Page:Poems, Emerson, 1847.djvu/216

204 And thus to Saadi said the Muse:

'Eat thou the bread which men refuse;

Flee from the goods which from thee flee;

Seek nothing,—Fortune seeketh thee.

Nor mount, nor dive; all good things keep

The midway of the eternal deep.

Wish not to fill the isles with eyes

To fetch thee birds of paradise:

On thine orchard's edge belong

All the brags of plume and song;

Wise Ali's sunbright sayings pass

For proverbs in the market-place;

Through mountains bored by regal art,

Toil whistles as he drives his cart.

Nor scour the seas, nor sift mankind,

A poet or a friend to find:

Behold, he watches at the door!

Behold his shadow on the floor!

Open innumerable doors

The heaven where unveiled Allah pours

The flood of truth, the flood of good,

The Seraph's and the Cherub's food: