Indian Poetry Part 20

"Wise, modest, constant, ever close at hand, Not weighing but obeying all command, Such servant by a Monarch's throne may stand."

"Pitiful, who fearing failure, therefore no beginning makes, Why forswear a daily dinner for the chance of stomach-aches?"

"Nearest to the King is dearest, be thy merit low or high; Women, creeping plants, and princes, twine round that which groweth nigh."

"Pearls are dull in leaden settings, but the setter is to blame; Gla.s.s will glitter like the ruby, dulled with dust--are they the same?"

"And a fool may tread on jewels, setting in his turban gla.s.s; Yet, at selling, gems are gems, and fardels but for fardels pa.s.s."

"Horse and weapon, lute and volume, man and woman, gift of speech, Have their uselessness or uses in the one who owneth each."

"Not disparagement nor slander kills the spirit of the brave; Fling a torch down, upward ever burns the brilliant flame it gave."

"Wisdom from the mouth of children be it overpast of none; What man scorns to walk by lamplight in the absence of the sun?"

"Strength serves Reason. Saith the Mahout, when he beats the brazen drum, 'Ho! ye elephants, to this work must your mightinesses come.'"

"Mighty natures war with mighty: when the raging tempests blow, O'er the green rice harmless pa.s.s they, but they lay the palm-trees low."

"Narrow-necked to let out little, big of belly to keep much, As a flagon is--the Vizier of a Sultan should be such."

"He who thinks a minute little, like a fool misuses more; He who counts a cowry nothing, being wealthy, will be poor."

"Brahmans, soldiers, these and kinsmen--of the three set none in charge: For the Brahman, though you rack him, yields no treasure small or large; And the soldier, being trusted, writes his quittance with his sword, And the kinsman cheats his kindred by the charter of the word; But a servant old in service, worse than any one is thought, Who, by long-tried license fearless, knows his master's anger nought."

"Never tires the fire of burning, never wearies Death of slaying, Nor the sea of drinking rivers, nor the bright-eyed of betraying."

"From false friends that breed thee strife, From a house with serpents rife, Saucy slaves and brawling wife-- Get thee forth, to save thy life."

"Teeth grown loose, and wicked-hearted ministers, and poison trees, Pluck them by the roots together; 'tis the thing that giveth ease."

"Long-tried friends are friends to cleave to--never leave thou these i' the lurch: What man shuns the fire as sinful for that once it burned a church?"

"Raise an evil soul to honour, and his evil bents remain; Bind a cur's tail ne'er so straightly, yet it curleth up again."

"How, in sooth, should Trust and Honour change the evil nature's root?

Though one watered them with nectar, poison-trees bear deadly fruit."

"Safe within the husk of silence guard the seed of counsel so That it break not--being broken, then the seedling will not grow."

"Even as one who grasps a serpent, drowning in the bitter sea, Death to hold and death to loosen--such is life's perplexity."

"Woman's love rewards the worthless--kings of knaves exalters be; Wealth attends the selfish n.i.g.g.ard, and the cloud rains on the sea."

"Many a knave wins fair opinions standing in fair company, As the sooty soorma pleases, lighted by a brilliant eye."

"Where the azure lotus blossoms, there the alligators hide; In the sandal-tree are serpents. Pain and pleasure live allied."

"Rich the sandal--yet no part is but a vile thing habits there; Snake and wasp haunt root and blossom; on the boughs sit ape and bear."

"As a bracelet of crystal, once broke, is not mended So the favour of princes, once altered, is ended."

"Wrath of kings, and rage of lightning--both be very full of dread; But one falls on one man only--one strikes many victims dead."

"All men scorn the soulless coward who his manhood doth forget: On a lifeless heap of ashes fearlessly the foot is set."

"Simple milk, when serpents drink it, straightway into venom turns; And a fool who heareth counsel all the wisdom of it spurns."

"A modest manner fits a maid, And Patience is a man's adorning; But brides may kiss, nor do amiss, And men may draw, at scathe and scorning."

"Serving narrow-minded masters dwarfs high natures to their size: Seen before a convex mirror, elephants do show as mice."