I'm fallen in love with a fawn, a youngling tunic-clad, And joy
no more in love of bracelet-wearing may.
My mate in banquet-hall and closet's all unlike To her with whom
within my harem's close I play:
O thou that blames me, because I flee from Hind[FN#33] And
Zeyneb, my excuse is clear as break of day.
Would'st have me be a slave, the bondsman of a slave, One
cloistered and confined behind a wall alway?[FN#34]
When the princess saw him, a transport of passion and longing
seized her and she said to herself, 'Alas my shame! This is a
strange youth and I know him not. How comes he lying in one bed
with me?' Then she looked at him again and noting his beauty and
grace, said, 'By Allah, he is a comely youth and my heart is
well-nigh torn in sunder with longing for him. But alas, how am
I shamed by him! By Allah, had I known it was he who sought my
hand of my father, I had not rejected him, but had married him
and enjoyed his loveliness!' Then she gazed in his face and
said, 'O my lord and light of mine eyes, awake from sleep and
enjoy my beauty and grace.' And she moved him with her hand; but
Maimouneh let down sleep upon him (as it were a curtain) and
pressed on his head with her wings, so that he awoke not.
Pages:
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186