Vis and Ramin

MOABAD GOES TO THE CHASE 867
my heart 1 with a thousand ropes of
2
steel. It has torn
them all and gone to travel with thee. Kamin! If I
remain (alive) without thee, I shall bewail the separation
till thou come. I will send the smoke of my heart as a
cloud, and my tears as its rain I will pour on thine abode.
I will wash down the dust from thy worthy face. Thy face
is a spring flower, and the rain and dew of spring will
beautify it."
When he had gone one day's journey, Ramin was as if
he did not know his way, and on the road he sighed. It
was not strange that he should sigh, since this is the wont
of the sick. As his heart dictated, he lamented and said
to it :
" 1 have not seen a night so grievous as yesternight, for
kissing was like an arrow (? i.e., it is gone, sped). Now I
see such a day that my soul is a goat, 3 and love is a
panther. 4
Whither has the joy of those days gone. My
heart had been emptied of its former griefs. My couch was
full of the sun, and my pillow of roses. I to whom such an
hour has happened, now how can I endure such a day as
this, or with what eyes gaze on the place lacking her?
This is not a day ; it is a fire of the soul and a mischance
of love. May God never bring upon any lover such a
state, heart-burned and impatient.
If Fate can reckon, it
will measure this one day as a thousand years."
6 Shahinshah arrived at a resting-place, the heart l_l
| When
less Ramin went before him. He had a thousand witnesses
on his face that patience had stolen from his heart. Before
him he neither drank wine nor made merry. Like fire
being added upon fire, so the harder did it become every
hour. He had no repose from his sick body and sore
heart.
1 T<
4 Ava*a t 888.
a Bo9ri, 267. Thkha, 817.
*
Sadgo