Vis and Ramin

268 |
236 VISRAMIANI
path. Since I saw thee 1 I have not had rest a single
moment, nor has consolation entered rny heart. When I
was near thee I was worse. I ceaselessly shed tears of
blood, and the fear of death possessed me. I never separated
from thee without shedding Gihon 2 from my eyes.
And I never saw thy face but I heard a thousand painful,
reproachful words, and, besides all this, the fear of God
and expectation of His wrath possessed me. Thou knewest
me also before my love, how merry and renowned I was.
My foes feared me, and showed themselves friendly, and
wild beasts were exterminated by me. When I was angry,
even lions feared me ; and when I was fierce, I was more
keen than a sword. When I flew the falcon 3 of my youth,
the moon of heaven was in dread, and the courser of my
will sped so far that thought could not follow. My soul
was full of joy
4
and gladness, my pearl-shell was full of
precious jewels. I was a cypress in the garden of joy, and
on the field of battle a hill of steel. 6 The rock of my
hill was gold, and the bed of my Mtcvari 6 was pearl.
When I saw thee and learned to know thee, thou thyself
knowest what I became henceforth. That Fate which was
7
subject to me has now subdued me. My form became like
meadow-sweet, 8 and love made a star of my two weeks'
and made it
moon. Fate darkened the light of my sky,
bitter as hell to me. When the fire of love touched me,
gladness 4 fled from me a hundred days by stages. 9 Know-
ledge went forth from my heart, and I remained powerless.
Every man drew his bow and shot arrows of reproach at
me. I was wounded by love, and they poured the salt of
reproach on me. I was drunk from lack of heart, and I
fell down. Now I write to say farewell to thee, for I am
weary of thy love, and also to inform thee of my state.
1 ? an intentional zma (play upon words) :
2 Djeon, 261, 288.
" Barnin akh."
3 Shavwdeni, 194, 271. K., 459, 606.
* 6
Nishati, 197, 450. R., 323, 666, 707. Basri, 420.
6
56, 77, 171, Mtcvari, the modern name of the Kura, on which
" "
Tiflis stands, seems to mean simply river in Visramiani.
7
D^a&imt, 241 coward, subdued.
8
Graci(SxrirceacrenataPall.
Edji, 263.