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When the body is burnt, it turns to ashes; if it is not cremated, then it is eaten by armies of worms.

The unbaked clay pitcher dissolves, when water is poured into it; this is also the nature of the body. ||1||

Why, O Siblings of Destiny, do you strut around, all puffed up with pride?

Have you forgotten those days, when you were hanging, face down, for ten months? ||1||Pause||

Like the bee which collects honey, the fool eagerly gathers and collects wealth.

At the time of death, they shout, "Take him away, take him away! Why leave a ghost lying around?" ||2||

His wife accompanies him to the threshold, and his friends and companions beyond.

All the people and relatives go as far as the cremation grounds, and then, the soul-swan goes on alone. ||3||

Says Kabeer, listen, O mortal being: you have been seized by Death, and you have fallen into the deep, dark pit.

You have entangled yourself in the false wealth of Maya, like the parrot caught in the trap. ||4||2||