Vis and Ramin

216 VISRAMIANI
"0 exalted 1 monarch, in height thou reachest unto
heaven, and in lowliness unto the earth ; thou hast a
generous heart; thy hand the giver of precious jewels; and
thine intelligence in prudence unattainable by others.
God has brought thee into such a plight
sovereigns could not even imagine
that other
it. What thou hast done
has passed over all, like the sun. May God do to you
according to your desires, and may your commands be
fulfilled. You, too, know that his planet turns upon a man
from moment to moment with another tooth 2 (?of a wheel),
and even with (his) birth it will be born. We men cannot flee
from the foreordained decree of God and the planet, nowhere
245 can we be hidden save by the will of God Himself. |
All is
of a truth ordained by Him, whatever befalls anybody till
the day of death. Even such as I am, I have been built up
by God. I am a pure nature, although thou hast been born
fortunate by God, and I, it seems, to be thus. I am
innocent in this, that I have never desired for myself (any-
thing) evil which in time has not been repaid to me. I
desire not for myself such mischances ; so much misfortune
was not pleasant for me. Neither did I desire that so many
woes should befall me from love, and that my foes should
know its secret. Neither do I like this for myself, that
whenever I expect joy it is turned to grief for me. From
birth I have grown up in grief ! What is my resource, since
my heart in such things was forestalled
3
by my destiny?
Even as my planet struggles with my soul so I am, and I
myself am so weary, that I even long to be eaten up
by a lion. My fate is like that of an Abyssinian 4 labourer
burned up by the sun, and my patience like one carried
away captive by the Kadjis. 6 With my nails I have torn
the curtain of shame from my heart, and with my teeth I
have cut the thread 6 of my life. Henceforth, know Shah
Moabad, I desire no longer soul and heart to be thine
oppressor. From them I have been in grief. My heart has
never rejoiced, nor has my soul ever reposed in my body.
My state has been invariably 7 one of turmoil. Hitherto it
1
Maghali.
2 Cbilad ; var., qalibad a form (calibre), 257.
3
Sve.
* Abaslii Abyssinian.
6
Kadji, 284.
6
Mcedi. 7 ErVhsakhe.