And a third:
O pearl of loveliness, to love thee is my faith; Yea, and my
choice of all the faiths that have been aye.
Women I have forsworn, indeed, for thy sweet sake, So that the
folk avouch I'm grown a monk to-day
And a fourth:
Compare not a wench with a boy and to the spy, Who says to thee,
"This is wrong," pay thou no heed.
'Twixt a woman whose feet one's lips kiss and a smooth-faced
fawn, Who kisses the earth, the diff'rence is great indeed.
And a fifth:
My soul be thy ransom! Indeed, I've chosen thee out with intent,
Because thou layest no eggs and dost not menstruate.
For, an I inclined to foregather with harlots, upon my faith, The
wide, wide world for the brats I should get would prove too
strait.
And a sixth:
Quoth she to me,—and sore enraged for wounded pride was she, For
she in sooth had bidden me to that which might not be,—
"An if thou swive me not forthright, as one should swive his
wife, If thou be made a cuckold straight, reproach it not to
me.
Meseems thy yard is made of wax, for very flaccidness; For, when
I rub it with my hand, it softens instantly."
And a seventh:
Quoth she (for I to lie with her would not consent), "O fool,
that followest on thy folly to the extent,
If thou reject my kaze for Kibleh[FN#54] to thy yard, We'll show
thee one wherewith thou shalt be sure content."