Xvi

I said: "O Monarch of the lovely, a stranger seeks thy grace this day." I heard: "The heart's deceitful guidance inclines the stranger from his way."

Exclaimed I then: "One moment tarry!" "Nay," was the answer, "let me go; How can the home-bred child be troubled by stories of a stranger's woe?"

Shall one who, gently nurtured, slumbers with royal ermine for a bed, "Care if on rocks or thorns reposing the stranger rests his weary head?"

O thou whose locks hold fast on fetters so many a soul known long ago, How strange that musky mole and charming upon thy cheek of vermil glow!

Strange is that ant-like down's appearance circling the oval of thy face; Yet musky shade is not a stranger within the Hall which paintings grace.

A crimson tint, from wine reflected gleams in that face of moonlight sheen; E'en as the bloom of syrtis, strangely, o'er clusters of the pale Nasrín.

I said: "O thou, whose lock so night-black is evening in the stranger's sight, Be heedful if, at break of morning, the stranger sorrow for his plight."

"Háfiz," the answer was, "familiars Stand in amaze at my renown; It is no marvel if a stranger In weariness and grief sit down."