CLII. NAU‘I.*

He gives himself out to be one of the descendants of his holi­ness Shaikh Ḥājī Muḥammad of Khabūshān, but his conduct be­lies his claim. He is now in the service of the youngest prince.* 362 The following verses are by him:—

“I am Nau‘ī the wine-bibber, and after my death
My blisters will fester like the sun.”

“Nau‘ī's sorrow arises not from pain and grief
But from the exiguity of his stomach.”

“Again has my desire taken the road,
That road in which even Khiẓr fears to walk,
The flowers of the plains about it are thorns of eyelashes
The stones in that road are the skulls of men.”