The Memoirs of Jahāngīr (Jahāngīrnāma) 21.3.3

21.3.3

Verse. “ Both first and last, Love is aye music and joy — A pleasant wine both when fresh and when mellow.” Verse. “ Were I glass instead of body, I’d reveal thee to thyself without thy unveiling. Two lips have I ; one for drinking. And one to apologize for drunkenness.” On Monday, the 14th, Husaini s. Sultan Qiwam produced this quatrain : Quatrain. “ A speck of dust sprinkled on thee from thy skirt Becomes Solomon’s collyrium; from the moisture of thy face, Were the earth at thy door examined. The sweat of kings’ brows would exude.” At this time Mu'tamid K. repeated a quatrain which greatly pleased me, and which I entered in my common-place book : Quatrain. “ You give me the poison of parting to taste, (and say) ‘ What matters it ?’ You shed my blood and expel me (and say), ‘ What matters it ?’ O, heedless of what your dividing sword can do. Sift my dust and then you’ll know.” Talib [i.e., Baba Talib) is by family an Isfahani. In his early youth he went to Kashmir clothed as an ascetic and calendar, and from the beauty of the place and the pleasantness of the climate set his heart on the country and settled there. After the conquest of Kashmir he joined the service of the late king (Akbar), and became enrolled among the servants of the Presence. His age is now nearly 100 years, and he is now with his sons and dependants in Kashmir, engaged in praying for the everlasting State.