Long is the road and restlessness and grief redouble aye, Whilst in my breast the fires of love rage ever night and day O thou, the goal of all my hopes, sole object of my wish, I swear by Him, the Most High God, who moulded man from clay, For love of thee I bear a load of longing and desire, Such as the mountains of Es Shumm might ne'er withal away! Indeed, O lady of my world,[FN#140] love slayeth me outright; No breath of life in me is left, my fainting spright to stay But for the hope of union with thee, that lures me on, My weary body had no strength to furnish forth the way. When he had finished, he wept and Aziz wept with him, from a lacerated heart, till the Vizier was moved to pity by their weeping and said to the prince, 'O my lord, take courage and be of good cheer; all will yet be well.' 'O Vizier,' said Taj el Mulouk, 'indeed I am weary of the length of the way. Tell me how far we are distant yet from the city.' 'But a little way,' replied Aziz. Then they continued their journey, traversing valleys and plains and hills and stony wastes, till one night, as Taj el Mulouk was asleep, he dreamt that his beloved was with him and that he embraced her and pressed her to his bosom; and he awoke, trembling and delirious with emotion, and repeated the following verses: My heart is maddened for love and my tears for ever flow, And longing is ever upon me and unrelenting woe. My plaint is, for tears, as the mourning of women bereft of young, And I moan, when the darkness gathers, as the turtles, sad and low. Yet, if the breezes flutter from the land where thou dost dwell, Their wafts o'er the earth, sun-weaned, a grateful coolness throw. Peace be on thee, my beloved, as long as the cushat flies, As long as the turtles warble, as long as the zephyrs blow!