XLIX: Though thou canst manage to give it good…

Though thou canst manage to give it good food, and fine clothes;
Still, thou wilt not be able to exempt the body from the fire of hell.

Until thy body shall be decked out in the garments of piety,
Plume not thyself on the mere adornment of the person.

These acts, which passion, to-day, prompteth thee to commit,
I perceive in them, for thee, death and destruction to-morrow.

Since by death, thou becomest like unto a putrid carcass,
Do not become, in life, like unto a musk-deer of Khutan.

Fools, that they may gain the world thereby, their faith barter;
But such like buying and selling as this, the wise practise not.

Save thee, by whom both grave and resurrection are forgotten,
Know, that every stranger seeketh his own country to reach.

From the goblet which is full, no sound proceedeth ever;
But thro' deficiency and emptiness only, thy notoriety ariseth.

Since here thy sitting is among the wicked, and the unworthy;
Flatter not thyself, that there, thou shalt, with the just, arise.

Unto thee, O Hamid! the wise and the prudent will give ear;
But what know the ignorant, concerning thy stringing of pearls.