Good-Bye Poem by Monty AnNayef

When the shadows sleep, birds to their nests creep.
Nights come with pain, winter with heavy rain.
‘t was but pain what his death did to my brain.
Lo, beasts and men gather around to weep
And mourn unheard his painful departure.

Orpheus, hold thy lyre close and strike so high
A very sad song that makes the rough wind sigh.
A friend has made a sudden departure,
And left us to nowhere with ripe torture.
He made short our days, but long were the nights.

Sweet death, send me unto him, to the best;
“Be thou blessed”, seal, cursed death, my warm farewell:
“Where thy soul dwells”, my friend, “I bid farewell.”
Thou hast been the best; thou art the cruelest.
Cold winter has come, and my friend has gone.

(24 October 1993)