' 'Leave this talk,'
answered the other. 'Were thy healing at the price of my hand, I
would cut it off, ere thou couldst ask me; and could I ransom
thee with my life, I had already laid it down for thee. This very
day, Shemsennehar's handmaid has been with me and told me that
what hindered her from coming before this was the Khalif's
sojourn with her mistress;' and he went on to repeat to him all
that the girl had told him of Shemsennehar; at which Ali lamented
sore and wept and said to him, 'O my brother, I conjure thee by
God to help me in this mine affliction and teach me how I shall
do! Moreover, I beg thee of thy grace to abide with me this
night, that I may have the solace of thy company.' Aboulhusn
agreed to this; so they talked together till the night darkened,
when Ali groaned aloud and lamented and wept copious tears,
reciting the following verses:
My eye holds thine image ever; thy name in my mouth is aye And
still in my heart is thy sojourn; so how canst thou absent
be?
How sore is my lamentation for life that passes away Nor is
there, alas! in union a part for thee and me!
And also these:
She cleft with the sword of her glance the helm of my courage in
two And the mail of my patience she pierced with the spear
of her shape through and through.
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