Vis and Ramin

RAMIN ON THE KOOF 151
paths like
1 musk. Although he was away from her, the
heart expecting to see her was thus consoled. There is
nought pleasanter than love that fears discovery by a foe,
avoids detection and ; when the heart of one is equally hot
with that of the other ! Bamin
feared not for himself, but
lest harm should come to Vis ; otherwise he would not
have spared himself. When he had tarried a long time on
the roof the cold did not dull him, for so great a fire consumed
his heart. If every drop of dew from heaven had
been as great as a hundred Mtcvaris 2 it would not have
extinguished one spark of his fire. The tears falling from
his eyes were like Noah's 3 flood ; streams of snow and rain
flowed. Eamin sat impatient in heart and burned in liver ;
and lamented :
freely he sighed
"
beloved ! Becomes it thee for me to be thus, that
thou shouldst be inside and I beneath the snow ? Ermine 4
covers thee luxuriously, 5 and I am here naked alone, sunk
up to the knees in slush.8 Thou hast another lover, and
sleepest with a thousand comforts, 7 and knowest not my
woe, thy lover's, how pitifully I weep. Ah, cloud! rain
down fire from heaven upon me : to the heartless, all grief
is pleasant. If I sigh I shall burn thee, cloud and air.
wind! rage and lay waste the land of Marav; shake
her bed ! Surely | she will wake and take pity on me ! 172
Hearken to my piteous sigh, hear what a state I am in ! I
sit alone, I freeze in the snows, I am pitiable even to my
bloody foe. I know if he heard of my evil plight
be grieved ; even he would weep for us."
he would
Vis again heard the sound of footsteps ; she heard that
Ramin was there, and she sought means. Ramin could
bear it no longer ; he sent the nurse ; and he was in such a
state of impatience that he was losing his presence of mind.
The nurse descended at once from the roof ; she took this
message from the disconsolate Ramin to Vis: "0 moon,
1 l"hot*khveri t Ch. Diet., lynx. C7p navel, 109
a The River Kara, in Georgia, 77.
4
' Noah, 98, 187.
Qarqumi, 118. RM 128. Nelnrr.,,1, 158, 384.
fcmtant wet, 171, 178.
7
Ncbieroba, 148, 904.