The Sky at War with My Fortune

The heavens are forever at war with my luck, for both fate and the age hold a grudge against me. One moment the world calls me close, the next it drives me away; sometimes it is one way, sometimes another. Who can say which brick of any house was once some lovely, graceful beloved? In every garden where a jasmine leaf now grows, a beautiful face has sprung up from the dust. If you find no loyalty in a friend, don't give your heart, even if it's a gallery of Chinese beauties. Don't look for faithfulness from this bloodthirsty world; seek loyalty only from someone truly trustworthy. Saadi, this world holds no dignity in the eyes of the one who can see the true path.