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every day sunken in the sea of thy delight? Hath it then been revealed unto thee that thou shalt not die? O son of Adam, let not the deceitful delights of thy days and nights and hours delude thee, but remember that death lieth in wait for thee, ready to spring on thy shoulders, nor doth a day pass but he riseth with thee in the morning and lieth down with thee by night. Beware, then, of his onset and make provision thereagainst. As it was with me, so is it with thee; thou wastest thy whole life and squanderest the delight of thy days. Hearken, therefore, to my rede and put thy trust in the Lord of Lords; for there is no stability in the world; it is but as a spider’s web.’
And at the foot of the tablet were written the following verses:
Where’s he who traced the house and builded it forthright And fortified its walls and reared it to the height?
Where be the castles’ lords? They who abode therein Departed have the strengths they governed, every wight.
All lie within the tombs, in pledge against the day Whereon the secret things shall all be brought to light.
None but the Most High God endureth without cease, The ever Worship-worth, Lord of all power and might.
When the Amir read this, he swooned away and [presently coming to himself] marvelled exceedingly and wrote it down. Then he drew near the fifth tablet and behold, thereon was graven what follows: ‘O son of Adam, what is it distracts thee from the obedience of thy Creator and the Author of thy being, Him who reared thee, whenas thou wast little, and fed thee, whenas thou grewest up? Thou art ungrateful for His bounty, albeit He watcheth over thee with His favours, letting down the curtain of His protection over thee. Needs must there be for thee a time more bitter than aloes and hotter than live coals. Provide thee, therefore, against it; for who shall sweeten its bitterness or quench its flaming fires?
