Thereat he considered the ewer and saw inscribed upon it these lines,
"O rare the Ewer's form whereon must dote * Our hearts and pupils
of our eyes fain gloat:
Seems ferly fair to all admiring orbs * You seemly body wi' the
slender throat."
And when he had finished washing his hands and had dried them with the napkins he pointed at them and spoke these couplets,
"Groweth my love a-heart and how to hide * When o'er the plains
of cheek tear-torrents glide?
I veil what love these sobs and moans betray * With narrowed
heart I spread my patience wide.
O Farer to the fountain,[211] flow these eyes * Nor seek from
other source to be supplied:
Who loveth, veil of Love his force shall reave, * For tears shall
tell his secrets unespied:
I for the love of you ain bye-word grown, * My lords, and driven
to the Desert-side;
While you in heart of me are homed, your home; * And the
heart-dweller kens what there may bide."
When Prince Yusuf had finished his improvisation and the poetry which he produced, Princess Al-Hayfa bussed him upon the brow, and he seeing this waxed dazed of his wits and right judgment fled him and he fell fainting to the floor for a while of time. And when he came to himself he pondered how she had entreated him and his Passion would have persuaded him to do with her somewhat but Reason forbad and with her force he overcame himself. After his improvising Al-Hayfa again saluted him on the front and cried, "Indeed thou hast done well in thy words, O thou with Crescent's brow!" Presently she came for the table of wine and filling a cup drank it off; then she crowned another goblet and passed it to Yusuf who took it and kissed it while she improvised some couplets as follows,
"Thy seduction of lips ne'er can I forbear * Nor deny
love-confession for charms so rare:
O thou aim of my eyes, how my longing stay? * O thou tall of form
and long wavy hair?
Thy rose-hued cheek showeth writ new-writ[212] * Dimming wine
my cups in their rondure bear."
And presently she added,[213]
"I hid his phantom, by the Lord, but showed * My looks the blush
his scented cheek had sent:
How veil the joy his love bestows, when I * To blood-red[214] tears on cheek give open vent,
When his uplighted cheek my heart enfires * As though a-morn in
flame my heart were pent?
By Allah, ne'er my love for you I'll change * Though change my
body and to change consent.
And when Al-Hayfa had finished her improvisation and her poetry, Yusuf drained the goblet and after kissing it returned it to her; but he was as one a-swoon. Then she took it from him and he recovered and presently declaimed for her the following couplets,
"A maiden in your tribe avails my heart with love to fire[215] * And how can I a-hidden bear the love my eyes declare?
The branches of the sand-hill tree remember and recall * What
time she softly bent and showed a grace beyond compare;
And taught me how those eyne o'erguard the roses of her cheek *
And knew to ward them from the hand to cull her charms would
dare."