" When Bedreddin heard this, he repeated the
following verses:
Thy face excites in all men's hearts a love they do not own;
Folded in silence and concealed, it may not be made known.
O thou whose beauty puts to shame the splendour of the moon,
Whose grace recalls the shining sight of morning newly
blown,
In thy bright visage is a sign that may not be fulfilled, And
there all beauties that incite to tenderness are shown.
Must I then die of thirst, what while thy lips with nectar flow?
Thy face is Paradise to me; must I in hell-fire groan?
So they ate till they were satisfied, when Bedreddin rose and
poured water on their hands, wiping them with a napkin of silk,
which he loosed from his waist; after which he sprinkled
rose-water on them from a casting-bottle he had by him. Then he
went out and returned with a pitcher of sherbet, flavoured with
rose-water and musk, which he set before them, saying, "Complete
your favours to me, by drinking of this sherbet." So Agib took
the pitcher and drank and passed it to the eunuch, and it went
round amongst them till their stomachs were full, for they had
eaten and drunken beyond their wont. Then they went away and
made haste in walking till they reached the tents, and Agib went
in to his grandmother, who kissed him, and thinking of her son
Bedreddin Hassan, wept and repeated the following verses:
But for my hope that God would yet our severed loves unite, I had
not lived for life to me is void of all delight.
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