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Noureddin’s house and went round about it and kissed its threshold. And he bethought him of his brother and how he had died in a strange land and wept and repeated the following verses:
I wander through the halls, the halls where Leila lived, And kiss the lifeless walls that of her passage tell.
It is not for the house that I with passion burn, But for the cherished ones that erst therein did dwell.
Then he entered the gate and found himself in a spacious courtyard, at the end whereof was a door vaulted over with hard stone, inlaid with vari-coloured marbles. He walked round about the house, and casting his eyes on the walls, saw the name of his brother Noureddin written on them in letters of gold. So he went up to the inscription and kissed it and wept for his brother’s loss and repeated the following verses:
I sue unto the rising sun, each morn, for news of thee, And of the lightning’s lurid gleam I do for thee enquire.
The hands of passion and of pain sport with me all the night; Yet I complain not of the ills I suffer from desire.
O my belovéd, if the times be yet for me prolonged, My heart will sure be all consumed with separation’s fire.
Lo! if thy sight one happy day should bless my longing eyes, There is no other thing on earth that I of Fate require.
Think not that other loves avail to solace me for thee; My heart can hold no love but thine, my faith can never tire.
Then he walked on till he came to the lodging of his brother’s widow. Now from the day of her son’s disappearance, she had given herself up to weeping and lamentation day and night; and when the years grew long upon her, she made him a tomb of marble midmost the saloon and there wept for him day and night, sleeping not but thereby. When the Vizier drew near her apartment, he heard her weeping and repeating verses, so he went in to her and saluting her, informed her that he was her husband’s brother and told her all that had passed
