XXXII

Man has been thought superior to the swarm
  Of ruminating cows, of witless foals
  Who, crouching when the voice of thunder rolls,
Are banqueted upon a thunderstorm.

XXXIII

But shall the fearing eyes of humankind
  Have peeped beyond the curtain and excel
  The boldness of a wondering gazelle
Or of a bird imprisoned in the wind?

XXXIV

Ah! never may we hope to win release
  Before we that unripeness overthrow,—­
  So must the corn in agitation grow
Before the sickle sings the songs of peace.

XXXV

Lo! there are many ways and many traps
  And many guides, and which of them is lord? 
  For verily Mahomet has the sword,
And he may have the truth—­perhaps! perhaps!

XXXVI

Now this religion happens to prevail
  Until by that religion overthrown,—­
  Because men dare not live with men alone,
But always with another fairy-tale.

XXXVII

Religion is a charming girl, I say;
  But over this poor threshold will not pass,
  For I may not unveil her, and alas! 
The bridal gift I can’t afford to pay.

XXXVIII

I have imagined that our welfare is
  Required to rise triumphant from defeat;
  And so the musk, which as the more you beat,
Gives ever more delightful fragrancies.

XXXIX

For as a gate of sorrow-land unbars
  The region of unfaltering delight,
  So may you gather from the fields of night
That harvest of diviner thought, the stars.

XL

Send into banishment whatever blows
  Across the waves of your tempestuous heart;
  Let every wish save Allah’s wish depart,
And you will have ineffable repose.

XLI

My faith it is that all the wanton pack
  Of living shall be—­hush, poor heart!—­withdrawn,
  As even to the camel comes a dawn
Without a burden for his wounded back.

XLII

If there should be some truth in what they teach
  Of unrelenting Monkar and Nakyr,
  Before whose throne all buried men appear—­
Then give me to the vultures, I beseech.

XLIII

Some yellow sand all hunger shall assuage
  And for my thirst no cloud have need to roll,
  And ah! the drooping bird which is my soul
No longer shall be prisoned in the cage.