Sol 5.6

  1. Beware the fool; do not take him for a companion.

    The fool is nothing but a threadbare garment:

  2. whenever you patch one part of it,

    the wind stirs it ever so lightly, and it tears.

  3. Or like an ugly, gaping crack in glass—

    have you ever seen a crack in glass knit itself closed?

  4. And when you sit with him in a gathering,

    he spoils the gathering with his boorish folly.

  5. And if you rebuke him, hoping he will come to his senses,

    he only grows more ignorant and persists in folly.

  6. And when one foul-mouthed man meets another,

    there the old waterskin finds its fitting cover.

  7. Foul speech, and whoever makes a habit of it,

    are like an ill-omened crow: whenever it pleases, it caws.

  8. Or a vicious donkey: if you feed it its fill,

    it kicks people; and if it goes hungry, it brays.

  9. And a wicked servant-boy: if you starve him,

    he steals from the neighbor; and if sated, he turns wanton.

  10. Or like someone—not me—who lifted some of her hem,

    then let it down with a fart—and it tore.

  11. O questioner asking about what has passed,

    can anything new be like a threadbare garment?

  12. I am Miskīn to anyone who fails to recognize me;

    and whoever knows me has spoken in earnest.

  13. I do not sell people my honor—although, in truth,

    were I to sell people my honor, it would readily sell.

Sol 5.6