Ode XXVII: Sons of mine ! I have

Sons of mine ! I have reached old age, and my sight fails me : yet in me there is wisdom to be gained by him that seeks for it ;

And though I be dying, yet have I raised a building of deeds done, from which there will remain to you four matters of fair fame :—

A good name, when the noble are called to mind, shall adorn you ; and the inheritance of a reputation beyond that of other men is profitable ;

And a place as champion in Days wherein victory was won, when passions were hot — and assemblies bring together all kinds of men ;

And gifts gained by my labour which shall enable you one day, when craving comes upon men [through dearth and famine], to relieve them ;

And good counsel in the breast welling up to you, so long as I continued able to see and hear among men.

I enjoin on you the fear of God : for He alone gives good things to whom-soever He wills, and withholds them as He wills ;

And kindness towards your parent, and obedience to his command — verily the most pious of sons is the most obedient ;

And the old man, when his own folk obey him not, his hands are straitened — how shall he manage his affairs ?

And leave hatred alone — let it not be a motive in your lives ! hatreds should be laid aside where kinship exists.

Pay no heed to him who spreads mischievous rumours among you under the cloke of sincere friendship : this is deadly poison !

He lets loose his scorpions that he may stir up war among you, as the cupping-vein sets the other veins at work [to supply blood] ;

Aflame with hate, there quenches not the burning thirst of his heart honey mingled with water in a drinking-bowl.

Trust not a folk whose boys grow up among the nurses fed with hatred as from a feeding-bottle ;

Their rancour overflows and swamps their good sense, and the malice of their hearts refuses to be plucked out ;

A people who, when the darkness enshrouds them, sally forth like hedgehogs, speeding swiftly abroad with their slanders ;

They are like Zaid when he ruined his house, so that their prosperity was broken up and they were rent and divided.

Verily they whom ye look upon as your brothers — it would cure the burning heat in their breasts if ye were to be flung to ground !

Many the difficult pass in the affairs of a people have my hands opened out, and a way of issue was found therein.

Many the meeting-place of contending parties with their feet fixed firm in strife — whoso slipped therein, straightway there flew abroad against him a shameful report —

I have led them forth from the fray, having straightened their crookedness as by the biting of the clip, while they were overcome with hunger and thirst ;

And I have reduced them to confusion, their chief prop and stay being [, before me,] like a child in a cradle, a suckling sucking his two strings of little shells.

Yea, in sooth I know that the end of all to me will be a grave in the dust, whither I shall be borne on a bier ;

And my daughters will weep in grief over me, and my wife and my nearest kin — then will they part and go their several ways,

And I shall be left there in a dusty place which men like not to visit, while the wind sweeps over me as I lie, put away from men.

And when I am gone, look ye out for a man to take my place, a man with a keen heart, no scatterbrain.

In sooth the passing of the days whirls us all away, and a man's life in the midst of his people is but a deposit, soon to be given back ;

He toils and gathers wealth with labour as though possessed — yet he eats not that which he brings together :

Until when in due time his doom comes upon him — and to every man there comes an overthrow which there is no escaping—

They fling to him a farewell of 'Peace!' and he answers none — the keenest of hearing is deaf to the call !