On Eating & Drinking
THEN an old man, a keeper of an inn, said, Speak to us of Eating
and Drinking.
And he said:
Would that you could live on the fragrance of the earth, and
like an air plant be sustained by the light.
But since you must kill to eat, and rob the newly born of its
mother’s milk to quench your thirst, let it then be an act of
worship,
And let your board stand an altar on which the pure and the
innocent of forest and plain are sacrificed for that which is
purer and still more innocent in man.
When you kill a beast say to him in your heart:
“By the same power that slays you, I too am slain; and I too
shall be consumed.
For the law that delivered you into my hand shall deliver me
into a mightier hand.
Your blood and my blood is naught but the sap that feeds the
tree of heaven.”
And when you crush an apple with your teeth, say to it in
your heart:
“Your seeds shall live in my body,
And the buds of your to-morrow shall blossom in my heart,
And your fragrance shall be my breath,
And together we shall rejoice through all the seasons.”
And in the autumn, when you gather the grapes of your vineyards
for the winepress, say in your heart:
“I too am a vineyard, and my fruit shall be gathered for the
winepress,
And like new wine I shall be kept in eternal vessels.”
And in winter, when you draw the wine, let there be in your
heart a song for each cup;
And let there be in the song a remembrance for the autumn
days, and for the vineyard, and for the winepress.