51 
ON TIIE ABSENCE OF II IS MISTRESS. 
Translated from the Persian of Amir Khusroo. 
How, sweet nymph, shall I be gay. 
Though it be the month of May ? 
Banish’d from the flower of spring. 
How shall the mournful bulbul sing? 
Joy, that once inspir’d my lay, 
Joy and hope have fled away: 
Plaintive notes must tell my woes 
In the absence of the rose ! 
Looks, the language of the eyes. 
Tears may speak, and so may sighs 5 
But the muse must lend her aid 
To describe my lovely maid. 
Limner, would you paint her fair, 
Mark her mien, her gait, her air; 
Mark the mischief of her eye. 
Where the loves in ambush lie : 
Shew the sense, the ease, the grace. 
In each feature of her face ; 
Every feeling of the mind. 
Fond, affectionate, refin’d! 
Heavens ! how swift our joys have past ! 
Joys, which heav’n might wish to last* 
Fancy, bring me back her charms. 
Bring them quickly to my arms. 
