The one on whom you surely most rely, will be your
enemy, if but you cleanse the eyes that are within. Far
better, for the short time which remains, to count but
little on our friends. The talk of men to-day is but a
broken reed.
O heedless man! this veil of flesh is naught; this nine-fold
vault of brilliant heaven is naught. Then give thyself
to joy in this disordered place [the world], for life is
but an instant wed to it, and that is equally naught.
Now bring me dancers, wine, and a houri with charming,
ravishing features—if houris there be. Or find a
beautiful brook within a green ravine, if such there be.
Ask nothing better; think no more of Hell's hot penalties,
for, verily, none is, nor any Paradise more fair than
that I sing, if Paradise there be.
Came an old man from out the tavern drunk, his
prayer-rug on his shoulders and a bowl of wine in
hand. I said to him: Aged man! what meaneth this?
He answered me: Drink wine, my friend, for this world
is naught but wind.
A nightingale, inebriate [with love of the rose], within
a garden saw the roses laughing with a cup of wine. To
me he came and whispered in my ear, in tones appropriate
to the circumstance: Be on thy guard, my friend; one
cannot hold the life that slips away.