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I see thee nor mine eyes I shut, lest for a space My lids should veil from me the vision of thy face;
For, though with every glance I gazed on thee for e’er, Mine eyes might not suffice thy beauties to embrace.
Then said the old woman to the girls, ‘Let ten of you arise and dance and sing.’ And Ibrahim said in himself, ‘I wish the lady Jemileh would dance.’ When the damsels had made an end of their dance, they came round the princess and said to her, ‘O my lady, we would have thee dance amongst us, so the measure of our joy may be filled, for never saw we a more delightful day than this.’ Quoth Ibrahim to himself, ‘Doubtless the gates of heaven are open and God hath granted my prayer.’[1]
Then the damsels kissed her feet and said to her, ‘By Allah, we never saw thee light of heart as to-day!’ Nor did they cease to importune her, till she put off her [outer] clothes and abode in a shift of cloth of gold, broidered with various jewels, discovering breasts that stood out like pomegranates and unveiling a face as it were the moon on the night of its full. Then she began to dance, and Ibrahim beheld motions whose like he had never in his life seen, for she showed such rare skill and wonderful invention, that she made men forget the dancing of the bubbles in the wine-cups and called to mind the inclining of the turbans from the heads; even as saith of her the poet:
As she would, she was created, after such a wise that lo, She in beauty’s mould was fashioned, perfect, neither less nor mo’.
’Tis as if she had been moulded out of water of pure pearls; In each member of her beauty is a very moon, I trow.
- ↑ According to Muslim tradition, when the gates of heaven are opened (as on the Night of Power), all prayers are granted. See note, Vol. V. p. 314, where, by the way, the 26th night of Ramazan is (by a clerical error, not discovered in time for correction) omitted from the list of nights one of which is supposed to be the Night of Power.
