Asking for More Time to Repay a Debt

You whose qualities are praised: when the heavens give, they sew a thousand eyes upon your hand from the stars. It is only fitting that, for your gathering, gifts should pour unasked: musk from the deer's pod, sugar from the cane, pearls from the shell. When your face flushes with the fire of anger, the heat of your features turns flame itself to water. When you mount your horse, formed like the sky, a cry of praise rises from the heart of the eastern sun. As long as pearls are strung in a line, as long as a crown is adorned with jewels, may your enemy be worthless in your eyes, like a bare thread, and may the one who loves your honor be precious as a gem. You whose rank is the sky, my master: though my heart is wounded by the cruelty of this base, fawning world, why should I take my complaint to fate? Mercy was never the companion of a heartless creature. While I shelter in your protection, what do I fear from disaster? Once a candle sits behind its screen, why dread the storm wind? Some time ago I borrowed, like a bud reaching out, a handful of gold from the garden of your generosity. If you do not ask it back from me, nothing could be better; if you must, then wait until my next wages come.