India vs Pakistan. "Dosti Series"

Shall i hear the lament of the nightingale,
submissively lending my ear
am i the rose to suffer its cry in silence
year after year?
The fire of verse gives me courage
and bids me no more to be faint
with dust in my mouth, I am abject
to God i make my complaint.
Sometimes you favour our rivals
then sometimes with us,
You are free
I am sorry to say it so boldly,
You are no less fickle than we.
- Iqbal.

Graceful Shades

Calmly and gracefully
thou movest along the path of life,
tearless and smileless,
and scarce a heedless glance of indifferent attention
ruffles thy calm.
Thou art good and wise
and all things are remote from thee,
and of no one hast thou need.
Thou art fair,
and no one can say,
whether thou prizest thy beauty or not.
No sympathy hast thou to give;
none dost thou desire.
Thy glance is deep,
and no thought is in it;
in that clear depth is emptiness.
So in the Elysian field,
to the solemn strains of Gluck's melodies,
move without grief or bliss thy graceful shades.
- Ivan Turgenev.

Freedom of Action

One day, Mughal Emperor Akbar and his minister Raja Birbal were walking in the palace gardens. Suddenly, Akbar turned to his wise minister and asked, 'Birbal, who is more powerful -- God or Emperor?' Birbal thought for a moment and said with all seriousness, 'Emperor, you are more powerful than God.'

Akbar was astounded. He thought Birbal was indulging in flattery and proceeded to banish him from the empire. Birbal replied that the punishment itself was proof that what he had said was true.

Birbal then reasoned, 'Emperor, if you want to banish me, you can send me out of your empire and I shall have to go. But if God wanted to banish me, is he powerful enough to do that? Where would he send me, for all the universe is his empire.'

Akbar laughed heartily and praised his clever minister and gifted Birbal one more palace beauty!.

Moral of the story: the lesser guy has more choice and freedom of action than the one at the top.