Salaman and Absal, by Jami, tr. Edward Fitzgerald, [1904], at sacred-texts.com

XIV.

First spoke The Shah;—"Salámán, Oh my Soul,
"Oh Taper of the Banquet of my House,
"Light of the Eyes of my Prosperity,
"And making bloom the Court of Hope with Rose;
"Years Rose-bud-like my own Blood I devour’d
"Till in my hand I carried thee, my Rose;
"Oh do not tear my Garment from my Hand,
"Nor wound thy Father with a Dagger Thorn.
"Years for thy sake the Crown has worn my Brow,
"And Years my Foot been growing to the Throne

p. 27

"Only for Thee—Oh spurn them not with Thine;
"Oh turn thy Face from Dalliance unwise,
"Lay not thy Heart's hand on a Minion!
"For what thy Proper Pastime? Is it not
"To mount and manage Rakhsh along the Field;
"Not, with no stouter weapon than a Love-lock,
"Idly reclining on a Silver Breast.
"Go, fly thine Arrow at the Antelope
"And Lion—let not me my Lion see
"Slain by the Arrow eyes of a Ghazal.
"Go, flash thy Steel among the Ranks of Men,
"And smite the Warriors’ Necks; not, flying them,
"Lay down thine own beneath a Woman's Foot.
"Leave off such doing in the Name of God,
"Nor bring thy Father weeping to the Ground;
"Years have I held myself aloft, and all
"For Thee—Oh Shame if thou prepare my Fall!"