| O THOU who hast gathered taxes from lions, |
435 |
| Thy need hath caused thee to become a fox in disposition. |
| Thy maladies are the result of indigence: |
| This disease is the source of thy pain. |
| It is robbing thine high thoughts of their dignity |
| And putting out the light of thy noble imagination. |
440 |
| Quaff rosy wine from the jar of existence! |
| Snatch thy money from the purse of Time! |
| Like Omar, come down from thy camel!51 |
| Beware of incurring obligations, beware! |
| How long wilt thou sue for office |
445 |
| And ride like children on a reed? |
| A nature that fixes its ghaze on the sky |
| Becomes debased by receiving benefits. |
| By asking, poverty is made more abject; |
| By begging, the beggar is made poorer, |
450 |
| Asking disintegrates the Self |
| And deprives of illumination the Sinai bush of the Self. |
| Do not scatter thy handful of dust; |
| Like the moon, scrape food from thine own side! |
| Albeit thou art poor and wretched |
455 |
| And overwhelmed by affliction, |
| Seek not thy daily bread from the bounty of another, |
| Seek not water from the fountain of the sun. |
| Lest thou be put to shame before the Prophet |
| On the Day when every soul shall be stricken with fear. |
460 |
| The moon gets sustenance from the table of the sun |
| And bears the brand of his bounty on her heart. |
| Pray God for courage! Wrestle with Fortune! |
| Do not sully the honour of the pure religion! |
| He who swept the rubbish of idols out of the Ka'ba |
465 |
| Said that God loves a man that earns his living. |
| Woe to him that accepts bounty from another's table |
| And lets his neck be bent with benefits! |
| He hath consumed himself with the lightning of the favours bestowed on him, |
| He hath sold his honour for a paltry coin, |
470 |
| Happy the man who thirsting in the sun |
| Does not crave of Khizr a cup of water!52 |
| His brow is not moist with the shame of beggary; |
| He is a man still, not a piece of clay, |
| That noble youth walks under heaven |
475 |
| With his head erect like the pine |
| Are his hands empty? The more is he master of himself. |
| Do his fortunes languish? The more alert is he. |
| A whole ocean, if gained by begging is but a sea of fire; |
| Sweet is a little dew gathered by one's own hand. |
480 |
| Be a man of honour, and like the bubble. |
| Keep the cup inverted ever. in the midst of the sea!53 |
