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41.
O may thy sunny face grow brighter yet,
May thy love’s arrow split my heart in twain;
Knowest thou why thy cheek’s mole is so black?
All things become burnt black close to the sun!
42.
The breeze that played amid
*
thy curling locks
Is sweeter far than hyacinths to me;
All night I pressed thy picture on my breast,
*
At dawn my bed gave forth a scent of roses.
43.
With two strands of thy hair will I string my rebāb,
In my wretched state what canst thou ask of me?
Seeing that thou hast no wish to be my Love,
Why comest thou each midnight, in my sleep?
44.
O thou whose sweet soft eyes the
surmeh
shades,
O thou whose slender figure rends my heart,
O thou whose musky ringlets cluster on thy neck,
Why passest thou unheeding?—art thou dumb?
45.
Love to be sweet must be reciprocal,
Love unrequited maketh sick the heart;
If Majnūn’s heart was desperate for love,
The heart of Leila was more desperate still.
46.
Come and illume my chamber for one night,
Keep me not wretched by thine absence from me;
*
By the two arcs that are thine eyebrows’ curves, I swear
Since thou’st forgotten, Grief only shares my bed.
47.
Art thou a lion or leopard, O Heart, O Heart,
That thou warrest ever with me, O Heart, O Heart?
Fall thou into my hands; I’ll spill thy blood,
To see what colour it is, O Heart, O Heart!
48.
My Beautiful! thou hast my heart and soul,
Thou hast mine inner and mine outer self;
I know not why I am so very sad,
I only know that thou hold’st the remedy.
49.
Comest thou thyself?
*
I will cover thee with caresses,
Comest thou not?
*
for thine absence will I sorely grieve.
*
Be thy sorrows
*
what they may, lay them upon my heart,
And I will either die of them, or be consumed by them, or bear them bravely.
50.
Seven days the anemones last upon the heights,
On river-brink the violets last seven days;
From town to town will I proclaim this truth,
“But seven days can rosy cheeks keep faith!”
51.
Grieving for thee my heart is ever sad,
A brick my pillow, and my couch the earth;
My only sin is loving thee too well:
Surely not all thy lovers suffer so?
52.
A taper I, whose flame sheds waxen tears,
*
Are not the tears from burning hearts the same?
All night I burn, throughout the day I weep,
Such days and nights are all on thine account.
53.
When thou’rt away mine eyes o’erflow with tears,
Barren the Tree of Hope when thou’rt away;
Without thee, night and day, in a solitary corner,
I sit, till life itself come to an end.
54.
O Heart! I mourn in purple for thy flight,
I bear my grief as the train-bearer bears the train;
As the dawn boasts the rising Sun, boast I thy love,
Henceforth till Israfil shall sound his trump.
55.
Full is my heart with fire and mine eyes with tears,
Brim full the vessel of my life with grief;
*
But dead, I should revive with thy perfume,
If haply thou shouldst wander o’er my grave.
* * * *
56.
Fate is an ill that no one can avert,
It wields its sway alike o’er Kings and Viziers;
The King who yesterday, by his rule, devoured Kerman,
Becomes to-day himself the meat of worms.
*
57.
Black is my lot, my fortune’s overturned,
*
Ruined are my fortunes, for my luck is brought low;
*
A thorn, a thistle I, on the Mountain of Love,
For my heart’s sake.
*
Drown it in blood, O Lord!
58.
Since that First Day when Thou createdst us,
What hast Thou seen in us save frowardness?
Lord! by the Faith of Thy blest Twelve Imāms
Forget Thou seest for us the Camel of Death.
59.
The Age’s grief is our Soul’s portion here,
To free our Souls from care needs magic
*
art;
To all, at last, comes remedy for grief,
Annihilation cures all hearts at last.
*
60.
I go, I depart, I leave this world of ours,
I journey beyond the furthest bounds of Chīn,
*
And, journeying, ask Pilgrims about the Road,
“Is this the End?
*
or must I journey on?”
61.
My new-born Vision of Beauty, where art thou?
Where art thou with thy
surmeh
-shaded eyes?
The Soul of Ṭāhir struggles to be free,
And, at this Supreme Moment, where art thou?
*
* * * *
62.
O man who ne’er hast studied Heavenly Lore,
Nor set thy foot within the Tavern-doors,
Thou knowest not what thou hast escaped or gained;
How shalt thou come among the Elect? Alas!
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