VI. ASHRAF KHĀN, MĪR MUNSHĪ.*

He was a Ḥusainī Sayyid of the holy city of Mashhad. He was well qualified to instruct the best calligraphists of the world in the seven different styles of penmanship. He was one of the most trusted among the nobles, and it is a pity that he should have merited the name of poet, but since he had natural poetical ability, the following verses of his are quoted:—

“Before I have received a single cup from the hand of the
cup-bearer of fate,
The stone of reproach strikes my wine-jar. What can I
do?”

“We are those in this world whose hearts are sad,
A heart as sad as our own, we know not of.”

A Quatrain.

“O, Lord! consume me not in the fire of Thy wrath! 182
But light the lamp of faith within the house of my heart;
And as for this robe of life which hangs torn on my body,
Of Thy mercy stitch it again with the thread of forgive-
ness.”

Another Quatrain.

“Free from the alloy and like fine gold came love from the
assay,
Well were it to spend the cash of our lives in the business
of love.
Since the expanse of thy beauty blossomed like the rose,
The thorns of love have pierced my breast as that of the
nightingale is pierced.”