Psalms of the Brethren CCVI: Vijitasena

I will restrain thee, heart, as elephants
Are by the towngate’s sallyport kept back.
I’ll not abet thee in thy naughty ways,
Thou net of wishes, thou of body born.

Not thine ’twill be, thus checked, to go at large.
As elephant that wins not through the gate,
Struggle thy best, thou witch, again, again;
Thou shalt not roam, who art to sin so fain.

Even as one who firmly wields the hook
Doth turn th’ unbroken, untamed elephant
Against its will, so will I turn thee back.

As the good driver, in horsebreaking skilled,
Doth tame the mettle of the thoroughbred,
So will I bring thee too beneath control.
By virtue of the fivefold spiritual force.

Yea, by right heedfulness I’ll bind thee fast,
Myself restrained, so will I master thee.
Curbed in the harness of right energy,
Thou shalt not, O my heart, go far from me.