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Thou’rt peerless midst mortals, the sovran of grace, And many a witness to this I can cite.
Thy brows are a Noun[1] and thine eyes are a Sad,[2] That the hand of the loving Creator did write;
Thy shape is the soft, tender sapling, that gives Of its bounties to all that its favours invite.
Yea, indeed, thou excellest the world’s cavaliers In pleasance and beauty and bounty and might.
When she had finished, she wrote the verses on a sheet of paper, which she folded in a piece of gold-embroidered silk and laid under her pillow. Now one of her nurses saw her; so she came up to her and held her in talk, till she slept, when she stole the scroll from under her pillow and reading it, knew that she had fallen in love with Uns el Wujoud. Then she returned the scroll to its place and when her mistress awoke, she said to her, ‘O my lady, indeed, I am to thee a faithful counsellor and am tenderly solicitous for thee. Know that passion is grievous and the hiding it melteth iron and causeth sickness and unease; nor is there reproach for whoso confesses it.’ ‘O my nurse,’ rejoined Rose-in-bud, ‘and what is the remedy of passion?’ ‘The remedy of passion is enjoyment,’ answered the nurse. ‘And how may one come by enjoyment?’ asked Rose-in-bud. ‘By letters and messages,’ replied the nurse, ‘and many a tender word and greeting; this brings lovers together and makes hard matters easy. So, if thou have aught at heart, mistress mine, I will engage to keep thy secret and do thy need and carry thy letters.’
When the girl heard this, her reason fled for joy; but she restrained herself from speech, till she should see the issue of the matter, saying in herself, ‘None knoweth this thing of me, nor will I trust this woman with my
- ↑ See supra, p. 95, note 3.
- ↑ The fourteenth letter of the Arabic alphabet, in its medial form (ص) closely resembling an eye underlined with kohl.
