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tioned him. So he told him what had befallen him with the boy and how he had spent a thousand dirhems upon him; whereupon quoth the chamberlain, ‘Show him to me; and if he be worth this, thou art excused.’ ‘Wait awhile,’ replied the poet, ‘and thou shalt see him presently.’ As they were talking, up came the boy, clad in a white tunic, under which was another of red and yet another of black. When Abou Nuwas saw him, he sighed and repeated the following verses:
To me he appeared in a garment of white, His eyes and his eyelids with languor bedight.
Quoth I, “Dost thou pass and salutest me not? Though God knows thy greeting were sweet to my spright.
Be He blesséd who mantled with roses thy cheeks, Who creates, without let, what He will, of His might!”
“Leave prating,” he answered; “for surely my Lord Is wondrous of working, sans flaw or dissight.
Yea, truly, my garment is even as my face And my fortune, each white upon white upon white.”
When the boy heard this, he put off the white tunic and appeared in the red one; whereupon Abou Nuwas redoubled in expressions of admiration and repeated the following verses:
Appeared in a garment, the colour of flame, A foeman of mine, “The belovéd,” by name.
“Thou’rt a full moon,” I said in my wonder, “and com’st In a garment that putteth the roses to shame.
Hath the red of thy cheek clad that vest upon thee Or in heart’s blood of lovers hast tinctured the same?”
Quoth he, “’Twas the sun lately gave me the wede; From the rubicund hue of his setting it came.
So my garment and wine and the colour so clear Of my cheek are as flame upon flame upon flame.”
Then the boy doffed the red tunic and abode in the black; whereupon Abou Nuwas redoubled in attention to him and repeated the following verses:
