Basatin al-uns 78.166

78.166

که چشمهآ زرین آفتاب در بحر خضر آسمان روان گشتی من و پادشاهزاده بر لب آب گنگ ساغر عشرت بر روی یکدیگر نوش می کردیم و داد لهو و طرب به رغم حاسد بدبین میدادیم، گاه در سواد چمن بهنوای تر رود رباب برگ فرحت و شادمانی می ساختیم و گاه گاه از نوشیدن بادههای ارغوانی خاک در دیده سپهر شیشه رنگ بیوفا میانداختیم و پادشاهزاده هر بار نصیحت مرا واجب دیدی که به حکم آن که «الغریب کالاعمی» رسوم و آیین آن شهر ما را روشن نشده و بر مزاج سکان آن دیار وقوفی حاصل نیامده و نسبت ترتیب آشنایی که مردم را بدان احتیاج باشد بهضرورت با هرکسی صحبت و آشنایی و اختلاط حاصل خواهد آمد، چنان میباید که این راز را به واجبی محافظت نمایی و حقهآ سر به مهر این سر با هیچ کس نگشایی و جز من و تو بههیچ وجه غیری بر این حال واقف نبود و از مصاحبت سایهآ خویش نیز اجتناب و احتراز کنی و هرچه گویی با من گویی:

and make your turning away from accepting my beneficial advice and your heedlessness that amasses mean-spiritedness the prelude to ruin and the causes of destruction; for when the enemy looses the shaft of intent from an ambush by reason of people's heedlessness,
like the lightning-sword and the arrow of destiny, there will be no barrier or impediment to it; and [lest] it separate from each other, like two eyes, us who have attained perfect union and blending like the black and white of the eye,
such that I may not see the face of reunion even in a dream, nor hear the voice of joy even with the ear of imagination. For time, according to its unpleasing disposition and accustomed habit,
seeks such moments with a lamp in hand, on tiptoe, and seeks a pretext to exchange the bounty of companions' union for the bitterness of separation by the age."
And since the pen of primordial divine will had inscribed the decree of our eternal separation upon the page of eternity past, the desire to take delight in flowers and sweet herbs entered my head,
and this craving gained extreme dominance and sway over my heart, such that it caused the beneficial counsel of the prince to be forgotten from my mind;
and the inauspiciousness of fortune covered its eye with the veil of heedlessness, and produced a dark curtain before the far-seeing eye of intellect. And in the neighborhood of our dwelling there was a flower-seller,
and for this reason the foundation of affection with him was firmly established. He continuously brought diverse kinds of musk-scented herbs and varieties of fresh-faced flowers for the adornment and elegance of our intimate gathering,
and made the palate of the souls of those present fragrant like a perfumer's shop from their heart-expanding breeze, and during pleasant moments he would inquire after our past circumstances.
Since the claims of his service had become established and due upon our conscience, and by reason of the abundance of mingling and the frequency of intimacy, he [gained] a position of confidentiality,