Nor shall the mind revoke at ease
These myriad cressets from the sun;
Constrained in sober destinies
Thought’s river shall its ripples run
Into the one, the one, the one, the one.
Bursting the universe, a grip
Girds me to God; aha! the bliss!
Begone, frail tortures wrung from whip,
Weak joys sucked hard from leman’s lip,
Ye are naught at all, are naught at all, in this!
But brown Habiba’s fawn-wide gaze
And white Zuleikha’s drowsy glance
Woo me to waking unto day’s
Delight from night’s unmeasured trance :—
To drink, to dally, to desire, to dance.
Ah! beautiful and firm your hips,
Habib! ah! coolthsome your caress,
Zuleikha! soft your honey lips—
The tongue of pleasure subtly sips
The wine that age distils, and calls distress.
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