[210]
That one so great in the world — immeasurable, a leader of a great company —
should sorrow after a single woman: this, it seems, is not the way of a man of wisdom.
As the wind takes up scents, the sweet and the foul alike;
as a child grasps at fruits, the raw and the ripe alike;
as a greedy blind man grasps at food — [even so are women].
Not knowing how to judge in affairs, you strike me as a dullard;
you do not know what ought and ought not to be done, though you have arrived at the turn of your days.
Like one half-crazed you hold forth — you who deem women excellent;
for these are common to many, as a drinking-house is to drunkards.
These are deception, like a mirage; they are sorrows, diseases, and calamities;
these are harsh bonds, the snares of Death, lodged within the cave [of the heart]:
the man who would place his trust in them is, among men, the vilest of men.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.