(49) Lovers have suffered chastisement for this cause, They have supposed the fawn to have no shepherd, They have supposed the captive to be going a begging; Till in the twinkling of an eye an arrow pierces them, Saying, "I am her guardian; look not at her rashly!" What! am I less than a lamb or a fallow deer, That I should have none to shepherd me? Nay, I have a Guardian worthy of dominion, He is aware whether that wind is chill or mild,

(44) Come nigh to thy faithful shepherd, That he may cleanse thy garment of vermin, And mend thy shoes, and kiss the hem of thy robe!" No one equaled that shepherd in love and devotion, His love pitched its tent on the heavens, When the sea of love to God boiled up, It touched his heart, but it touches your ears only. Iyazi's rebuke to his passion, whish lusted to join in the "lesser warfare". I said, "O foul and faithless passion, Whence have you derived this inclination to war?

(37) Thou wild Beast, how comest thou so great and strong? Hast thou not trampled in my Garden of Roses, and there made thee a Couch? Where are thy Brothers and Sisters? How comes it to pass, that they lie at thy Feet, and that they are so lean, and thou only art strong [and lusty?] Hast thou not devoured my Branches, and brought forth young Wolves, which devour thy I suffer thee in my Garden of Roses? Where is the noble Fruit which I sowed? Have you not turned them all into wild Branches? And where now shall I seek for the Fruit and Profit of my Garden of Roses? My Soul would fain eat of the good Fruit, but thou hast trampled all under-foot, and made it a Den of Murder.

(90) And the sheep cried out because their flesh was being devoured by the birds, and as for me I looked and lamented in my sleep over that shepherd who pastured the sheep.

(38) Besides, I hear a great Howling and Lamentation, that all thy Servants cry Woe over thee, because thou plaguest them; and moreover, thou hast shed my noble Seed, and not sown it, but [thou hast sown] thy wild [Seed] for [the promoting of] thy great Devouring and Pomp. Behold, I have spewed thee out towards Babel in the Press of my fierce Wrath, and there I will press thee; and I will plant my Lily-Branch in my Garden of Roses, which brings me forth Fruit, after which my Soul lusts, of which my sick Adam shall eat, that he may be strong, and may go into Paradise. Of the Thrusting Adam and Eve out of the Paradise of the Garden in Eden.

(4) Then she will begin to rage at herself like a woman in labor, writhing and screaming in the hour of delivery. But since she is female, she is powerless by herself to inseminate a child. So the father sent her from heaven her man, her brother, the firstborn. The bridegroom came down to the bride. She gave up her former whoring and cleansed herself of the pollution of adulterers, and she was renewed to be a bride. She cleansed herself in the bridal chamber. She filled it with perfume and sat there waiting for the true groom. She no longer goes about the marketplace, copulating with whomever she desires, but she waits for him, saying, "When will he come?" And she feared him, not knowing what he looked like. She no longer remembers, since she fell from her father's house long ago.

(3) Never to thee presented art or nature Pleasure so great as the fair limbs wherein I was enclosed, which scattered are in earth. And if the highest pleasure thus did fail thee By reason of my death, what mortal thing Should then have drawn thee into its desire? Thou oughtest verily at the first shaft Of things fallacious to have risen up To follow me, who was no longer such. Thou oughtest not to have stooped thy pinions downward To wait for further blows, or little girl, Or other vanity of such brief use. The callow birdlet waits for two or three, But to the eyes of those already fledged, In vain the net is spread or shaft is shot." Even as children silent in their shame Stand listening with their eyes upon the ground, And conscious of their fault, and penitent; So was I standing; and she said: "If thou In hearing sufferest pain, lift up thy beard And thou shalt feel a greater pain in seeing." With less resistance is a robust holm Uprooted, either by a native wind Or else by that from regions of Iarbas,

(3) The parents of Laila refused to let Majnun go near their tents. But Majnun, intoxicated with love, borrowed the skin of a sheep from a shepherd in the desert, where Laila's tribe pitched their tents. He bent his head down and put on the sheep-skin, and said to the shepherd: 'In the name of God, let me crawl along in the middle of your sheep, then lead the flock past Laila's tent, so that I may perhaps discover her sweet perfume, and being concealed in this skin may contrive something.' The shepherd did as Majnun wished, and as they passed her tent he saw her, and swooned away. The shepherd then carried him from the tents into the desert and threw water on his face to cool his burning love.

Another day, Majnun was with some companions in the desert, and one of them asked him: 'How can you, a nobleman, go about naked? I wdll get some clothes for you if you wish.' Majnun said: 'No garments that I can wear are worthy of my friend, so for me there is nothing better than my bare body or a sheepskin. She, for me, is as ispand to avert the evil eye. Majnun would willingly wear garments of silk and cloth of gold, but he prefers this sheepskin by means of which he caught sight of Laila.'

Love should tear aside your prudence. Love changes your attitude. To love is to give up your ordinary life and forsake your tawdry pleasures.

(7) Salutations, O Nightingale of the Garden of Love! Utter your plaintive notes caused by the wounds and pains of love. Lament sweetly from the heart, like David. Open your melodious throat and sing of spiritual things. By your songs show men the true Way. Make the iron of your heart as soft as wax, and you will be like David, fervent in the love of God.

(177) Behold I have set you upon Moses' chair, and entrusted you with my flock; but you mind nothing but the wool, and mind not my sheep, and therewith you build your great palaces. But I will set you on the stool of pestilence, and my own Shepherd shall feed my sheep eternally.

(1) Another bird said to the Hoopoe: 'As long as I live the love of the Eternal Being will be dear and agreeable to me, and I shall never cease to think of him. I have been about with

all living creatures and far from being attached to them I am identified with none. The folly of love occupies all my thoughts, so for me, love is enough. But such love is not expedient for everyone, and now the time has come when I must draw a line on my life so that I shall be able to take a cup of wine from my beloved; then the eye of my heart will be rendered luminous by his beauty, and my hand will touch his neck as a pledge of the union.'

The Hoopoe replied: 'It is not by these pretentious boastings that one can become an honoured guest of the Simurgh of the Caucasus. Do not extol so much the love that you believe you feel for him, for it is not given to everyone to possess it. It is necessary that the wind of good fortune should lift the veil of the mystery, then the Simurgh will draw you to him and you shall sit with him in his harem. If you wish to come to the sacred place you must first of all strive to have a knowledge of spiritual things, otherwise your love for the Simurgh will be turned to torment. For your true felicity it is necessary that the Simurgh shall also love you.'

(1) The bird's cries to God for aid. When he had eaten the grain he was caught in the trap, And began to recite the chapters "Yasin" and "An'am." Then he began to wail and cry loudly, He said, "My back is broken by the conflict of my thoughts; O Beloved One, come and stroke my head in mercy! The palm of Thy hand on my head gives me rest, Remove not Thy shadow from my head, I am afflicted, afflicted, afflicted!

(10) Salutations, O gently moaning Turtle-dove! You went out contented and returned with a sad heart to a prison as narrow as Jonah's. O you who wander here and there like a fish, can you languish in ill-will? Cut off the head of this fish so that you may preen yourself on the summit of the moon.

(82) I tell the tale of Saba in lovers' style. When the breeze bore Solomon's words to that garden, 'Twas as when bodies meet souls at the resurrection, The people of love are hidden amongst the peoples, Souls are disgraced by union with bodies, Arise, O lovers; this sweet draught is yours; Ye are they that endure; eternal life is yours. Ho! ye that seek, arise and take your fill of love, Snuff up that perfume of Yusuf! Approach, O Solomon, thou that knowest birds' language,

(42) Sings to me in organ tones, 'To him shall we return.' Like a water-lily seek life there! Yea, like that drawer of water, at the risk of life, Water will be his death, yet he still seeks water, And still drinks on, and God knows what is right. O lover, cold-hearted and void of loyalty, Who from fear for your life shun the beloved! O base one, behold a hundred thousand souls Dancing towards the deadly sword of his love: Behold water in a pitcher; pour it out;

(151) And his wailing and cries of' O God!' In this way by supplication and lamentation He prevails with me altogether." It is on account of their sweet voices Ugly owls and crows are never jailed in cages; The disappointments of the pious, be sure, In short, the King cherished him lovingly, That waning of lovers makes them wax stronger, Ordinary sick persons crave a remedy for sickness But the lovesick one cries, "Increase my waning!

(1) Another bird said to the Hoopoe: 'O most eminent bird, I am the slave of a charming being who has taken possession of me and deprived me of my reason. The image of her dear face is a thief of the great Path; she has put fire to the harvest of my life, and when I am absent from her I have not a moment's peace. Since my heart is on fire with passion I do not see how I can set out on this journey. I should have to cross the valleys and go through a hundred trials. Can I be expected to forsake this beauty to travel through scorching heat and bitter cold? I am too weak to go without her; and I am but the dust on her road. Such is my state. What can Ido?'

The Hoopoe replied: 'You are attached to visible things, and are head and foot in the suffering which follows from this. Sensual love is a game. Love which is inspired by passing beauty is itself fleeting. You are always comparing a body of blood and moods to the beauty of the moon. What is uglier than a body composed of flesh and bones? True beauty is hidden. Seek it then, in the invisible world. If the veil which hides the mysteries from our eyes should fall, nothing would be left in the world. AU visible forms would be reduced to nothing.'

(1) O Ayaz, what is this love of yours for your old shoes, Which resembles the love of a lover for his mistress? You have made these old shoes your object of devotion, Just as Majnun made an idol of his Laila! You have bound the affection of your soul to them, How long will you say orisons to this old pair of shoes? And breathe your oft-told secrets into inanimate ears? Like the Arab lover to the house of his dead mistress, Of what great Asaf were your shoes the house? Is your old garment, think you, the coat of Yusuf? Like a Christian who confesses to a priest

(51) Moses and I are Thy nurslings both alike, Some of these branches Thou plantest in the ground, Can branch strive against axe? Not so. Can branch elude the power of the axe? Nay, O Lord of the power that dwells in Thy axe, In mercy make these crooked things straight!" The dissension of this husband and wife is a parable; This husband and wife are the reason and the flesh, And in this earthly house this linked pair The wife is ever seeking dainties for domestic needs,