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96 THE TARJU.MAX AL-ASHWAQ (XXIII, X XIV )

15. Inasmuch as she is like the sun, which is common to
all, she does not excite jealou.sy.
16. ‘ My sobbing,’ i.e. my ecstasy would make me deaf to
his reproaches.
17. ‘ My de.sire is my troop of camels,’ which bear me to
my Beloved.

XXIV
The author says: A dervish recited to me the following
verse, to which I knew not any brother—
‘ Everyone who hopes for thy bounty receives copious
showers thereof; thy lightning never breaks its ijromise of
rain except with me.’
I admired its application and pursued its meaning, and
I composed some ver.ses in tlie same rhyme, including this
verse among them on account of its perfection, and I said in
answer to that dervish (may God have mercy on him ! ) as
follows :—
1. Halt by the ruined abodes at La‘la‘ and mourn for our
loved ones in that wilderness.
2. Halt l)y thy dwelling-places and call to them, wondering
at their loneliness, with exquisite lamentation.
3. ‘ Beside thy hAn tree I have seen many a one like my.self
plucking the fruit of comely forms and the roses of
a verdant meadow.
4. Everyone who hopes for thy bounty receives copious
showers thereof; thy lightning never breaks its
5. She said, ‘ Y es; there hath been that meeting in the
promise of rain except with me.’

shadow of my boughs in the most jjlenteous spot,
G. When my lightning was one of the lightnings of smiling
mouths; but to-day mj'^ lightning is the fla,sh of this
brilliant stone.
7. lleproach, then, a fate which we had no means of averting :
what is the fault of the camping-place at La‘la‘ ? ’
8. I excused her when I heard her speech and how she was
comjjlaining even as I complain with a sorrowful heart.