The guests have drunk the wine and are departed,
Leaving their empty bowls behind--not one
To carry on the revel, cup in hand!
Up, Jámí, then! And whether lees or wine
To offer--boldly offer it in thine!
And yet, how long, Jámí, is this old house
Stringing thy pearls upon a harp of song?
Year after year striking up some new song,
The breath of some old story? Life is gone,
And yet the song is not the last; my soul
Is spent--and still a story to be told!
SALÁMÁN AND ABSÁL.
"THOU MOVEST UNDER ALL THE FORMS OF TRUTH"
O Thou, whose memory quickens lovers' souls,
Whose fount of joy renews the lover's tongue,
Thy shadow falls across the world, and they
Bow down to it; and of the rich in beauty
Thou art the riches that make lovers mad.
Not till Thy secret beauty through the cheek
Of Laila smite does she inflame Majnún,
And not till Thou have sugar'd Shírín's lip
The hearts of those two lovers fill with blood.
For lov'd and lover are not but by Thee,
Nor beauty; mortal beauty but the veil
Thy heavenly hides behind, and from itself
Feeds, and our hearts yearn after as a bride
That glances past us veil'd--but even so
As none the beauty from the veil may know.
How long wilt Thou continue thus the world
To cozen with the phantom of a veil
From which Thou only peepest?--Time it is
To unfold Thy perfect beauty. I would be
Thy lover, and Thine only--I, mine eyes
Seal'd in the light of Thee to all but Thee,
Yea, in the revelation of Thyself
Self-lost, and conscience-quit of good and evil.
Thou movest under all the forms of truth,
Under the forms of all created things;
Look whence I will, still nothing I discern
But Thee in all the universe.
"MAN'S PRIME DESIRE"
O thou whose wisdom is the rule of kings--
(Glory to God who gave it!)--answer me:
Is any blessing better than a son?
Man's prime desire; by which his name and he
Shall live beyond himself; by whom his eyes
Shine living, and his dust with roses blows;
A foot for thee to stand on he shall be,
A hand to stop thy falling; in his youth
Thou shalt be young, and in his strength be strong;
Sharp shall he be in battle as a sword,
A cloud of arrows on the enemy's head;
His voice shall cheer his friends to better plight,
And turn the foeman's glory into flight.