He was a lewd old man and a buffoon* and was popular among most of the poets about the court by the mere force of his im­pudence.

He at last had the honour of performing the holy pilgrimage (to Makkah), and died there. The following verses are by him:—

“What business have lovers other than giving up their lives?
Since I fear not death what else should I fear?”

“From the toilsome pain of separation nobody has any life
left.”
If this is separation nobody has any life left.”

“In this land I have given my heart to a most cruel enslaver.
I have fallen into the snare of the locks of one with a face
like a fairy.”

“I am the faithful dog of him whose foot does not stray ²⁶⁴
beyond the skirts of his own power,
Who imposes obligations on none, and is under obligation to
none.”

“We saw the graceful cypress-like figure of that fair one
depart,
Although no one has seen a soul depart.”

“Thou saidst, ‘Do not hover around me, or I will disgrace
and slay thee.’
Still do I hover around thee. Depart not from thy word.”

“When her two cheeks come into my mind in the hours of
sleep,
All night long I see the moon and the sun in my dreams.
Remembering that thou wert to come, although thou
comest not,
Tranquillity leaves my soul, and distraction enters my
heart.”

“The pain of love is increased, and no sympathy remains in
the world,
Majnūn was both afflicted and sympathetic, but he did not
remain in the world.”

“From this world, as a mistress, I have wholly cut myself off.
That I might quarrel with nobody for such a thing as a
world.”

“It is impossible to live without thee for a moment in the
world,
For thou art my soul, and nobody can live without a soul.”

“Nobody spoke, nor asked what a stage this must have been
In which Khiẓr was the last of the water-carriers of the
caravan.”

“The army of grief for thy absence has captured the citadel
of my heart,

The scars which are visible on my heart are the hosts* of
the foe.”