1. A people, when they promise clemency,
The fates lie in wait for them,

2. And you may expect their sudden calamities
As the coming of beasts of prey.

3. And it is as if, out of their fear,
They were startled red ostriches.

4. The least that would satisfy them
Is to imprison them in tombs.

5. There is not in them any prohibitor
Of abomination or enjoiner of honor,

6. But they are all, in doing evil,
Recusant to good things.

7. So praise, in their view, is fraud,
And censure, of the best treasures;

8. Generosity is, to them, shameful,
And stint, of the highest prides.

9. Aiming at the desire of a seeker,
Aiming for ostriches.