Western/Central Asia

“The world is fleeting, and as insubstantial /  As a breath of wind; it flings a guiltless man / Into a dungeon, lifts another up / To glory and a throne, but finally / The star that rules our lives lays both of them / Within the grave’s grip and beneath the dust.”

Ferdowsi, The Legend of Seyavash from the Shahnameh (trans. Dick Davis)