A fire is in his heart, his vitals waste, *
And severance made his reason vainest vain.
How dread the day I came to her abode *
And saw the writ they wrote on doorway lain!
I wept, till gave I earth to drink my grief; *
But still to near and far[FN#49] I did but feign:
Then strayed I till in waste a lion sprang *
On me, and but for flattering words had slain:
I soothed him: so he spared me and lent me aid, *
He too might haply of love's taste complain.
O devotee, that idlest in thy cave, *
Meseems eke thou hast learned Love's might and main;
But if, at end of woes, with them I league, *
Straight I'll forget all suffering and fatigue."

Hardly had he made an end of these verses when, behold! the door
of the cavern opened and he heard one say, "Alas, the pity of
it!"[FN#50] So he entered and saluted the devotee, who returned
his salam and asked him, "What is thy name?" Answered the young
man, "Uns al-Wujud." "And what caused thee to come hither?" quoth
the hermit. So he told him his story in its entirety, omitting
naught of his misfortunes; whereat he wept and said, "O Uns al-
Wujud, these twenty years have I passed in this place, but never
beheld I any man here, until yesterday, when I heard a noise of
weeping and lamentation and, looking forth in the direction of
the sound, saw many people and tents pitched on the sea-shore;
and the party at once proceeded to build a ship, in which certain
of them embarked and sailed over the waters. Then some of the
crew returned with the ship and breaking it up, went their way;
and I suspect that those who embarked in the ship and returned