Page:Tales from the Arabic, Vol 3.djvu/153

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His sides the tamarisk’s slenderness deride, so lithe they are, Whence for conceit in his own charms still drunken doth he fare.
Whenas he runs, his feet still show like wings,^[1] and for the wind When was a rider found, except King Solomon it were?^[2]

Therewithal El Abbas smiled and her verses pleased him. Then he bade the fourth damsel come forward and sing. Now she was from the land of Morocco and her name was Belekhsha. So she came forward and taking the lute and the psaltery, tightened the strings thereof and smote thereon in many modes; then returned to the first mode and improvising, sang the following verses:

When in the sitting-chamber we for merry-making sate, With thine eyes’ radiance the place thou didst illuminate
And pliedst us with cups of wine, whilst from the necklace pearls^[3] A strange intoxicating bliss withal did circulate,
Whose subtleness might well infect the understanding folk; And secrets didst thou, in thy cheer, to us communicate.
Whenas we saw the cup, forthright we signed to past it round And sun and moon unto our eyes shone sparkling from it straight.
The curtain of delight, perforce, we’ve lifted through the friend,^[4] For tidings of great joy, indeed, there came to us of late.

1. Lit. feathers.
2. Solomon is fabled by the Muslims to have compelled the wind to bear his throne when placed upon his famous magic carpet. See my “Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night,” Vol. V. pp. 235–6.
3. Quære the teeth.
4. i.e. the return of our beloved hath enabled us to remove the barriers that stood between us and delight.