IV. ḤAKĪM ‘AINU-L-MULK OF SHĪRĀZ.*

He bore the nom-de-plume of Davā'ī,* and held a very high rank among the learned, besides being of a most noble disposi­tion. He died in the city of Hāndiya, as has been related.* The following verses were written by him when I was escorting him to the gate of the garden of the late Kh'āja Niāmu-d-dīn Aḥmad in the suburbs of Lāhōr. He wrote them and gave them to me as a keepsake as he bade me farewell, just before he set out* from Lāhōr for the Dakan, on his mission to Rāja ‘Alī Khān of Burhānpūr.* That was the last time I saw him.

Verses.

“So full am I of love that the world will not contain me,
All places are full of my love, and no place will contain
me.
If I care for naught but love it is no wonder,
Regard it rather as an example of my chastity, for wine
does not content me.

165 Why do you ask me of that which I myself do not know.
Verily I am the mystery of unity, though even that
mystery cannot contain me.”

Other verses by ‘Ainu-l-Mulk.

“No desert place has been seen without a sign of some
habitation.
But against the incurable pain of love no plans avail.
I became the prey of one fair as a gazelle, but when I
looked intently
(I saw) that there was nothing in the game-straps but a
pure soul.”