Muntakhab al-tawarikh 235: XXIII. BAQĀ’Ī.

235

On first leaving his native land he went to the Dakan, where he was with Malik Qumī the poet. Thence he went to Gujarāt and was there with Mirzā Nizāmu-d-dīn Ahmad, adopting the nom-de-plume of Mashhūdi. The Mirzā changed it, giving him his present nom-de-plume. His poetry is good, and since it is easy and flowing I quote the following excerpts:—
“When love made the eyelashes of the fair ones a lancet, It caused the blood to flow from my sirius and veins, Alas, that before I could close my eyes the arrow of thought of the loved one Penetrated my eye and thence pierced my heart.”
“In place of tears my wounded heart itself drops piecemeal from my eyes, From this fiery cloud all the blood of my liver rains down.”
“So long as the bird of my heart was the prey of that hunter, Each separate hair of my head rose up as a bird rising to flight.”
Baqā’ī has now left the service of the Khān-i-Khānān, and they say that he has come to Agra and intends to go to Lahor.