1. Take what you can from this life and its pleasures,
But learn just a little how to give back.

2. Be a rose whose scent is sweet even to those who would pluck it,
Not a thorn whose sting wounds even those who would water it.

3. Was there any light in the universe that could illuminate us
If the sky denied us the light of its stars?

4. Or any flowers on earth that could fill the air with fragrance
If the soil did not allow them to reveal their petals?

5. To me, birds of any feather are equal
And leaves that hold back their songs are the same.

6. If the soul does not reveal its beauties in times of ease,
Its riches in times of hardship are worthless.

7. O worshipper of wealth, tell me, have you found in it
A soul to console you or a soul to console?

8. That which you hide and bury deep,
As if it were a disgrace meant to be concealed—

9. And deny yourself things created for you,
Things that would not harm you, O you—

10. Look to water—generosity is its nature.
It comes to the fields and revives them.

11. Only when trapped does it turn brackish and stagnant,
And the soul is like water—you can take this from it.

12. Imprisonment hurts and corrupts water;
Imprisonment hurts and deprives the soul.

13. And look at fire—destruction is its habit,
Yet in its dreadful habit lies its own ruin.

14. It annihilates villages and pleasures while laughing,
Not knowing that what it destroys destroys it.

15. I have sent forth my words as parables and analogies,
Hoping they awaken and caution.

16. Nothing in this world can be grasped without effort.
Whoever desires wine must plant its vines.