Vis and Ramin

VIS RECEIVES RAMIN'S LETTER 243
for love ! Love has burned my
heart with such a fire that
however often I extinguish it, it burns up more and more ;
I have made the earth into clay 1 with my tears, and I can-
not put it out. How is this an eye of flesh that sleeps not,
? I used* to 275
what fire is this which |
water
does not quench
bring up and care for hawks. 3
4
I reared a fledgling with a
6
thousand indulgences. When its feathers grew, and it
moulted its youthful down, it became bold and flew up, it
began to chase partridges. I thought it would hunt for
me. Suddenly it left me, so that I lost sight of it in the air.
Now I am weary of pursuing and seeking the lost one.
Alas for my so many
woes suffered in vain ! Alas for
my hopelessness of the world ! Alas for my so great heartwoundedness,
by which I have remained joyless and
fruitless ! I will roam and wander in the lands like a
caravaner, 7
maybe I shall find a track, a sign of the lost
one. My heart, too, is gone away with my lover, and now
I cannot stay here lacking both heart and lover. Through
the wrath of that stony heart I will begin to strike my head
with a stone, and I will also begin to roam on the mountains.
If I find anywhere a sign of him who took away my heart,
I shall give my life as a largesse for the good tidings.
How long shall I be thus burned with fire? How am I
displeasing to my fate? I am abandoned by both lover and
luck. I have become a corpse, nurse, through thee, for
thou didst teach me love, and sow the fire of passion in my
heart. Thou wert my blind guide 8 on that road ; thou hast
cast me into a pit, 9 and now thou, too, must take me out.
Although I have seen great trouble through thee, I endure
it, because help will come from thee too. Arise, sit no
longer, make ready for the road, deliver my message to
Ramin, and say :
" '
traitor ! hypocrite ! Bravo, 10 well hast thou strung
Thikhhe. KMtelad. 3 Kori, 277. R., 855.
* Mart" hue. 5 Capoeti a bird a year old.
>
9 Cacabi, 271.
7 Mokaravne, 84, 296. B. f 1007.
Qolauxi, 224, 882. R., 955, 1850. Ormo, 228, 286.
Shabath, 152. B., 741, 879.