Psalms of the Brethren CCXXIII: Sabbakama

This twaybased thing, impure, malodorous,
Full of foul matter, ebbing thus and thus,
Is cherished as the chief of all our care.

As hidden deer by craft, as fish by hook,
As ape by pitch, so is the world ensnared.

All these are shown combined in woman’s shape.

The worldlings, who with heart inflamed pursue
And woo her, swell the dreadful field of death
And make accumulation of rebirth.

But he who shuns it all, as with the foot
The serpent’s head is shunned, he, vigilant,
Doth circumvent this poisoner of the world.

And I who evil saw in sense-desires
And in renunciation safety, lo!
Detached from all that worldly aims commend,
Of all th’ intoxicants have made an end.