" 'I do not stoop, yet find my collar torn.
The thorns were here, beneath my feet, not there.

Can I be blameless when no voice will blame
The hunter who has caught me in this snare?

The pious people shun the tavern door--
But I need courage to outstare their stare.

After a wakeful night outside that lane,
The breeze of morning stirs the scented air.

Interpretation's Gate is closed and barred
But I go through and neither know nor care.

I kneel within the Kaaba of my heart
And to my idol raise my face in prayer.

Though blinded by the sun I see, O Mast,
The moonlight of the face, the clouds of hair.' "

--Mast, tr Vikram Seth in A Suitable Boy