So the days and nights went by, whilst Kanmakan lay tossing upon
coals of fire, till he reached the age of seventeen: and indeed
his beauty was now come to perfection and his wit had ripened.
One night, as he lay awake, he communed with himself and said,
"Why should I keep silence, till I consume away, and see not my
love? My only fault is poverty: so, by Allah, I will go out from
this land and wander afar in the plains and valleys; for my
condition in this city is one of misery and I have no friend nor
lover in it to comfort me; wherefore I will distract myself by
absence from my native land, till I die and am at peace from
abasement and tribulation." And he repeated the following verses:
Though my soul weary for distress and flutter fast for woe, Yet
of its nature was it ne'er to buckle to a foe.
Excuse me; for indeed my heart is like a book, whereof The
superscription's nought but tears, that aye unceasing flow.
Behold my cousin, how she seems a maid of Paradise, A houri come,
by Rizwan's grace, to visit us below!
Who seeks the glances of her eyes and dares the scathing stroke
Of their bright swords, shall hardly 'scape their swift and
deadly blow.
Lo, I will wander o'er the world, to free my heart from bale And
compensation for its loss upon my soul bestow!
Yea, I will range the fields of war and tilt against the brave
And o'er the champions will I ride roughshod and lay them
low.
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