' Aziz
brought him what he sought, and he took the pen and wrote the
following verses: I send thee, O my hope, a letter, to complain
Of all my soul endures for parting and its pain.
Six lines it hath; the first, 'A fire is in my heart;' The next
line setteth forth my passion all in vain;
The third, 'My patience fails and eke my life doth waste;' The
fourth, 'All love with me for ever shall remain.'
The fifth, 'When shall mine eyes behold thee? And the sixth,
'When shall the day betide of meeting for us twain?
And by way of subscription he wrote these words, 'This letter is
from the captive of desire, prisoned in the hold of longing, from
which there is no deliverance but in union and intercourse with
her whom he loveth, after absence and separation: for he
suffereth grievous torment by reason of his severance from his
beloved.' Then his tears rushed out and he wrote the following
verses:
I write to thee, my love, and the tears run down as I write; For
the tears of my eyes, alack I cease never day or night.
Yet do I not despair; mayhap, of God His grace, The day shall
dawn for us of union and delight.
Then he folded the letter and sealed it and gave it to the old
woman, saying, 'Carry it to the lady Dunya.' 'I hear and obey,'
answered she; whereupon he gave her a thousand dinars and said to
her, 'O my mother, accept this, as a token of my affection.
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