"By the excellent bloom of that cheek which He gave, By that beauty which makes the whole world thy slave; By the splendour that beams from that beautiful brow, That bids the full moon to thy majesty bow; By the graceful gait of that cypress, by The delicate bow that is bent o'er thine eye; By that arch of the temple devoted to prayer, By each fine-woven mesh of the coils of thy hair; By that charming narcissus, that form arrayed In the sheen and glory of silk brocade; By that secret thou callest a mouth, by the hair Thou callest the waist of that body most fair By the musky spots on thy cheek's pure rose, By the smile of thy lips when those buds unclose, By my longing tears, by the sigh and groan That rend my heart as I pine alone; By thine absence, a mountain too heavy to bear, By my thousand fetters of grief and care; By the sovereign sway of my passion, by My carelessness whether I live or die; Pity me, pity my lovelorn grief: Loosen my fetters and grant relief: An age has scorched me since over my soul The soft sweet air of thy garden stole. Be the balm of my wounds for a little; shed Sweet scent on the heart where the flowers are dead I hunger for thee till my whole frame is weak: O give me the food for my soul which I seek." THE HORSE OF YÚSUF In his stalls had Yúsuf a fairy steed, A courser through space of no earthly breed; Swift as the heavens, and black and white With a thousand patches of day and night; Now a jetty spot, now a starry blaze, Like Time with succession of nights and days. With his tail the heavenly Virgo's hair, With his hoof the moon, was afraid to compare. Each foot with a golden new moon was shod, And the stars of its nails struck the earth as he trod. When his hoof smote sharp on the rugged flint A planet flashed forth from the new moon's dint; And a new moon rose in the sky when a shoe From the galloping foot of the courser flew. Like an arrow shot through its side in the chase. He outstripped the game in the deadly race. At a single bound he would spring, unpressed, With the lightning's speed from the east to the west. THE FREEING OF ZULAIKHA'S SOUL "O thou who hast broken mine honour's urn, Thou stone of offence wheresoever I turn, I should smite--for thy falsehood has ruined my rest-- With the stone thou art made of, the heart in my breast. The way of misfortune too surely I trod When I bowed down before thee and made thee my god; When I looked up to thee with wet eyes in my woe, I renounced all the bliss which both worlds can bestow. From thy stony dominion my soul will I free, And thus shatter the gem of thy power and thee." BREAKING THE IDOL