| Flowers |
| Who shall conquer this world |
| And the world of death with all its |
| gods? |
| Who shall discover |
| The shining way of the law? |
| You shall, even as the man |
| Who seeks flowers |
| Finds the most beautiful, |
| The rarest. |
| Understand that the body |
| Is merely the foam of a wave, |
| The shadow of a shadow. |
| Snap the flower arrows of desire |
| And then, unseen, |
| Escape the king of death. |
| And travel on. |
| Death overtakes the man |
| Who gathers flowers |
| When with distracted mind and |
| thirsty senses |
| He searches vainly for happiness |
| In the pleasures of the world. |
| Death fetches him away |
| As a flood carries off a sleeping village. |
| Death overcomes him |
| When with distracted mind and |
| thirsty senses |
| He gathers flowers. |
| The bee gathers nectar from the flower |
| Without marring its beauty or |
| perfume. |