354
Death finds us soiled, though we were pure at birth,
With grief we go, although we came with mirth;
Watered with tears, and burned with fires of woe,
And, casting life to winds, we rest in earth!
355
To find great Jamshid's world-reflecting bowl
I compassed sea and land, and viewed the whole;
But, when I asked the wary sage, I learned
That bowl was my own body, and my soul!
356
Me, cruel Queen! you love to captivate,
And from a knight to a poor pawn trarlslate;
You marshal all your force to tire me out,
You take my rooks with yours, and then checkmate!
357
If Allah wills me not to will aright,
Row can I frame my will to will aright?
Each single act I will must needs be wrong,
Since none but He has power to will aright.
358
"For once, while roses are in bloom, " I said,
"I'll break the law, and please myself instead,
With blooming youths, and maidens' tulip cheeks
The plain shall blossom like a tulip-bed. "
359
Think not I am existent of myself,
Or walk this blood-stained pathway of myself;
This being is not I, it is of Him.
Pray what, and where, and whence is this "myself"?
