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me with what she suffered, by reason of what she saw of the excess of my passion and distraction (for another). I looked at her and saw that she had two bandages on her head, one on account of the wound on her forehead, and the other over her eye, which pained her for excess of weeping; and she was in very sorry plight, weeping and repeating the following verses:
I count the nights, night after night, the weary nights and slow; Yet would I, once upon a time, unreckoned let them go.
I have no knowledge, O my friend, of that which God ordains Of Leila or what He decrees to me, but this I know
He to another her adjudged and cursed me with her love: So hath He not afflicted me with other than her woe.
When she had finished, she looked round and seeing me through her tears, wiped them away and came up to me, but could not speak for excess of emotion. So she was silent awhile, then said to me, “O my cousin, tell me what befell thee with her this time.” So I told her all that had passed, and she said, “Be patient, for the time of thy delight is come, and thou hast won to the attainment of thy hopes. As for her sign with the mirror and the bag, it was as if she said to thee, ‘When the sun is set;’ and the letting down of her hair over her face signified, ‘When the night is come and hath let fall the blackness of the dark and overmastered the daylight, come hither.’ As for her gesture with the flower-pot and the lamp, it meant, ‘When thou comest, enter the garden behind the street, and where as thou seest the lamp burning, go thither and seat thyself beneath it and wait for me; for the love of thee is killing me.’” When I heard this, I cried out for excess of passion and said, “How long wilt thou deceive me with promises and I go to her, but get not my will nor find any truth in thine interpreting?” At this, she laughed and replied, “Thou needest but have patience for the rest of the day, till the light depart and the night come with the darkness,
