Xviii

I quote again from Omar, Fitzgerald's translation:

"And this reviving Herb, whose Tender Green Fledges the River-Lip, on which we lean-- Ah, lean upon it lightly! for who knows From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen."

In justice to both the Persian and the Arab poet, however, I give the 43d quatrain of Heron-Allen's, which I think contains two lines of that of Fitzgerald, together with Abu'l-Ala's own poetic-fancy.

"Everywhere that there has been a rose or tulip bed There has been spilled the crimson blood of a king; Every violet shoot that grows from the earth Is a mole that was once upon the cheek of beauty."