Classic Poem

A free translation from the Chinese.

" Be clean, be clean! " Gautama cried,
" Come, know the strength of being clean;
Come, lie no more, ye who have lied,
Come, lust no more, no more be mean;
Be false no more, be foul no more,
For I shall judge ye to the core. "

They came, the silken Mandarin,
The soldier with his blood-wet name,
The poet with his lust of fame,
The priest in sandals soaked with sin,
The lawyer with his quibs and lies,
The merchant with queer merchandise.

And each so proud, proud and polite!
So proud and clean! clean out of sight!
Their very finger nails so clean
They shone like sea shells, pink and green —
A sort of ultra-submarine —
Whatever ultra-sub may mean.

And, too, there came a barefoot boy,
Who left his long-horned purple cow
Amid red poppies at the plow —
Came whistling low with quiet joy,
To stand aloof with modest mien
And see the strength of being clean.

Gautama waved his wand, and lo,
On each such load of dirt was laid
He bowed and sank down, sore afraid.
Some sank so low, some trembled so,
Some sank in such sad, piteous plight
Their red-topt heads sank out of sight.

The Mandarin with silk-tipt tail
Showed scarce a shining finger nail.
The white-robed lawyer, lies and brief,
Lay hid in dirt past all belief.
The red-robed merchant could not rise
One jot from out his load of lies.

And all lay helpless, all save one,
That simple-hearted farmer's son,
With soiled bare feet and sweat-moiled face,
Who stood soft whistling in his place —
Still wondering, yet safe, serene,
In all the strength of being clean,

But sudden tears came to his eyes,
A flood of tender, piteous tears,
For those poor slaves, so bound by lies,
And writhing in their filth and fears.
He leaned in pity o'er, when lo,
His clean tears washed all clean as snow!