1916.] Quatrains of Abu Sa'id bin Abi'l Khair. 197 



her husband, and their two sons Hasan and 

 Husein, who on one occasion were covered by the 

 Prophet's mantle in obedience to a Divine com- 

 mand which signified that they were specially dear 

 to God, and that whosoever invoked their names 

 in prayer should obtain his wish. 



7. 



Live not O heart without that Beloved of ours, 



He is better, I ween, than a hundred sweethearts. 



The Beloved is not with me, and no sweetheart is in my 



arms 



O send me the Beloved, or take away my heart. 



8. 



Thanks be to God that thy body hath become a garden of 



well-being, 

 That Health hath poured flowers of delight into thy lap. 

 It was an ill-chance that led the fever to thee : 

 God be thanked that it turned to sweat, and came dripping 



from thy limbs. 



9. 



© s- 



There is fat on the cow — but the cow is in the highland 

 Isinglass in the fish — but the fish is in the ocean. 

 The goat is on the hill, the panther in Bulghar. 

 Hard, hard it is to draw this bow. 



The meaning of this quatrain seems to be that 

 union is very hard to attain; and the poet com- 

 pares the difficulty with which the "traveller" 

 reaches his goal to that experienced in worldly 

 matters. Compare the couplet 



which might be translated thus : 



"I am longing for my sweetheart, but between 



us rolls the main, 

 And the boatman is in China, and his boat's 



away in Spain !" 



" Bulghar' ' in the third line is probably the 

 ancient country of that name situated on the 



1 There are several possible ways of reading this quatrain. The 

 merit of the original depends on a play of words which I have not evtn 

 attempted to reproduce. 



