And indeed this is true
without leasing." And she repeated the following verses:
Let the days pass, as they list, and fare, And enter thou not the
house of despair.
Full oft when the quest of a thing is hard, The next hour brings
us the end of our care.
Then she came to me and began to comfort me with soothing words,
but dared not offer me food, fearing my wrath and seeking to make
me incline to her: so she only took off my upper garment and said
to me, "Sit, O my cousin, that I may entertain thee with talk,
till the end of the day; and God willing, thou shalt be with thy
beloved as soon as it is night." But I paid no heed to her and
gave not over looking for the coming of the night, saying, "O
Lord, hasten the coming of the night!" till the hour of the
evening-prayer, when she wept sore and giving me a grain of pure
musk, said to me, "O my cousin, put this in thy mouth, and when
thou foregatherest with thy beloved and hast taken thy will of
her and she hath granted thee thy desire, repeat to her this
verse:
Tell me, O lovers, for God's sake, I do entreat of you, When love
is sore upon a maid, alack! what shall she do?"
And she kissed me and made me swear not to repeat this to my
mistress, till I should be about to leave her. Then I went out
and walked on till I came to the garden. I found the door open;
so I entered, and seeing a light in the distance, made towards it
and came to a great pavilion, vaulted over with a dome of ivory
and ebony, from the midst of which hung the lamp.
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