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Can the male falcon fly to the sky's highest height,

When with greed's heavy weight you have pinioned him tight?
If his skirt from the talons of lust you set free,
His flight to the mansion of Gabriel will be.

If th' amount you're accustomed to eat you curtail,
You'll the nature of angels acquire without fail.
When will a wild beast to the angels come nigh,
Since from Earth unto Heav'n it is helpless to fly?
First, the qualities special to man exercise!

Let your thoughts to the nature of angels then rise.
You are up on the back of a spirited colt;
Take care! lest away from your hand it should bolt!
If it parted the reins from your palm, without doubt
It would kill its own body, and pour your blood out.
Be mod'rate in eating! if human you are;
With your stomach so full, are you man, or a jar?
Your inside's for thinking of God, breath and food;
You suppose that for viands alone, it is good.
Where's his room for reflection? from sordid desire,
He can only, with very great effort, respire!

Those who cherish the body, the fact do not know,
That the men with stuffed stomach no wisdom can show.
The eye and the stomach can never be cloyed;
Far better, indeed, were the twisted gut void.
When Hell's yawning furnace with fuel they fill,
It reiterates loud, "Is there any more still?"
Your Jesus is dying of weakness, alas!

You are occupied solely in feeding His ass.

From buying the world with the Faith, wretch, refrain!
With the Gospel of Jesus don't buy the ass grain !
The wild beasts of prey, you may not be aware,
From their love of devouring are drawn to the snare.
The leopard that stretches his neck after beasts,
Is entrapped like a mouse, from his liking for feasts.

When of one's bread and cheese, like a mouse, you eat

part,

You fall to his snare and are hit by his dart.

Story

(OF THE HAJI'S IVORY COMB).

A Haji1 once gave me an ivory comb;

(Mercy rest on the virtues of Hājis, who roam !) I had heard that he dared once to call me a dog; For at something I said, was his mind set agog. "This bone,” I said—casting the comb on the ground— "Does not suit me! henceforth do not call me a hound! If I drink my own vinegar, do not suppose,

That I care to endure the confectioner's blows!"

Let a little, oh spirit, your wish satisfy!

That the Sultan and beggar as one, you may spy !
In front of a monarch, your wishes, why bring?
When you've set aside greed, you yourself are a king!
If you worship yourself, make your stomach a gong!
And pray at each door, as you travel along.

Story

(OF THE COVETOUS MAN AND HIS SON).

I have heard that a person of covetous sight,
Went to Khărăzăm's2 king at the first dawn of light.
When his son had observed that in paying respect,
He bowed, kissed the ground and again stood erect;

1 Hāji, a Mohǎmedan who has made a pilgrimage to Mecca.

2 Khărăzăm, a town to the east of the Caspian Sea near the Oxus.

He said, “Oh magnanimous father, give ear!
I've a difficult question for you to make clear.

You have stated that Mecca's your worshipping place;
Why in praying, to-day, turned you elsewhere your face?"
Your spirit, lust-worshipping, do not obey!

For each hour, at a different shrine it will pray.
On its order, oh brother, extend not a hand!
He was rescued, who did not obey its command.
Oh wise man! by contentment the head is raised high;
The head, full of greed, on the shoulder must lie !
The fair fame of honour is scattered by greed;
A skirtful of pearls strewn for two grains of seed!
When you wish your thirst quenched at a rivulet nice,
Why squander your fame for the sake of some ice?
Perhaps you are pleased with your comforts in store!
If not, you must travel from door unto door!
Go, sir! make the base hand of avarice short!
What occasion have you in long sleeves to disport?
He whose record of av'rice is folded from sight,

To no one, "Your slave!" or "Your servant!" should write.

Out of ev'ry assembly by greed you are turned;
Drive it out of yourself, that you may not be spurned !

Story

(OF THE PIOUS SICK MAN).

In one of the pious an ague began;

Some one said, "Ask conserve from a certain rich man !" He answered, "The harshness of dying, oh son!

Is better than scowls from a sour-visaged one."

Of that person's conserve, the wise man did not eat,

Who had shown him a vinegar face from conceit.
Do not follow whatever your heart may desire !
For tending the body abates your soul's fire.
Inordinate appetite makes a man low;

Do not show it affection, if wisdom you know!
If whatever may be its desire, you should eat,
From the changes of Time, disappointment you'll meet.
If the store of the stomach is always kept hot,
Misfortune arises when nought can be got.

The hue of your face disappears in distress,
When in plentiful times you your stomach oppress.
The man always eating, the stomach's load bears;
If he eats not, he carries a burden of cares.
The stomach's slave, greatly abashed you will find ;
A void stomach is better, I think, than void mind.

Story

(ON THE DEPRAVITY OF GLUTTONS).

Do you know of the wonders from Băsră1 I brought?
Far sweeter than dates, some remarks I have got.
A few of us, decked in the garb of the true,
Passed a district where dates in luxuriance grew.
The stomach of one of our number was great;
A glutton he was, from the 'bushels' he ate.
The poor creature got ready and climbed up a tree,

And down again heavily, headlong, fell he.

One cannot eat dates, aye, and bear them away;

The glutton, ill-starred, ate and lifeless he lay.

The village chief coming, "Who killed him?" he cried ; "Do not shout at us harshly like that!" I replied;

1 Băsră, a city on the Persian Gulf.

"His stomach neath's skirt dragged him down from a

branch;

Narrow-minded is he who is spacious in paunch."

The hand's bonds, is the stomach, and chain of the feet;
A stomach's slave pious, you rarely will meet.
The locust's all stomach and therefore, no doubt,

The small-bellied ant, by the leg pulls it out.
Depart and an inside of pureness acquire!
The stomach can never be filled, but with mire.

1

Story

(OF THE SUFI AND HIS DINĀRS).

By his belly and lust, was a Sufi1 subdued,
For he foolishly spent two Dinārs on their food.
One among his companions addressed him aside,
Saying, "How did you spend the Dinārs ?" He replied:
"From my back, I with one of them pleasure released;
With the other, I spread for my stomach a feast.
With baseness and foolishness, now, I am stained;
For the latter's not full and the former is drained."
If a food is nice-flavoured, or coarse and ill-dressed,
When it reaches you late, you will eat it with zest.
The sage his tired head on the pillow will lay,
When sleep in its noose bears him fiercely away.
While you cannot speak fluently, speak not at all!
Till you see a clear plain, take good care of the ball!
Let your talk and your walk, while to choose you are free,
Be neither above nor below your degree !

Sufi. The Sufis are a sect of Mohamedans credited with being

free-thinkers.

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