LXXIII: If the Afghan people are of the human…

If the Afghan people are of the human race,
In disposition and ways they are very Hindus.

They are possessed of neither skill, nor intellect;
But are happy in ignorance, and in strife.

Neither do they obey the words of their fathers;
Nor do they unto the teacher's instruction give ear.

When there may be one worthy man amongst them,
They are the destroyers of his head and life.

They ever lie in wait, one to injure the other;
Hence they are, always, by calamity, remembered.

They neither possess worth, nor do others esteem them,
Though they are more numerous than locusts or than ants.

First I, then others, as many as there may be--
We all of us require aid, and a helping hand.

Whether it is valour, or whether liberality,
They have cast, through dissension, the both away.

But still, O Khushhal! thank God for this,
That they are not slaves, but free-born men.