The History of Humāyūn (Gulbadan Begam) 3.3.3

3.3.3

The letter above-mentioned is full of what one likes in Babur. He quotes, ‘Whoever comes to the gates of death knows the value of life,’ and adds with thanks to Heaven, that he did not know before how sweet a thing life is. Here, too, he shows that he felt the tie which bound him to the Power in whose hands are the issues of life and death. He, his daughter, and his cousin and literary compeer, Haidar Mirza, frequently express religious sentiment, and here Babur exhibits the human graces of kind thought and solicitude to lessen the anxieties of his distant household and people. He forced himself to live again, in words, the horrible experiences of which he wrote while still in retirement, and four days only after their occurrence.