15. The body decays as a withered tree, and our relatives flutter as bees over it; old age overtakes us with its blossoming grey hairs, and produces the fruit of death. 16. We have to reap the bitter fruits of our actions of bygone times, which are laid up in store, and fructify in their seasons; and thus years upon years glide upon us, in the same monotonous rotation of business, and the sad tenor of our minds. 17. This tall body of ours, rising as a thief on the ground, has all its inner cells and caves, filled with the thorns of our cravings; it is the abode of the serpentine train of our actions, emitting the poison of continuous woe in our repeated transmigrations in new bodies. 18. See how our days and nights are rolling on, in their circuit of continued misery and misfortune, which are misconstrued by men for transient joy and good fortune. 19. See how our lives are spent, in useless pursuits after objects of our vain wishes; and how we misspend our time with trifles, that are of no good to us. 20. The furious elephant of the ungoverned mind, breaks loose from its fetters of good sense; and then joining with the elephants of wild desire, ranges at large without rest or sleep. 21. The bawling tongue sets on screaming, as a vulture in the hollow of the tree of human body; and fosters itself by feeding on the gems of thought (_chintámani_), lying hidden in it. (The talkative fool is no thoughtful man). 22. The slackened limbs of the old and withered body, drop down like the dry leaves of trees; and there is nothing to prop up the drooping spirit, from its decay and decline day by day. 23. The brightness of the body flies away in old age, and the mind dejected at the disregard of every body, becomes as pale and withered, as the lotus flower fades away under the frost. 24. As the channel of the body dries up in old age, and the water of youth is drained out of it; so the swan of life flies away far from it, and there is nothing to retard its flight. 25. The old and time worn tree of the aged body, is overpowered by the force of the blasts of time; which blast its leaves and flowers (like human hopes) below, and then buries them all underneath the ground. (So says the Persian poet: Ai basá haus ke báz mandá, oai basá arzu ke khák shuda). 26. As the serpent of desire lies dormant in the heart, (for want of overtaking its prey in old age); it is content like the croaking frog, to hold its complaints in the mouth; and the mind like a monster, hides itself in the pool of dark despondence. 27. Our desires with their various wishes, are as the variegated flags of temples, furling and fluttering in all directions, till they are hurled down by the hurricane old age. 28. The world is a long linked chain, lying in the depth of eternity; wherein the rat of death is always busy in gnawing down the knot of life at the root.