Psalms of the Brethren CLXXXVI: Nagasamala

Bedecked with trinkets and with pretty frock,
Wreathed with flowers, raddled with sandal wood,
In the main street, before the multitude
A nautch girl danced to music’s fivefold sound.

Into the city I had gone for alms,
And passing I beheld the dancer decked
In brave array, like snare of Mara laid.

Thereat arose in me the deeper thought:
Attention to the fact and to the cause.
The misery of it all was manifest;
Distaste, indifference the mind possessed.

And so my heart was set at liberty.
O see the seemly order of the Norm!
The Threefold Wisdom have I made my own,
And all the Buddha bids me do is done.