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Norton F. W. Hazeldine translation
Shaped as a man again a vase I saw; it looked so smooth, so bright and tinted with colors rare, All looked harmonious without, a beauteous vessel one would say, but to the Potter's knowing eye it was a fraud!! And taking a mallet in his hand he beat it back to dust again. And when I questioned why he had thus done, he paused and answered "It's not true." This was the life of one on earth who never had his second birth; all things wished for had he there bound to greed! A slave to fear!! Then the Potter a vase of modest form did show, but oh, how exquisite was it in comparison with the former ware. The Potter answered "the same soul dwells here now in peace supreme." Thus passed to greater things that soul of yore.