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Then, of the excess of her contentment, she recited the following Verses:
O thou aforetime of my heart that mad’st prize (And the present for us on the past still relies),
Thou, the only companion I crave, for to me None other the want of thy presence supplies,
To the bath,—that in midst of hell-fire we may see Even Paradise shining,—come, light of mine eyes!
We will scent it with ambergris, aloes and musk, Till the fragrance in clouds from all quarters arise.
Yea, Fortune we’ll pardon her sins and give thanks, For His grace, to the Merciful One, the All-Wise;
And I’ll say, when I see thee therein, “O my love, All delights be thy lot in the earth and the skies!”
So they went to the bath and took their pleasure there in; after which they returned to their palace and there abode in the fulness of delight, till there came to them the Destroyer of Delights and the Sunderer of Companies; and glory be to Him who changeth not neither ceaseth and in whom all things have their term!
ABOU NUWAS WITH THE THREE BOYS AND THE KHALIF HAROUN ER RESHID.
Abou Nuwas one day shut himself up and making ready a richly-furnished saloon, set out therein a banquet of meats of all kinds and colours that lips and tongue can desire. Then he went forth, to seek a minion who should befit the entertainment, saying, ‘O my God and my Master and my Lord, I beseech Thee to send me one worthy of this banquet and apt to carouse with me this day!’ Hardly had he made an end of speaking, when he espied three handsome beardless youths, as they were of the children of Paradise, differing in complexion but equal in perfection of beauty; and all hearts yearned with
