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I IF it be pleasant to look on, stalled in the packed serai, | |
| Does not the Young Man try Its temper and pace ere he buy? | |
| If She be pleasant to look on, what does the Young Man say? | |
| “Lo! She is pleasant to look on. Give Her to me to-day!” | |
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II Yea, though a Kafir die, to him is remitted Jehannum | 5 |
| If he borrowed in life from a native at sixty per cent. per annum. | |
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III Blister we not for bursati? 1 So when the heart is vext, | |
| The pain of one maiden’s refusal is drowned in the pain of the next. | |
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IV The temper of chums, the love of your wife, and a new piano’s tune— | |
| Which of the three will you trust at the end of an Indian June? | 10 |
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V Who are the rulers of Ind— to whom shall we bow the knee? | |
| Make your peace with the women, and men will make you L. G. 2 | |
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VI Does the woodpecker flit round the young ferash? Does the grass clothe a new-built wall? | |
| Is she under thirty, the woman who holds a boy in her thrall? | |
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VII If She grow suddenly gracious—reflect. Is it all for thee? | 15 |
| The blackbuck is stalked through the bullock, and Man through jealousy. | |
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VIII Seek not for favour of women. So shall you find it indeed. | |
| Does not the boar break cover just when you’re lighting a weed? | |
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IX If He play, being young and unskilful, for shekels of silver and gold, | |
| Take His money, my son, praising Allah. The kid was ordained to be sold. | 20 |
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X With a “weed” among men or horses verily this is the best, | |
| That you work him in office or dog-cart lightly—but give him no rest. | |
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XI Pleasant the snaffle of Courtship, improving the manners and carriage; | |
| But the colt who is wise will abstain from the terrible thorn-bit of Marriage. | |
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XII As the thriftless gold of the babul 3 so is the gold that we spread | 25 |
| On a Derby Sweep, or our neighbour’s wife, or the horse that we buy from a friend. | |
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XIII The ways of man with a maid be strange, yet simple and tame | |
| To the ways of a man with a horse, when selling or racing that same. | |
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XIV In public Her face turneth to thee, and pleasant Her smile when ye meet. | |
| It is ill. The cold rocks of El-Gidar smile thus on the waves at their feet. | 30 |
| In public Her face is averted, with anger She nameth thy name. | |
| It is well. Was there ever a loser content with the loss of the game? | |
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XV If She have spoken a word, remember thy lips are sealed, | |
| And the Brand of the Dog is upon him by whom is the secret revealed. | |
| If She have written a letter, delay not an instant but burn it. | 35 |
| Tear it in pieces, O Fool, and the wind to her mate shall return it! | |
| If there be trouble to Herward, and a lie of the blackest can clear, | |
| Lie, while thy lips can move or a man is alive to hear. | |
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XVI My Son, if a maiden deny thee and scufflingly bid thee give o’er, | |
| Yet lip meets with lip at the lastward. Get out! She has been there before. | 40 |
| They are pecked on the ear and the chin and the nose who are lacking in lore. | |
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XVII If we fall in the race, though we win, the hoof-slide is scarred on the course. | |
| Though Allah and Earth pardon Sin, remaineth for ever Remorse. | |
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XVIII “By all I am misunderstood!” if the Matron shall say, or the Maid:— | |
| “Alas! I do not understand,” my son, be thou nowise afraid. | 45 |
| In vain in the sight of the Bird is the net of the Fowler displayed. | |
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XIX My son, if I, Hafiz, thy father, take hold of thy knees in my pain, | |
| Demanding thy name on stamped paper, one day or one hour—refrain. | |
| Are the links of thy fetters so light that thou cravest another man’s chain? | |
