Joining Good Company Poem by Rajendran Muthiah

171. Getting into the company of the mean
at a tender age, and all the misdeeds done,
vanish like the dew in the grass in the sun
when they keep the company of the great men.

172. Know the ways of virtue. Fear the Lord of Death.
Bear with angry words of others. Keep away
from fraud. Hate friendship with the vile.
Get gains listening to the words of the great.

173. O, my heart! Friends and kin depart. Grave disease
And death to this decaying body visit.
The wise sages know well this life isn't sweet;
so our minds must stick together with the Wise.

174. If you think deep, you don't hate birth,
though it is painful. By birth alone
you make lasting friendship with the good-natured
and get the same thing from them.

175. When the ditch water drains into the sea
the ditch christens to holy water.
If those with no good line of descent join
the eminent people, hill-like fame they'll get.

176. The dark spot of the shining moon roving in
The high beauteous sky is also adored.
People with diminished repute get respect
when they join persons of mountainous glory.

177. When water mixes with milk, loses shape
and fuses with milk to take its colour.
Likewise, the meanness of the mean isn't seen
when they move together with the great.

178. The grass growing ‘round the wood laid in fields
Won't be hurt by the tip of the ploughshare
of the ploughman. The weak who hang on the strong
can't be scowled by the anger of the foes.

179. Like the soaring paddy crops in fertile fields
The people become noble by the virtues
of their clans. As the typhoons wreck the boats,
the great lose their respect joining the mean men.

180. Though free from fault in mind, the noble people
get rebuked for their company with the vile.
Not ‘lone the thorns but sweet perfumed Sandalwood,
and Vengai get burnt when the forests catch fire.