LIX: Although on thy sitting and rising thou mayest…

Although on thy sitting and rising thou mayest be hailed "Thy sacrifice;"
Yet, when thou sittest at another's door, thou sprawlest on the stake.

Account not this lowliness humiliation; for it is, truly, wealth,
That upon thine own mat, poor and distressed, thou reclinest.

Out upon that rising, and that sitting, though it be upon a throne,
That ever sitteth down in enmity, and, in animosity, ariseth!

From the head of that masnad, thou wilt contemptible arise,
Shouldst thou press, like a burden, on the heads of the poor.

By pity and sympathy, strive to gain the hearts of people,
If, like the taper, thou wouldst sit pre-eminent, all others above.

Wherefore dost thou not tremble at seeing the tears of the oppressed?
Why sittest thou tranquil and undisturbed, on the face of the flood?

Regard him not, who neither himself consumeth, nor bestoweth on others,
That thus, like unto a serpent, upon a hidden treasure reclineth.

This world is neither the abode of stability, nor of peaceful repose;
Yet still, foolishly, thou standest fast at the bridge's head.

The ruby of honour and fame, O Hamid! thou wilt acquire,
If, in meekness, with the poor and humble, thou sittest in the dust.