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And within the arbour were written the following verses:
Enter with us, O friend, this garden fair, That cleanses from the heart its rust of care.
Its zephyrs stumble in their skirts [for haste] And in their sleeve[1] its flowers laugh everywhere.
So they entered and found within fruits of all kinds and birds of all sorts and colours, such as the ringdove and the nightingale and the curlew and the turtle and the cushat, carolling on the branches. Therein were streams that ran with limpid water and delightsome flowers, and it was even as saith of it the poet:
The zephyr o’er its branches breathes and sways them to and fro, As they were girls that in their skirts still stumble as they go;
And like to swords, whenas the hands of horsemen draw them forth From out their scabbards’ envelope, its silver channels show.
And again:
The river passes by and laves the branches with its flood And still it mirrors in its heart the younglings of the wood;
Which when the zephyr notes, it hastes to them for jealousy And forces them to bend away from out its neighbourhood.
On the trees of the garden were all manner fruits, each in two kinds, and amongst them the pomegranate, as it were a ball of silver dross, whereof saith the poet and saith well:
Pomegranates, fine-skinned, like the breasts of a maid, Whenas, rounded and firm, to the sight they’re displayed.
When I peel them, appear to us rubies galore, Such as well may the wit with amazement invade.
And as quoth another:
To him, who seeks to come at its inside, there are displayed Rubies together pressed and clad in raiment of brocade.
I liken the pomegranate, when I look on it, to domes Of alabaster or to breasts of unpolluted maid.
- ↑ Syn. bud or petals (kumm).
