Page:The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East, Volume 08.djvu/95



Though you survey, O my enlightened friend,

This world of vanity from end to end,

You will discover there no other good

Than wine and rosy cheeks, you may depend!

Last night upon the river bank we lay,

I with my wine-cup, and a maiden gay,

So bright it shone, like pearl within its shell,

The watchman cried, "Behold the break of day!"

Have you no shame for all the sins you do,

Sins of omission and commission, too?

Suppose you gain the world, you can but leave it,

You can not carry it away with you!

In a lone waste I saw a debauchee,

He had no home, no faith, no heresy,

No God, no truth, no law, no certitude;

Where in this world is man so bold as he?

Some look for truth in creeds, and forms, and rules;

Some grope for doubts or dogmas in the schools;

But from behind the veil a voice proclaims,

"Your road lies neither here nor there, O fools. "

In heaven is seen the bull we name Parwin,

Beneath the earth another lurks unseen;

And thus to wisdom's eyes mankind appear

A drove of asses, two great bulls between!