Saturday, November 07, 2009

clear as water, stiff as earth, high as a rock when the hour nears

Oh, I am drunk
When the hour nears, you will die within a day and a night
The body as soft as cotton and then as hard as wood
Your eyes clear as water and stiff as earth
Your belongings heaped up high as a rock
Will be covered with dust
The very dearest and closest friends turn into demons
Your serenity, burning like fire will collapse like ash...
Your fame like the wind will fade, like the rainbow
And one will throw away like an old fur
What you have treasured like gold

--Danzan Ravjaa, in History of Mongolian Literature by Walther Heissig

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