And Shibli Bagarag winked and nodded and turned his head in the manner of
the knowing ones, and he recited the verse:
'Tis well that we are sometimes circumspect,
And hold ourselves in witless ways deterred:
One thwacking made me seriously reflect;
A SECOND turned the cream of love to curd:
Most surely that profession I reject
Before the fear of a prospective THIRD.
So the Vizier said, ''Tis well, thou turnest verse neatly' And he
exclaimed extemporaneously: