“O child of Adam, let not hope make mock and flyte at thee, * From all thy hands have treasuréd, removéd thou shalt be; I see thou covetest the world and fleeting worldly charms, * And races past and gone have done the same as thou I see. Lawful and lawless wealth they got; but all their hoarded store, * Their term accomplished, naught delayed of Destiny’s decree. Armies they led and puissant men and gained them gold galore; * Then left their wealth and palaces by Pate compelled to flee, To straitness of the grave-yard and humble bed of dust * Whence, pledged for every word and deed, they never more win free: As a company of travellers had unloaded in the night * At house that lacketh food nor is o’erfain of company: Whose owner saith, O folk, there be no lodging here for you;’ * So packed they who had erst unpacked and faréd hurriedly: Misliking much the march, nor the journey nor the halt * Had aught of pleasant chances or had aught of goodly greet Then prepare thou good provision for to-morrow’s journey stored, * Naught but righteous honest life shall avail thee with the Lord!” And the Emir Musa wept as he read, “By Allah, the fear of the Lord is the best of all property, the pillar of certainty and the sole sure stay. Verily, Death is the truth manifest and the sure behest, and therein, O thou, is the goal and return place evident. Take warning, therefore, by those who to the dust did wend and hastened on the way of the predestined end. Seest thou not that hoary hairs summon thee to the tomb and that the whiteness of thy locks maketh moan of thy doom? Wherefore be thou on the wake ready for thy departure and thine account to make. O son of Adam, what hath hardened thy heart in mode abhorred? What hath seduced thee from the service of thy Lord? Where be the peoples of old time? They are a warning to whoso will be warned! Where be the Kings of al-Sín and the lords of majestic mien? Where is Shaddad bin Ad and whatso he built and he stablished? Where is Nimrod who revolted against Allah and defied Him? Where is Pharaoh who rebelled against God and denied Him? Death followed hard upon the trail of them all, and laid them low sparing neither great nor small, male nor female; and the Reaper of Mankind cut them off, yea, by Him who maketh night to return upon day! Know, O thou who comest to this place, that she whom thou seest here was not deluded by the world and its frail delights, for it is faithless, perfidious, a house of ruin, vain and treacherous; and salutary to the creature is the remembrance of his sins; wherefore she feared her Lord and made fair her dealings and provided herself with provaunt against the appointed marching day. Whoso cometh to our city and Allah vouchsafeth him competence to enter it, let him take of the treasure all he can, but touch not aught that is on my body, for it is the covering of my shame[FN#150] and the