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LXXII

And that inverted Bowl they call the Sky,
Whereunder crawling coop'd we live and die,
Lift not your hands to It for help — for it
As impotently moves as you or I.

LXXIII

With Earth's first Clay They did the Last Man knead,
And there of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed:

And the first Morning of Creation wrote
What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read.

LXXIV

YESTERDAY This Day's Madness did prepare;
TO-MORROW'S Silence, Triumph, or Despair:

Drink! for you know not whence you came, nor why:
Drink! for you know not why you go, nor where.

LXXV

I tell you this-When, started from the Goal,
Over the flaming shoulders of the Foal

Of Heav'n Parwin and Mushtari they flung,
In my predestin'd Plot of Dust and Soul

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LV

The Vine had struck a Fibre; which about

If clings my Being - let the Súfi flout;

Of my Base Metal may be filed a Key, That shall unlock the Door he howls without.

LVI

And this I know: whether the one True Light,
Kindle to Love, or Wrath-consume me quite,

One Glimpse of It within the Tavern caught
Better than in the Temple lost outright.

六

LXXVI

The Vine had struck a fibre: which about
If clings my Being· -let the Dervish flout;
Of my Base metal may be filed a Key,
That shall unlock the Door he howls without.

LXXVII

And this I know: whether the one True Light
Kindle to Love, or Wrath-consume me quite,

One flash of It within the Tavern caught
Better than in the Temple lost outright.

LXXVIII

What! out of senseless Nothing to provoke
A conscious Something to resent the yoke
Of unpermitted Pleasure, under pain
Of Everlasting Penalties, if broke!

LXXIX

What! from his helpless Creature be repaid

Pure Gold for what he lent him dross-allay'd

(Sue for a Debt we never did contract,

And cannot answer-Oh the sorry trade!

LVII.

Oh, Thou, who didst with Pitfall and with Gin
Beset the Road I was to wander in,

Thou wilt not with Predestination round
Enmesh me, and impute my Fall to Sin?

LVIII

Oh, Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make And who with Eden didst devise the Snake;

For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man Is blacken'd, Man's Forgiveness give — and take!

KÚZA-NÁMA.

LIX

LISTEN again. One Evening at the Close
Of Ramazán, ere the better Moon arose,
In that old Potter's Shop I stood alone
With the clay Population round in Rows.

LXXX

Oh Thou, who didst with pitfall and with gin
Beset the Road I was to wander in,

Thou wilt not with Predestin'd Evil round
Enmesh, and then impute my Fall to Sin!

LXXXI

Oh Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make,
And ev'n with Paradise devise the Snake:

For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man
Is blacken'd-Man's forgiveness give—and take!

LXXXII

As under cover of departing Day
Slunk hunger-stricken Ramazán away,

Once more within the Potter's house alone
I stood, surrounded by the Shapes of Clay.