacts

26. Be to me tomorrow what you were yesterday, my friend
Prepared, for I still pursue you

27. The women visitors came to you, pouring out
Their favors, while the radiant maidens wept

28. Had weeping alone remained, it would have grown
For you from their flowing tears, gardens

29. I elegized you with my knowledge until
It seemed all creation repeated my words for you

30. But does speech attain what you have accomplished
When have I uttered truths, though I claim eloquence

31. I swear you had no merit above excellence
Of which I could boast in rhythmic eulogy that excelled

32. How can the hearing of one gone converse
With one on whom identical earth is heaped?

33. When the living spew falsehoods about the living
The living speaking of the dead are truthful

34. My friend left me though our love was young
Would that this affection were ever adolescent!

35. Do not befriend an intimate, for through him
Are manifold the disasters of companions