O Rose, thou rare of charms that dost contain ✿ All gifts and Allah’s secrets singular,
Thou’rt like the loved one’s cheek where lover fond ✿ And fain of Union sticks the gold dinár.[[416]]
Then he gave a bunch to a seventh and he recited these two couplets:—
To Rose quoth I, “What gars thy thorns to be put forth ✿ For all who touch thee cruellest injury?”
Quoth she, “These flowery troops are troops of me ✿ Who be their lord with spines for armoury.”
And he gave an eighth a bunch and he recited these two couplets:—
Allah save the Rose which yellows a-morn ✿ Florid, vivid and likest the nugget-ore;
And bless the fair sprays that displayed such flowers ✿ And mimic suns gold-begilded bore.
Then he gave a bunch to a ninth and he recited these two couplets:—
The bushes of golden-hued Rose excite ✿ In the love-sick lover joys manifold: