Vis and Ramin

VIS'S LETTER TO RAMIN 375
I need thee, for I do not want a moment's life without thee-
| I seek thee continually. I seek not joy without thee.
Many times hast thou tried me, and thou knowest my
constancy, for which thou, too, hast not been ungrateful.
Now I, that lover of thine, am mad and restless for thee, to
which mine eyes, shedding blood, bear witness.
" Come, look at my witnesses, that they may convince
thee of my plight! Come, look upon my
red cheeks
now yellow, like one who has been sick for ten years!
Come, try my tears which have flowed like Djeon, 1 and my
land dyed with blood from that Djeon !
Come,
and thou
shalt see my form bent by solitude and by thinking of thee ;
for joy is afraid of me, and I am afraid of men, as my heart
has avoided every thought but of thee ! Come, that thou
mayst see my sad state ! There is nobody with me any
more and I am gone forth from all joys, as if someone
pricked 2 out with a knife both mine eyes from moment to
moment !
Come, that thou mayst see how my affection
and love for thee have increased from day to day, even like
thy beauty !
" If thou hasten not, thou wilt not find me alive. If thou
wishest to come in time, tarry not a single moment. If
thou art sitting down, rise up ; and if thou art standing,
sit not down again. Rest not a moment. When thou hast
read this letter, travel day and night. Think of her witless
and impatient till thou comest. Mine eye is fixed on thy road
like a sentinel. 8 And if separation from thee still longer
afflicts me, certainly I shall not remain in my right mind.
Cntil thou come I am always asking God to give me
endurance, and not let me die without seeing thee; | and
surely by His mercy He will do this and fulfil thy heart's
desire, and will bring us to the presence of each other
safely. He will become weary of our so many woes and
expectations of mischance.
"
But now, if God gives me to see thy face and then I die,
4
it will no longer matter to me !
If I die being in this state
1
Z>/mf 288. Mchlehulct
9
Guiihagi, 417.
'
Ugama.
l -1