(Continued Abu Amir the Basri) Now when the youth had ended his charge and his verses I left him and went home. On the morrow, I returned, at the appointed hour, and found him indeed dead, the mercy of Allah be upon him! So I washed him and, unsewing his gown, found in the bosom a ruby worth thousands of gold pieces and said to myself, “By Allah, this youth was indeed weaned from worldly things!” After I had buried him, I made my way to Baghdad and, going to the Caliph’s palace, waited till he came forth, when I addressed him in one of the streets and gave him the ruby, which when he saw, he knew and fell down in a fainting-fit. His attendants laid hands on me, but he revived and said to them, “Release him and bring him courteously to the palace.” They did his bidding, and when he returned, he sent for me and carrying me into his chamber said to me, “How doth the owner of this ruby?” Quoth I, “Verily he is dead;” and told him what had passed; whereupon he fell a-weeping and said, “The son hath gained; but the sire hath lost.” Then he called out, saying, “Ho, such an one!”; and behold, there came out to him a lady who, when she saw me, would have withdrawn; but he cried to her, “Come; and mind him not.” So she entered and saluted, and he threw her the ruby, which when she saw and she knew, she shrieked a great shriek and fell down in a swoon. As soon as she came to herself, she said, “O Commander of the Faithful, what hath Allah done with my son?”; and he said to me, “Do thou tell her his case;” (as he could not speak for weeping). Accordingly, I repeated the story to her, and she began to shed tears and say in a faint and failing voice, “How I have longed for thy sight, O solace of mine eyes![[166]] Would I might have given thee to drink, when thou hadst none to slake thy thirst! Would I might have cheered thee, whenas thou foundest never a cheerer!” And she poured forth tears and recited these couplets:—
I weep for one whose lot a lonely death befel; ✿ Without a friend to whom he might complain and moan:
And after glory and glad union with his friends, ✿ He woke to desolation, friendless, lorn and lone:
What Fortune hides a while she soon to men shall show; ✿ Death never spared a man; no, not a single one:
O absent one, my Lord decreed thee strangerhood, ✿ Far from thy nearest friends and to long exile gone:
Though Death forbid my hope of meeting here again, ✿ On Doom-day’s morrow we shall meet again, my son![[167]]
Quoth I, “O Commander of the Faithful, was he indeed thy son?” Quoth he, “Yes, and indeed, before I succeeded to this office, he was wont to visit the learned and company with the devout; but, when I became Caliph, he grew estranged from me and withdrew himself apart.[[168]] Then said I to his mother, Verily this thy son hath cut the world and devoted his life to Almighty Allah, and it may be that hard times shall befal him and he be smitten with trial of evil chance; wherefore do thou give him this ruby, which he may find useful in hour of need. So she gave it him, conjuring him to take it, and he obeyed her bidding. Then he left to us the things of our world and removed himself from us; nor did he cease to be absent from us, till he went to the presence of Allah (to whom be Honour and Glory!), pious and pure.” Then said he, “Come, show me his grave.” So, I travelled with him to Bassorah and showed him his son’s grave; and when he saw it, he wept and lamented, till he fell down in a swoon; after which he recovered and asked pardon of the Lord, saying, “We are Allah’s and unto Him we are returning!”; and invoked blessings on the dead. Then he asked me to become his companion, but I said to him, “O Commander of the Faithful, verily, in thy son’s case is for me the most momentous of admonitions!” And I recited these couplets:—
‘Tis I am the stranger, visited by none; ✿ I am the stranger though in town my own:
‘Tis I am the stranger! lacking kith and son, ✿ And friend to whom I mote for aidance run.
I house in mosques which are my only home; ✿ My heart there wones and shall for ever wone: