426. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. _Bigorezi bi_, better that you should eschew.
427.
O heart! can'st thou the darksome riddle read, Where wisest men have failed, wilt thou succeed?
Quaff wine, and make thy heaven here below, Who knows if heaven above will be thy meed?
427. C. L. N. A. B. I. J.
428.
They that have passed away, and gone before, Sleep in delusion's dust for evermore; Go, boy, and fetch some wine, this is the truth, Their dogmas were but air, and wind their lore!
428. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. So Ecclesiastes, I gave my heart to know wisdom ... and perceived that this also is vanity.
429.
O heart! when on the Loved One's sweets you feed, You lose yourself, but find your Self indeed; And, when you drink of His entrancing cup, You hasten your escape from quick and dead!
429. C. L. N. A. I. J. Die to self, to live in God, your true self. See Max Muller, Hibbert Lectures, p. 375.
430.
Though I am wont a wine-bibber to be, Why should the people rail and chide at me?
Would that all evil actions made men drunk, For then no sober people should I see!
430. C. N. A. I. J.
431.
Child of four elements and sevenfold heaven, Who fume and sweat because of these eleven, Drink! I have told you seventy times and seven, Once gone, nor hell will send you back, nor heaven.
431. C. L. N. A. I. J.
432.
With many a snare Thou dost beset my way, And threatenest, if I fall therein, to slay; Thy rule resistless sways the world, yet Thou Imputest sin, when I do but obey!
432. B. N. Allah is the _Fa'il i hakiki_, the only real agent, according to the Sufi view, _Hukmi tu Kuni_, Thou givest thy order.
433.
To Thee, whose essence baffles human thought, Our sins and righteous deeds alike seem naught, May Thy grace sober me, though drunk with sins, And pardon all the ill that I have wrought!
433. L. N.
434.
If this life were indeed an empty play, Each day would be an _'lid_ of festal day, And men might conquer all their hearts' desire, Fearless of after penalties to pay!
434. N. N takes _taklid_ in the sense of authority, but I think it alludes to Koran, xxix. 64. See _Gulshan i Raz_, p. 50.
435.
O wheel of heaven, you thwart my heart's desire, And rend to shreds my scanty joy's attire, The water that I drink you foul with earth, And turn the very air I breathe to fire!
435. C. L. N. A. I.
436.
O soul! could you but doff this flesh and bone, You'd soar a sprite about the heavenly throne; Had you no shame to leave your starry home, And dwell an alien on this earthly zone?
436. C. L. N. B. A. I.
437.
Ah, potter, stay thine hand' with ruthless art Put not to such base use man's mortal part!
See, thou art mangling on thy cruel wheel Faridun's fingers, and Kai Khosrau's heart!
437. C. L. N. A. I. Faridun and Kai Khosrau were ancient kings of Persia. Kai Khosrau is usually identified with Cyrus.
438.
O rose! all beauties' charms thou dost excel, As wine excels the pearl within its shell; O fortune! thou dost ever show thyself More strange, although I seem to know thee well!
438. N. _Mimani_, You resemble.
439.
From this world's kitchen crave not to obtain Those dainties, seeming real, but really vain, Which greedy worldlings gorge to their own loss; Renounce that loss, so loss shall prove thy gain!
439. L. N. B.
440.
Plot not of nights, thy fellows' peace to blight, So that they cry to God the live-long night; Nor plume thee on thy wealth and might, which thieves May steal by night, or death, or fortune's might.