The second period of Persian poetry reaches from the beginning to the end of the twelfth century, and it may be termed the panegyric age, from the fact that the poets of this period, nearly all of them, devoted their talents indiscriminately to the laudation of the princes of their times. But we find also in this age, the beginning of the mystic school which was so fully developed in the thirteenth century. It was during this period that Amig of Bukhara composed the Egyptian story of Yūsuf and Zulaikhā, which was the original of many poetic versions. A few good satires also belong to the twelfth century, but the greatest panegyric poet of this period was ANWĀRI. There is but little known of this Poet Laureate of Persia; he appears to have been born, however, in the twelfth century at Bedeneh, a village in Khorasān. He was a poor student in the town of Tus, and near the college grounds one day, he happened to see the grand equipage of the Sultan, and observing that one member of his suite was mounted upon a more magnificent horse, and was more gorgeously equipped than the others, he inquired who he was. On being told that he was the court poet, the ambitious student aspired to the same position, and that very night he prepared a poem in praise of the Sultan, which was presented at court the next day. The royal vanity was so greatly pleased by this offering, that the young poet was offered a position at court, which he promptly accepted. He attended the Sultan in all of his warlike expeditions until his death.[261] He wrote a few long poems, and also some simple lyrics that were worthy of preservation, but perhaps the best of these productions was “The Tears of Khorasān.” Khorasān was overrun by a barbarous tribe of Turkomans, who committed every species of cruelty, and this poem was a plea to the Prince of Samarcānd for relief. The following extract, which is the opening stanza of his petition, will give a sufficient idea of his style: “Waft, gentle gale, Oh, waft to Samarcānd, When next thou visitest that blissful land, The plaint of Khorosānia plunged in woe Bear to Tūrānia’s king our piteous scroll Whose opening breathes forth all the anguished soul And this denotes whate’er the tortured know.” NIZĀMĪ.