Vis and Ramin

288 YISKAMIANI
Shahinshah's throne, and after the first vow Vis gave him
a bunch of violets, and
"
said : Learn this as a token from
me :
and vow ! Mayst
wherever thou seest a fresh violet think on this day
thou be thus blue and downcast and
shortlived if thou breakest thine oath or deceivest me.
And I will take the rose as a token that I may be as
oath to
shortlived and distasteful to God when I break my
thee!" 1
When Kamin thought on that time and that day, it
seemed to him as if the world were darkened. The cloud
of spring is black, and rains so heavily that it makes
torrents to flow. So was it with him when his heart was
darkened, so many tears flowed from his eyes that they
formed new seas. When he remembered his former pains
he had endured for Vis, Vis's affection for him, and at that
time his whole-heartedness for her, and the breaking of his
oath, Kamin "
said : What have I done ? In forsaking
Vis I have abandoned everything : God, religion, oath, and
soul."
Passion again overmastered him, and affection for her
was renewed. When the sun comes forth from a cloud it
has then greater heat. So was Kamin's love renewed.
Passion vanquished him more even than at first. He
acknowledged his fault, and vowed to God to be a lover to
her again. The renewing of love and desire overcame him ;
823 he had no power to go on, and his |
colour paled. He
turned aside from the road, and dispersed the troops. When
he was left alone he dismounted from his horse, broken-
hearted and pale ; tears of blood flowed from his eyes ;
with longing and eagerness to see her, like one in an ague
fit, he shivered and burned. He cursed Fate and his heart
that he had never had rest from them :
" Sometimes love makes me sick of my country ; some-
times it estranges me from my comrades ; sometimes it
makes me transgress against my friend, and makes me
behave in an unfriendly way ;
sometimes absence can pro-
tect me, it maddens me, and makes me weep. pitiable
1 Cf. E., 916.