MANICHAEAN LITERATURE 64I
Within and outdoors it is replete with brilliance,
the gardens aromatic and no stray bricks
or thorns. Those who ascend to those precincts
and have knowledge will extol his manifestation.
No one suffers a dark shadow. Its earth and face
are radiant. Precious forms are free from hurt.
Their limbs don't become feeble with age.
They are happy. They speak well. They revere
the high generous one. There is glad sweet song
in splendid monasteries. No fear, no dogs howling,
no bird squawking, no confusing evil
and dreadful screeching. Nothing coarse in that land.
Darkness and fog have not marked pure paradise.
The self lives in light. The virtues of joy, love,
and beauty are shared. No living being dies.^2PITS AND PRISONS
Who will release me from the pits and prisons
of assembled lusts that I loathe? Who will take me
over the flooding sea, the mouths of conflict
that give no rest? Who will save me from the jaws
of pitiless beasts who destroy and terrify?
Who will lead me beyond the walls and over
the moats that boil with fear and trembling
from ravaging demons? Who will take me
beyond rebirths, and free me from the waves
which give no peace? I weep for my soul,
saying, May I be saved from this, from grotesque
beasts who eat each other! The human body,
birds of the air, fish of the ocean, quadrupeds
and insects, who will take me beyond them?
Who will save me so I won't turn and plunge
into those hells, so I won't live in their muck
or suffer rebirth devoid of living plants?- Asmussen, Manichaean Literature, Canto 1.