Our incomplete history records Al-Ma'arri (973-1057) as one of the first vegans. Here this blind poet from Aleppo helps us commemorate World Vegan Day with enduring truth. (Adapted from Reynold A. Nicholson, 1921).
Religion diseases you, knowledge too.
But in this sound you may hear
Something true.
There's no justice in eating the fish
From the waters, and no desire in the flesh
Of creatures slaughtered,
Or the pure milk of mothers
Whose draught is love for their waking young,
Not the unconscious human.
And taking eggs from unsuspecting birds,
Do you hear their grieving of injustice,
The worst of crimes?
And honey is not a bounty, a gift to someone other
Than the bees who gathered it from fragrant flowers
To keep themselves alive.
I've washed my hands of this; and wish only that I realized
Before my hair turned grey
The way of life!
