Vis and Ramin

196 VISKAMIANI
have God and my luck dealt thus mercilessly with me, for
I am like none other of the race of man, and I rejoice in
despair. Did not my mother herself bear me without a
heart and luckless ! and did not my mother curse me,
" Whatever thou seekest shall be far from thee."
saying :
Now thou, my desired one, art far from me, and if I have
no hope of seeing thee, there will remain in my heart the
poisoned point 1 of an arrow instead of thy face. 1 And if I
smell the musk of Thibet, 2 it seems to me the dirt of the
street. 3 Thou art my scent, and not musk and amber.
Thou art my balsam and immortality. My heart and iiver
224 are bitten by the serpent of separation from thee. |
My
wounded soul is come up to my mouth, and the balm and
antidote 4 of my poison is thy lip, and the sun of my
fate is thy face. Where art thou ? Why dost thou not appear
to me ? Alas ! my luckless fate, why should I become
still more weary this night ? 1 am pitiable even to mine
enemies by reason of my torture and unrest.5 Thou being
thus, how can I be patient ?' " Then she began to entreat 6
the moon to rise. She said :
" moon !
I adjure thee by
that God by Whom thou art created to give light and joy
to all. Eise ! it is time for thee to rise ! My life 7 is ready
to rise (take its flight). Lift thy rays 8 above the mountain
; look what burdens 9 of woe in mountains lie on my
heart. Fate and the night are like rusty iron, and the
darkness has made me more impious than Fate. I have
no heart left, and I have not found anywhere the ravisher
Have pity on two
of my heart. I beseech thee, moon !
who have become mad for each other on account of the
10
absence of each other. Be our guide ; have mercy on us,
1
Piri, 220 play upon words. Piri face, point.
2 T'humbut'huri, 284. T'hobit'h, 26.
3 Ubcvni quarter of a town. E., 465.
4 T'heriaqi (Greek) treacle.
book.
6 Sdja-mousveneblobat'hat'huia, is probably the longest word in the
6 Mudara. 7
Sukii, 101.
s ShuTci, E., 394, 1135, 1163, 1322. 9 Tvirt'hi, E., 1086.
10 Culaoz (var., qulaoz), E., qulauz, 955.