For prince supreme like him, my offering’s not amiss.”
Thou, woman, didst not know that there, in Bagdād’s midst,
A Tigris flowed with water, sweet as honey.—Didst?
A very ocean is it, rapid in its course;
With boats and ships, with fishers’ hooks, both fine and coarse.475
Go then, good man! The Caliph thee his state shall show!
Thou’lt comprehend the text: “Beneath which rivers flow.”[312]
Thus, likewise, are our intellects, our thoughts, our sense;
A drop compared with God’s boundless omniscience!
The husband now chimed in: “Yes! Plug the pot’s mouth tight.