If living man could swim upon his tears, * I first should float
on waters of these eyne:
O thou, who in my heart infusedst thy love, * As water mingles in
the cup with wine,
This was the fear I feared, this parting blow. * O thou whose
love my heart-core ne'er shall tyne!
O Bin Khakan! my sought, my hope, my will, * O thou whose love
this breast make wholly thine!
Against thy lord the King thou sinn'dst for me, * And winnedst
exile in lands peregrine:
Allah ne'er make my lord repent my loss * To cream[FN#60] o' men
thou gavest me, one right digne."

When she had ended her verses, Nur al-Din answered her with these
lines,

"She bade me farewell on our parting day, * And she wept in the
fire of our bane and pains:
'What wilt thou do when fro' thee I'm gone?' * Quoth I, 'say this
to whom life remains!'"

When the Caliph heard her saying in her verse,

"To Karim, the cream of men thou gavest me;"

his inclination for her redoubled and it seemed a hard matter and
a grievous to part them; so quoth he to the youth, "O my lord,
truly the damsel said in her verses that thou didst transgress
against her master and him who owned her; so tell me, against
whom didst thou transgress and who is it hath a claim on thee?"