The Wheel of Heaven only multiplies our griefs! It
places nothing here below that it does not soon bear
away. Oh! if those who have not yet come knew
the suffering this world inflicts, they would guard themselves
well from coming here.
Drink, drink this wine which gives eternal life; drink,
for it is the source of youthful joy; it burns like fire,
but, like life's essence, drives away your care. Then
drink!
O Friend, to what good art thou preoccupied with
being? Why trouble thus thy heart, thy soul with idle
thoughts? Live happily, pass thy time joyously, for you
were not asked your opinion about the making of things
as they are.
The inhabitants of the tomb are returned to earth in
dust; the atoms [of which they are composed] are scattered
here and there, separated one from the other.
Alas! what is this drink in which the human race is
soaked and which holds it thus in dizzy ignorance of all
things, even to the day of doom?
O heart! act as if all the good things of this world
belonged to you; imagine that this house is provided
with everything, that it is richly furnished, and live joyously
in this domain of disorder. Realize that thou restest
here for two or three days, and that thereafter thou
shalt rise and go away.