Ghazal 15: The Fickle Companion

Whoever sits with someone new each morning has a fresh craving in his head by nightfall. Don't set your heart on the loyalty of his company; someone like that has plenty of partners like you. He shows you kindness and affection only as long as you have wealth and can be of use. He says: in all the world, today it's only you, if I have a friend and a confidant at all. Then he says the very same to someone else: without you this world is a cage upon my heart. Like a bee, he hurries door to door; wherever there's a scrap of food, there's a fly. All claims and empty of meaning, he's exactly like a hollow bell ringing. To one he mocks the other as an ass; before the other he calls the first a worthless wretch. Wherever you meet a person like this, pay him no mind, for he is nobody at all.