Then will I come back, glad at heart and rich in goods and store,
Driving the herds and flocks as spoil before me, as I go.
So he went out in the darkness of the night, barefoot, wearing a
short-sleeved tunic and a skull-cap of felt seven years old and
carrying a cake of dry bread, three days stale, and betook
himself to the gate El Arij of Baghdad. Here he waited till the
gate opened, when he was the first to go forth; and he went out
at random and wandered in the deserts day and night. When the
night came, his mother sought him, but found him not, whereupon
the world, for all its wideness, was straitened upon her and she
took no delight in aught of its good. She looked for him a first
day and a second and a third, till ten days were past, but no
news of him reached her. Then her breast became contracted and
she shrieked and lamented, saying, "O my son, O my delight, thou
hast revived my sorrows! Did not what I endured suffice, but thou
must depart from the place of my abiding? After thee, I care not
for food nor delight in sleep, and but tears and mourning are
left me. O my son, from what land shall I call thee? What country
hath given thee refuge?" And her sobs burst up, and she repeated
the following verses:
We know that, since you went away, by grief and pain we're tried.
The bows of severance on us full many a shaft have plied.
They girt their saddles on and gainst the agonies of death Left
me to strive alone, whilst they across the sand-wastes
tried.
Pages:
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419