On Friendship
LXXXVII. On Friendship
1. O God, who art a very loyal friend!
You constitute our entire source
of all that whereby love is of worth.
2. God is a friend as regards the beginning,
the middle and the end,
for He loves completely.
3. God is a friend for He wishes to love,
and He wishes <both> to give and to forgive,
and He wishes to dwell in the heart of man.
4. God is a friend who is very staunch,
for He cannot act at all unjustly
towards the person who prays to Him at the point of death.
5. God is a friend <Who exercises> truth,
patience and compassion,
as well as every conceivable goodness.
6. God is such a courteous friend
that He has never been able to resist anyone
who has virtuously requested anything from Him.
7. God is such a forsaken friend,
Who has surrendered Himself entirely
to <those> by whom He is very much loved.
8. He is a good and great friend
who never disappoints man
yet chooses to receive punishment from him.
9. <He who is> someone else’s friend <only> when <that someone> is prosperous
is not as trusted a friend
as is he who comes to one’s aid in <the hour of one’s> need.
10. Friendship between the lover and the beloved
is worth more than all the minted gold <in the world>
when <the former> love each other with great charity.