The Memoirs of Bābur 932.1.4

932.1.4

From time to time before it,[1584] whatever came into my head, of good or bad, grave or jest, used to be strung into verse and written down, however empty and harsh the verse might be, but while I was composing the _Mubīn_, this thought pierced through my dull wits and made way into my troubled heart, "A pity it [Sidenote: Fol. 253.] will be if the tongue which has treasure of utterances so lofty as these are, waste itself again on low words; sad will it be if again vile imaginings find way into the mind that has made exposition of these sublime realities."[1585] Since that time I had refrained from satirical and jesting verse; I was repentant (_ta'īb_); but these matters were totally out of mind and remembrance when I made that couplet (on Mullā `Alī-jān).[1586] A few days later in Bīgrām when I had fever and discharge, followed by cough, and I began to spit blood each time I coughed, I knew whence my reproof came; I knew what act of mine had brought this affliction on me. "Whoever shall violate his oath, will violate it to the hurt of his own soul; but whoever shall perform that which he hath covenanted with God, to that man surely will He give great reward" (_Qorān_ cap. 48 v. 10).