Classic Poem

The eight sorts of monstrous births that people can suffer
have been described by wise men in the past as useless
and not of any worth—the blind whom no one favors,
the mass without form, the hunchback and the dwarf, the deaf,
the dumb, the creature that at birth looks like an animal
and the imbecile—but I have come here now and I have
something more to say as to what may be without worth!
Your enemies live in forest where wild cocks marked
with round red spots cry out, awakening men who guard the fields
of millet while you! you have a land where for the sake
of Righteousness, those who live in the city pluck and fling
stalks of sugarcane to people beyond the walls, and the stalks,
as they strike the ground, scatter the flourishing lotus blossoms,
and the earth looks like a stage where dancers have performed!
And so your wealth can nourish the three aims of life:
Righteousness, Prosperity, and Pleasure!
Greatness! When it does not, you neglect your own well-being!