Happy art thou! at the sight of whose maddening glances
the stag is intoxicated.
The snood of whose musk-fragrant ringlets puts the stag to
shame.
The eye of the narcissus is embarrassed by thy glances.
The stag is harassed by envy of those muskladen locks.
Though the stag roamed round the garden a hundred times
he saw no bed of violets to equal the bloom on thy cheeks.
What magical power is there in that eye which, with one
glance,* captivates hearts from within and hunts the stag 117.
from without.
From envy of the musk-coloured spot* which stands like a
drop of dew upon thy rose-like cheek, the stag without
respite nurses a lacerated heart in his breast.
Needs must that with those two love fascinated eyes,
The stag should endeavour to protect himself from the snares
of thy locks.
When the story of thy fragrant tresses reached him,
The stag curtailed his narration of the bag of musk.
The stag suffered from the effects of the intoxication of thine
eyes,
And he got rid of his headache by drinking of the cup of the
assembly of the world-subduer.
The auspicious lion, protector of the crown of true religion,
Sinjar,
In whose estimation the fierce lion of the sky is but a stage.
The stag thought right to carry a fragrant ball of camphor*
taken from the dust of his threshold, to Khiā as a memorial.
Perhaps it was from the dust of his dignity which became* the
ornament of the sun, that the stag obtained superiority
over the wild beasts by reason of his musk-bag.
Happy art thou star-arrowed one, whom the demon-hearted
fear and shun as* the stag avoids the lion.
An enemy who falls into thy clutches does not escape;
Who has ever known the stag to escape from the claws of the
lion?
At that time the stag prided himself upon being fleeter than
118. thy charger, now in sooth the stag is ashamed of his slow-
footedness.
At the time of attack, how can the stag in spite of all his
efforts, reach the dust which is thrown up by thy char-
ger's hoofs?
Think it not strange if from the abundance of his bounty, the
lynx goes slowly on foot, and the stag swiftly like a horse
man.
Compared with the fragrance of thy goodness how can the
stag boast* of the dried blood of his navel in Tātār.
By the aid of thy words which are like an antidote, I have
no fear, even though the stag shall become like to one
that feeds on snakes.*
His food is the snake, but afterwards like the elk, besides the
antidote, the stag offers in every direction the bag of musk.
In the land in which thou art, by reason of thy great justice
the lynx sits sorrowful, and the stag stands to comfort him.
The day that thou pursuest him he shews only his right
shoulder when the stag rushes from the right to the left of
thy army.
In reliance upon thee if a stag were to cherish a young lion in
its bosom it would be no wonder.
What power have two hundred enemies against thy prowess?
What does the hunting leopard think of a head of a thousand
stags?
Thy enemy will be able to engage in conflict with thee.
At that time when the stag's horns are capable of fighting the
lion.
119. In the meadow of thy favour the stag has never seen his
quarters and sides as thin as his legs.
Conqueror of the world, I have bound “The stag”* with
thirty-three couplets in thy praise by way of experiment
as though it were a camel.
It is fitting that the word “musk deer” should be repeated as
radīf a hundred times since thou hast sent me in thy
kindness a stag twice.
Formerly the stag thought of nothing but the musk-bag, now
he makes the glory of thy praise his constant occupation.
‘Amīd has opened the musk-bag of wisdom in singing thy
praises, like the musk-bag upon which the stag pridesitself.*
Always, as long as men search for musk on the surface of the
ground, and no musk deer lays aside its power of producing musk,
May the perfection of thy justice reach such a height that
the stag may extract musk from the hunting leopard.
Mayest thou roam at large and enjoy thyself in the meadow
of fortune, just as the stag roams over the meadows in
spring time.
Fasting has made his form which was like the Nārwan*
slender as a reed, and has made his face which was red as
the Arghawān* pale like the saffron.
How can it be saffron for it has not made me smile.*
Fasting has made my cheek yellow like the Zarīr2 through
weeping, and my tears red as the Arghawān.
How can it be a tulip, for fasting makes his cheek like the 120.
Khīrī.*
How can it be a cypress, when fasting makes it weak and
tremulous?*
His form stately as the Nārwan is bowed like the reed,
Has any one ever seen fasting proceed from the Nārwan and
cypress of the garden?
Till his face, which was like a full-blown rose, drew back again
into the bud there was no certainty that the rose and the
garden had commenced their fast.
Till his full moon once more became a crescent moon* who had
clearly seen fasting overtaking the sun and moon of the
heavens.
The shaft of grief is broken in my heart, for his stature has
been brought by fasting from the straight form of an arrow
to the shape of a bent bow.
It is two days since I have seen jar upon jar of sugar* in
that very moment when fasting set its seal upon his lips.
I am in astonishment at her sugar-distilling lip which is like
the pistachio, for there is sugar in the jar on each side and
fasting in the middle.
Because of her love her mouth is less than an atom, nay
even less than the minutest atom, can any one imagine that
a minute particle such as this can endure fasting.
Look! how marvellous it is with what skill she imprisons
fasting between those particles of ruby which scatter
sweetness.
With a glance she drinks my heart's blood because she
thinks that by taking a draught of blood she will openly
break her fast.
121. This heart of mine is faint with longing for her lips.
In this desire that I may break my fast with the seeds of the
pomegranate.*
Haply she has hung the amulet on her silvery mouse-like
neck, so that wisdom like a fasting cat has been compelled
to remain fasting.*
My tongue has become dry like that of one fasting in advising
her.
For thy form is like a fresh blown rose, fasting is the
autumn wind (which withers it).
Although thou openest thy lips like a bud which had been
closed by fasting, just as I broke my fast at the table of
the praise of my Lord;
The ocean of benevolence, champion of the truth, round the
table of whose bounty men and genii broke their fast;
Muḥammad whose vanguard is like destiny, the joints of whose
spear broke their fast with the blood of the enemies
(trickling down) from the point.
He, whose right hand is like that of Isfandiyār, has also, from
the liberality of his hand, caused the age* to break its fast
on this side of the seven stages.
Before the generosity of his heart, the ocean and the mine,
have, in their utter poverty, considered fasting to be their
bounden duty.
Hail O King! in whose just reign the wolf, as though it were a
shepherd, has kept its fast to secure the safety of the flock.
Thou art like the two first fingers,* a close companion of the
heavens, just as fasting goes hand-in-hand with prayer.
Thy existence is the twin brother of kingdom, just as fasting
is the twin brother of Zakāt, Ḥajj and ‘Umrah.*
122. The breeze of thy good qualities like the fragrance of the
perfume of the breath of the faster,* has carried fasting
as a special offering to the garden of Paradise.
Thou hast cast out the custom of tyranny from the kingdoms
under thy sway, inasmuch as thou hast relieved waste
countries of taxes, and excused the feeble from fasting.
The spirit of man is often broken by the vicissitudes of the
heavens* just as his bodily fast is broken by bread.
In this time no one, from the time of Jamshīd till now, remembers fasting at the table of such a host as thou art.
At the smell of the table of thy bounty the guest has considered it incumbent upon him, whether in the feast or in
the fray, to fast from food of all kinds.
The bird of thy arrow has broken its fast, like the gnat of
Nimrūd on the brain of thy enemy in the cup of the skull
(the cup of vapours).
For the maintenance of thy kingdom, young and old have
fasted, both the old and the new creation.
The revolution of this six-storied world is full of the mention
of thy glory, just as fasting fills the seven members of the
body in this darkness.
On this earth, the worlds children (have fasted) with such
endurance that the spiritual beings will never be able to
break the fast.
I stood before thee with my loins girt in honest service, as
though fasting, because fasting is not one of my objects,
neither openly nor in secret.*
My manliness actuated by ambition bowed the knee to me 123.*
and said,
Imagine that both your pen and your finger tips are fasting.
The claims of thy generosity caused me to break my fast*
and consume my time, had it not been for that I would
have speedily imposed a fast upon my words.
Had not the praise of thee been the sustenance of my powers
of speech how could the point of my tongue have broken
its fast by breaking into poetry?
Like the parrot, my first morning food* is the sugar of
gratitude to thee, not like the humā do I break my fast
upon bones.
Who is able to break his fast in this way at the time of
bringing in the “radīf” better than ‘Amīd, with the
draught of trial.
He has broken his fast with a feather from the wing of the
bird of praise, because at this time fasting is the best nest
for the bird of praise.
Always, as long as fasting brings as its reward from the
bounty and mercy of God, a hidden treasure worth a
hundred princely treasures,
Mayest thou be famed* for generosity and kindness in this
world, for fasting points the way to the highest heaven.