Frik Quote
Against FateHey, Fate! When you fail a man, you spendall your time digging a well to trap him.Then you untie the well's wheel rope so that it can roll.And you keep the poor mortal struggling up, only to fall back.You show him a bushel of means and say"This is it. Worry about it, and dream."Meanwhile you spin the wheel of fortune and fill the house of the wicked with jewels,while you force the just and scrupulousto sweep up the pieces.And the man who should not even tend pigsrides a horse as a cavalier.And without a shovel, you scoop ruin onto the houseof the honorable and the just.Fate, if I speak evil of you, you'll claimthe man is jealous and confusedBut why do you look crossly at the learnedand make the ignorant the landlord?Hey, why toss the bread of the wiseso far down the valley?And why should I believe in your justiceWhen you don't serve it to anyone important?Not that you keep either oath or bargain, treacherous one.Whomever you love today and who is raised to a golden throne,tomorrow may be sitting in ashes.How can such a fraudulent judge make a just decision?Fate, friend of the deceitful and devious, you are harsh to the honest.What more can I say except that someday I expectyou to mix up sky and earth and sea.
Against FateHey, Fate! When you fail a man, you spendall your time digging a well to trap him.Then you untie the well's wheel rope so that it can roll.And you keep the poor mortal struggling up, only to fall back.You show him a bushel of means and say"This is it. Worry about it, and dream."Meanwhile you spin the wheel of fortune and fill the house of the wicked with jewels,while you force the just and scrupulousto sweep up the pieces.And the man who should not even tend pigsrides a horse as a cavalier.And without a shovel, you scoop ruin onto the houseof the honorable and the just.Fate, if I speak evil of you, you'll claimthe man is jealous and confusedBut why do you look crossly at the learnedand make the ignorant the landlord?Hey, why toss the bread of the wiseso far down the valley?And why should I believe in your justiceWhen you don't serve it to anyone important?Not that you keep either oath or bargain, treacherous one.Whomever you love today and who is raised to a golden throne,tomorrow may be sitting in ashes.How can such a fraudulent judge make a just decision?Fate, friend of the deceitful and devious, you are harsh to the honest.What more can I say except that someday I expectyou to mix up sky and earth and sea.
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About Frik
Frik lived approximately from 1230 to 1310, during the time of Mongol rule over Armenia. Very little is known about his life. It is not known whether his name was really Frik or not; it may be a pseudonym or an abbreviated form of his original name. The scholar Hakob Zhamkochian considers it likely that Frik was from Western Armenia due to the similarity of his Armenian to the literary language of Cilician Armenia. Based on information and allusions in his poetry, it is believed that Frik was an educated and once wealthy man who was plagued by debts and misfortunes, perhaps due to an unsuccessful business endeavor. Frik's son was kidnapped by Mongols and he traveled the kingdom searching for his son (alternatively, he was forced to give up his son as security for a debt). Scholars disagree on whether Frik was a layman or a member of the clergy. He spent the last years of his life in a monastery, although it is not known for certain if he became a monk.