Better to a dire verge by foemen borne,Sri Aurobindo
Translations
CWSA.- Volume 5
Part One. Translations from Sanskrit
Section Four.
Bhartrihari. The Century of Life
Miscellaneous Verses
Better to a dire verge by foemen borne,
O man, thy perishable body dashed
Upon some ragged beach by Ocean lashed,
Hurled on the rocks with bleeding limbs and torn;
Better thy hand on the dire cobra’s tooth
Sharp-venomed or to anguish in the fire,
Not at the baser bidding of desire
Thy heart’s high virtue lost and natural truth.