1000 Year Old Vegan Poem
I No Longer Steal From Nature
You are diseased in understanding and religion.
Come to me, that you may hear something of sound truth.
Do not unjustly eat fish the water has given up,
And do not desire as food the flesh of slaughtered animals,
Or the white milk of mothers who intended its pure draught
for their young, not noble ladies.
And do not grieve the unsuspecting birds by taking eggs;
for injustice is the worst of crimes.
And spare the honey which the bees get industriously
from the flowers of fragrant plants;
For they did not store it that it might belong to others,
Nor did they gather it for bounty and gifts.
I washed my hands of all this; and wish that I
Perceived my way before my hair went gray!
~ Al-Ma’arri (973-1057), Baghdad (modern Iraq)
4 comments:
i really like the poem. thank you.
i really like the poem very much. thank you.
It's not just that poem that's incredible. His whole life is amazing. He wrote a divine comedy two centuries before Dante, preached rationalism seven centuries before the European enlightenment, and refused to kow-tow to power.
His whole life is interesting. We've done a radio show about him with experts, leading poet Benjamin Zephaniah, and his exchange about veganism with a carnivorous Cairo cleric.
Please have a listen.
That's awesome Ian! I didn't realize that! I will check out the radio show :) Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. I have been really very busy.
Lyn Rose
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