Classic Poem

You who are in need, who travel seeking help, with your
fierce hunger and your family burned black under the sun,
you keep asking us over and over, “Who are you who halt
in this wasteland as if it were home, unhitching
tall chariots from fine horses while the garland
of the bard shines with new gold and the garland
of the dancing woman who wears rich ornaments glitters?”
We were worse off than you before we visited the lord
whose spear wins victories. And look at us now!
Our king, Pekan, who has horses, who has elephants
flowing with musth, once gave a garment to a peacock
in the rain, though he knows they don't wear clothes!
Because he feels the poverty of others, because it is
a virtue to give what one can, he is generous
and not at all for the sake of a better birth in his next life!