With Sa'di in the Garden or The Book of Love: Being The "Ishk" or Third Chapter of The "Bostcan" of the Persian Poet Sa'di: Embodied in a Dialogue Held in the Garden of The Taj Mahal, at Agra: By Sir Edwin Arnold |
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 | With Sa'di in the Garden |  |
“I”—then he swooned and spake no further thing.
But Sa'di, passing, questioned of the youth
Who lay so pale and still:—and when they told
How at that fourth line Silence stopped his tongue,
And when they said his sad words o'er again,
Sa'di fulfilled them, adding to the “I”—
“Shall rise! have ye no fear!” and so they brought
That Lady, and recited what had been:
Whereat, with pearls of pity on the leaves
Of those red roses blushing in her cheek,
Full tenderly she stooped—shame quite ashamed—
And kissed his mouth; and then the dead man rose,
Won back to happy days by lips and verse:
Much virtue lives there in a kiss and verse.
But Sa'di, passing, questioned of the youth
Who lay so pale and still:—and when they told
How at that fourth line Silence stopped his tongue,
And when they said his sad words o'er again,
Sa'di fulfilled them, adding to the “I”—
“Shall rise! have ye no fear!” and so they brought
That Lady, and recited what had been:
Whereat, with pearls of pity on the leaves
Of those red roses blushing in her cheek,
Full tenderly she stooped—shame quite ashamed—
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Won back to happy days by lips and verse:
Much virtue lives there in a kiss and verse.
| With Sa'di in the Garden | |