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Night dccclxv There were also pears of various kinds, Sinaï, Aleppo and Greek, growing singly and in clusters, parcel green and parcel yellow, amazing the beholder, as saith of them the poet:
Fair fall thee of a pear, whose hue is grown Even as a lover pale[1] for love and moan;
Like to a virgin in her harem shut, Her face by curtains half concealed, half shown.
And Sultani[2] peaches of various shades of red and yellow, whereof saith the poet:
’Tis as the peach, i’ the gardens, when with red, like unto dragon’s blood, ’tis all o’erspread,
Were very balls of yellow gold, whose cheeks Are dyed with gouts of blood upon them shed.
And green almonds of exceeding sweetness, resembling the heart[3] of the palm-tree, with their kernels hidden within three tunics of the handiwork of the Munificent King, even as is said of them:
A tender body, various of attributes and pent In tunics three, the handiwork of God Omnipotent.
Duresse envelopes it both night and day and therewithin It doth, though guiltless of offence, endure imprisonment.
And as well saith another:
Dost thou not see the almonds, when from the parent stem The gentle hand of a plucker pulls and detaches them?
The peeling of them shows us the kernels therewithin, As when from out an oyster one pulls the hidden gem.
And as saith a third better than he:
How goodly is the almond green! The smallest fills the hand, I ween.
Its nap is as the down upon A minion’s cheeks of satin sheen.
Double and single, as may chance, Its kernels in the husk are seen,
As pearls they were of lucent white, That cased and lapped in beryls been.
