From Taming the Mind: Discourses of the Buddha (WH 51), edited by the Buddhist Publication Society, (Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1983). Copyright ©1983 Buddhist Publication Society. Used with permission.
Coming from noonday-rest on Vulture's Peak
I saw an elephant, his bathing done,
Forth from the river issue. And a man,
Taking his goad, bade the great creature stretch
His foot: 'Give me thy foot.' The elephant
Obeyed, and to his neck the driver sprang.
I saw the untamed tamed, I saw him bent
To master's will; and making inwardly,
I passed into the forest depths and there
I' faith I trained and ordered all my heart.