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Said Ajib, "Sit thee down and eat with us, so haply shall Allah

dispel our sorrows." Hasan the Bassorite was joyful and sat down

and ate with them; but his eyes kept gazing fixedly on Ajib's

face, for his very heart and vitals clove to him; and at last the

boy said to him, "Did I not tell thee thou art a most noyous

dotard?; so do stint thy staring in my face!" But when Hasan of

Bassorah heard his son's words he repeated these lines:-

"Thou hast some art the hearts of men to clip; * Close-veiled,

far-hidden mystery dark and deep: O thou whose beauties shame the

lustrous moon, * Wherewith the saffron Morn fears rivalship! Thy

beauty is a shrine shall ne'er decay; * Whose signs shall grow

until they all outstrip; [FN#467] Must I be thirst-burnt by that

Eden-brow * And die of pine to taste that Kausar-lip?" [FN#468]