Muntakhab al-tawarikh 334.4

334.4

Following the idea expressed in the following couplet by a master of poetry, “O lovely one with heart of stone and body of silver, Whose lip is comfort and whose glance is destruction,” he wrote the following ode in two metres— “O thou whose lovely face is the envy of the jasmine, Whose comely stature is the cypress of the meadow, The following is an enigma by him on the word ruh (‘ the soul’) : — “ O thou whose wavy locks waylay souls whom thou chidest, O thou, the painful longing for whom pours balm on broken hearts, Is it the reflection of thy lip that is seen in water, Or is it a rose-petal fallen into a cup of wine ?” The following is another enigma, on the name of Husain Shah:— “ How pleasant to me is the habitation in my eyes of that moonlike beauty ! How pleasant is the acceptable aspect of her moonlike face ! Muhsin has placed his head on her feet, For her face like the sun, and yet like the moon, is pleasant.”