Vis and Ramin

THE THIRD LETTER OF VIS TO RAMIN 261
me of thy face ; and- when I look upon
cypress, 1 a thousand times I do homage
an arrow or a
because of their
likeness to thy form. Wherever I find a rose, I kiss it for
its resemblance to thy cheeks. At the hour of dawn,
weeping and sighing, when the breeze wafts the fragrance
of violets and roses to me, I am comforted, for I say:
Surely my love cometh, and his perfume strikes me?
When I fall into a slumber, 2 I also gaze upon thy face.
I find joy in this : sometimes I complain of thy deeds to
thee thyself, sometimes I bewail thine absence to thee.
When I sleep thou art friendly to me. When grief is added
upon grief to me and I awake, why art thou mine enemy ?
Since thou showest love to me when I am asleep, when I
awake why
dost thou cause me to suffer ? In dreams thou
art pitiful ; when I awake why art thou so pitiless and
soul-bereaving ? Waking, melancholy I beseech thee. I
call upon thee, and thou comest not, so that I must cry and
weep. And when I fall asleep, ungracious thou comest
and seest me, so that all the more impatiently I may desire
thee. When thou wert near, that hour, and now, though
but a moment in a dream, equally they rejoice me. Since
thou wentest away darkness and light are become alike to
me. Day and night are become one. Of thee only the
of absence only 2!>4
image 3 and has remained in my heart, |
the grief of sickness. I so greatly desire thee that when I
dream of thee I am contented and thank God.
"
But my content is like a bird caught in a net, 4
which has no more strength.
parents (with the words) :
'
May God put far from thee
whatever thou seekest.' I am become so from love that even
I am like one cursed by my
to dream of thee seems a joy to me. So afflicted, alas ! is
my heart that this even seems a glory to it, and it desires
sleep. When I was near thee, then I was pampered, 5 not
expecting this woe. On account of that I did not sleep,
and now I do not sleep because of the flow of blood from
mine eyes by reason of separation. Behold! When did
1
Saro, 810. R, 40, 229, etc.
* Mimclulnct, R., 189, 877, 1198.
if, he. Makhe, 261, 264, 297. Vntuobdi, 865.