A literary history of Persia

462 THE LITERATURE OF PERSIABut for the stars * which 'neath those lips do play,I need not count night's stars till dawn of day.3Were she not formed of all that is most fairSome thought beyond her love my soul might share.If I must pass my life without my Friend,O God, I -would my life were at an end!"In another verse he says:" Long tarrying, I'm lightly held :away !Even an honoured guest too long may stay:Waters which in the well too long reposeLose all their flavour, and their sweetness goes."The following verse is descriptive of wine :"Wrung from the Grape which shines as shines the Light,Yet Fire consuming is its soul and sprite :Compounded from a Star whose setting-placeIs in the Mouth, yet rises in the Face."This is descriptive of a bowl of iced water :" Water and ice in crystal bowl combine :Behold these three, which like a bright lamp shine.Two deliquescent, one hard-frozen see,Yet all alike of hue and bright of blee."Of the remaining poets of this earliest epoch cited by