‘Methinks, O Moon, thou art our Prince's bow,
Or his arched eyebrow, which doth charm us so,
Or else a horse-shoe wrought of gold refined,
Or ring from Heaven's ear depending low.’
“When I had submitted these verses, Amír 'Alí applauded, and the King said: ‘Go, loose from the stables whichever horse thou pleasest.’ When I was close to the stable, Amír 'Alí designated a horse which was brought out and given to my attendants, and which proved to be worth 300 dínárs of Níshápúr. The King then went to his oratory, and I performed the evening prayer, after which we sat down to meat. At the table Amír 'Alí said: ‘O son of Burhání! Thou hast not yet said anything about this favour conferred on thee by the lord of the world. Compose a quatrain at once!’ I thereupon sprang to my feet and recited these two verses:—
Chún átash-i-kháṭir-i-mará Sháh bi-díd,
Az khák mará bar zabar-i-máh kashíd;
Chún áb yakí tarána az man shuníd,
Chán bád yakí markab-i-kháṣṣam bakhshíd.‘The King beheld the fire which in me blazed:
Me from low earth above the moon he raised:
From me a verse, like water fluent, heard,
And swift as wind a noble steed conferred.’
“When I recited these verses 'Alá'u'd-Dawla warmly applauded me, and by reason of his applause the King gave me a thousand dínárs. Then 'Alá'u'd-Dawla said: ‘He hath not yet received his salary and allowances. To-morrow I will sit by the Minister until he writes a draft for his salary on Iṣfahán, and orders his allowances to be paid out of the treasury.’ Said the King: ‘Thou must do it, then, for none else has sufficient boldness. And call this poet after my title.’ Now the King's title was Mu'izzu'd-Dunyá wa'd-Dín, * so Amír 'Alí called me Mu'izzí. ‘Amír Mu'izzí,’ said the King [correcting him]. And this noble lord was so zealous for me that next day, by the time of the first prayer, I had received a thousand dínárs as a gift, twelve hundred more as allowances, and an order for a thousand maunds of corn. And when the month of Ramaḍán was passed, he summoned me to a private audience, and caused me to become the King's boon-companion. So my fortune began to improve, and thenceforth he made enduring provision for me, and to-day whatever I have I possess by the favour of that Prince. May God, blessed and exalted is He, rejoice his dust with the lights of His Mercy, by His Favour and His Grace!”
This anecdote further illustrates the importance attached in earlier days to the faculty of improvisation in poets, and several Improvisation highly esteemed in early times. other striking instances are given in this same book, the Chahár Maqála. Thus (pp. 56-58) when Sulṭán Maḥmúd of Ghazna had cut off the locks of his favourite Ayáz in a moment of drunken excitement, and, partly from remorse, partly from the after-effects of his drinking-bout, was next day in so evil a temper that none dared approach him, the Poet-laureate 'Unṣurí restored him to good humour by this quatrain:—
Gar 'ayb-i-sar-i-zulf-i-but az kástan-ast,
Chi já-yi bi-gham nishastan u khástan-ast?
Já-yi ṭarab u nisháṭ u may khwástan-ast,
K'árástan-i-sarv zi pírástan-ast.“Though shame it be a fair one's curls to shear,
Why rise in wrath or sit in sorrow here?
Rather rejoice, make merry, call for wine;
When clipped the cypress * doth most trim appear.”
Another extemporised quatrain of Azraqí's (Chahár Maqála, pp. 71-72) had an equally happy effect in calming the dangerous anger of his patron, the young King Ṭughánsháh, whose temper had given way in consequence of his having thrown two ones instead of the two sixes he desired at a critical point in a game of backgammon. This quatrain ran:—
Gar Sháh du shish khwást, du yak zakhm uftád,
Tá ẓan na-barí ki ka'batayn dád na-dád;
Án zakhm ki kard ray-i-Sháhinshah yád
Dar khidmat-i-Sháh rúy bar khák nihád.“Reproach not Fortune with discourteous tricks
If by the King, desiring double six,
Two ones were thrown; for whomsoe'er he calls
Face to the earth before him prostrate falls.”*
These two last quatrains have two points in common; first, the four miṣrá's all rhyme in both cases, whereas the third is in the quatrain commonly not rhymed; secondly, both exhibit the rhetorical figure technically called ḥusn-i-ta'líl (“poetical ætiology”), where a real effect is explained by an imaginary or fanciful reason.
We must now briefly consider some of the remaining and less important verse-forms, viz., the two kinds of strophe-poem The Tarjí'-band and Tarkíb-band. (the tarjí'-band and tarkíb-band), the various forms of multiple-poem (the murabba', mukhammas, &c.), the musammaṭ, and the mustazád.
The two kinds of strophe-poem both consist of a series of
stanzas, each containing a variable, but equal, or nearly equal,
number of couplets, all in one rhyme, these stanzas being
separated from one another by a series of isolated verses which
mark the end of each strophe. If the same verse (which
in this case may be best described as a refrain) be repeated at
the close of each band, or strophe, the poem is called a tarjí'-
To translate in its entirety a poem of either of these two classes, having regard to the proper arrangement of the rhymes, is beyond my powers, but I here give a few lines from two successive strophes of a very celebrated and very beautiful tarjí'-band by Hátif of Iṣfahán, who flourished towards the end of the eighteenth century:—
“O heart and soul a sacrifice to Thee,
Before Thee all we have an off'ring free!
The heart, Sweetheart, we yield as service meet;
The soul, O Soul, we give right cheerfully.
Scarce from Thy hands may we preserve our hearts,
But at Thy feet surrender life with glee.
The way to Thee is fraught with perils dire,
And Thy love-sickness knows no remedy.
Eyes for Thy gestures, ears for Thy commands,
Servants with lives and hearts in hand are we.
Would'st Thou have peace? Behold, our hearts are here!
Would'st Thou have war? Our lives we offer Thee!