* * *
Don’t curse your fortune, passer-by!
You are more fortunate than I.
* * *
A thousand roads you build, but one thing’s clear:
Whichever road you take, you end up here!
* * *
Here lies a rider brave—
His bravery lives on.
And here’s a coward’s grave—
And cowardice lives on.
* * *
A bard of earth, I died
And now lie here.
Who’s lying at my side?
I’ve no idea!
ON DAGGERS
* * *
My friend, if ever you bequeath
A dagger, don’t forget the sheath!
* * *
However hot the sun on high,
Blood on this blade shall never dry.
* * *
Of men who bear a knife ‘tis said:
More than their hand they need their head.
* * *
A fool draws
In a trice.
A wiser man
Thinks twice.
* * *
Your knife has neither ear nor eye
And, if it misses, you must cry!
* * *
When I have killed, I will
Bewail my victim’s fate.
When I’m about to kill,
I only hate.
* * *
Swear thou wilt
By my hilt!
Keep thy pledge
By my edge!
* * *
Wherever human blood be shed in feud,
It whets a knife and bloodshed is renewed.
* * *
Pause and ponder, please,
Ere my hilt you seize!
* * *
Despite its rust,
A spirit brave
Shall with this blade
Both cut and thrust.