Arabian Poetry: Shorter Pieces of Arabian Poetry: On Moderation In Our Pleasures, by Abu Alcassim Ebn Tabataba
Arabian Poetry, by W. A. Clouston, [1881]
When Prudence would thy steps delay,
She but restrains to make thee blest;
Whate’er from joy she lops away
But heightens and secures the rest.
Wouldst thou a trembling flame expand
That hastens in the lamp to die?
With careful touch, with sparing hand,
The feeding stream of life supply.
But if thy flask profusely sheds
A rushing torrent o’er the blaze,
Swift round the sinking flame it spreads,
And kills the fire it fain would raise.