"I hope for Union with my love which I may ne'er obtain * At all, but bitterness of life is all the gain I gain: My tears are likest to the main for ebb and flow of tide; * But when I meet the blamer-wight to staunch my tears I'm fain. Woe to the wretch who garred us part by spelling of his spells;[FN#559] * Could I but hend his tongue in hand I'd cut his tongue in twain: Yet will I never blame the days for whatso deed they did * Mingling with merest, purest gall the cup they made me drain! To whom shall I address myself; and whom but you shall seek * A heart left hostage in your Court, by you a captive ta'en? Who shall avenge my wrongs on you,[FN#560] tyrant despotical * Whose tyranny but grows the more, the more I dare complain? I made him regnant of my soul that he the reign assain * But me he wasted wasting too the soul I gave to reign. Ho thou, the Fawn, whom I so lief erst gathered to my breast * Enow of severance tasted I to own its might and main, Thou'rt he whose favours joined in one all beauties known to man, * Yet I thereon have wasted all my Patience' fair domain. I entertained him in my heart whereto he brought unrest * But I am satisfied that I such guest could entertain. My tears for ever flow and flood, likest the surging sea * And would I wot the track to take that I thereto attain. Yet sore I fear that I shall die in depths of my chagrin * And must despair for evermore to win the wish I'd win." When Miriam heard the verses of Nur al-Din the loving-hearted, the parted; they kindled in her vitals a fire of desire, and while her eyes ran over with tears, she recited these two couplets, "I longed for him I love; but, when we met, * I was amazed nor tongue nor eyes I found. I had got ready volumes of reproach; * But when we met, could syllable no sound." When Nur al-Din heard the voice of Princess Miriam, he knew it and wept bitter tears, saying, "By Allah, this is the chanting of the Lady Miriam."—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say. End of Volume 8. Arabian Nights, Volume 8 Footnotes [FN#1] Ironicč; we are safe as long as we are defended by such a brave. [FN#2] Blue, azure. This is hardly the place for a protest, but I must not neglect the opportunity of cautioning my readers against rendering Bahr al-Azrak ("Blue River") by "Blue Nile." No Arab ever knew it by that name or thereby equalled it with the White Nile. The term was a pure invention of Abyssinian Bruce who was well aware of the unfact he was propagating, but his inordinate vanity and self-esteem, contrasting so curiously with many noble qualities, especially courage and self-reliance, tempted him to this and many other a traveller's tale.