Take Down Your Tent

Take down your tent so they can move the caravan on, for all our companions in this world are already on their way. Wife and child, kin and friend, and all your bonds: they are just fellow travelers you happened to meet on the road. Don't bind your heart to any company, for either you'll be left without them or they without you. In the beginning, humankind was only dust, and in the end, if you think it through, we are the same again. So it is better that people reflect on their beginning and their end, and know their true worth. The earth has already swallowed so many people, yet some still lift their heads to the sky out of pride. Someone stood weeping over a grave, crying out: 'These were the kings of the world.' I said: pry loose a plank from a grave and look, and tell me if these are kings or common watchmen. He said: what need is there to pry up a plank? I already know they are nothing but a handful of bones. Good advice is a bitter medicine, and it must be dripped down the throat mixed with something sweet. Such a sugar-coated purgative is what you buy from Saadi's pharmacy.