Muntakhab al-tawarikh 320: A quatrain.

320

“I have a love which is my religion and my faith. I have a pain which is chief over all my possessions. Should love be parted from me it will die Saying, ‘Sharīf-i-Fārsī is my soul.’”
“To have in the breast beauty of the heart is such a wonder That it is pointed out like the new moon, when it can only just be seen.”
“The price of gratitude, that unsaleable commodity, has risen Because no caravan arrives from the land of grief.”
“Cast not away the heart which thou hast stolen. Carry a treasure, although it may seem heavy.”
“O zephyr, bear this message to love, ‘Take courage, for we are gone, “What accusation shall I make against Death? I have received an arrow from thy eye Which would have killed me, even though I did not die for a hundred years.”
“I am illumined, as a candle, by the fire of thy love, I humbly burn, even in my tomb.”
“An ocean of fire is raging from my burning heart. Tell Noah to flee, for my flood sheds fire around.”
“My grief is this, that however much I am persecuted by thee The delight of being persecuted by thee leaves my heart before I have well experienced it.”
“Of her cruelty all that I ask is more wounds for my wounded heart, I am not solicitous for her favour; all I desire is her cruelty. I am distracted by the pain of separation; O love, for ages Have I desired to be distracted but for a moment by the delight of seeing thee!”
“God forbid that our hearts should be beyond the need of the sight of her, For we are entirely guiltless, and she is beyond all need.”
“I am rejoiced at the duration of our separation, for now I shall be able To approach her and make advances as though I were a stranger.” footmen, and all beasts with their burdens should take up a position of safety behind the troops, and that the ladies should remain in rear of the army. At this moment the learned men asked where their place should be, and Timur replied, ‘Behind the ladies.’ When this story was repeated to Akbar as a rare piece of wit on the part of Qarari he ordered that he should be sent to Bengal. He went thither, and there rendered up his soul to God during the rebellion against Muzaffar Khan’s authority.
The following verses are productions of his genius:—
“What fear is there if the whole world should become lovers of Laila, So long as Laila's heart inclines only towards Majnun?”
“For the sake of my grief Heaven confers on me a nature like that of the Friend. If I make of my darkly-clad lot a mouthful of fire.”