ABSTRACT
I sat in my house on a winter night, while the winds roared like lions without, and the clouds above spilled noisily over as if they had been great dark waterskins. I warmed my hands at my copper brazier, grieving that, because of the rain, the mud and the darkness, I could neither go forth nor expect the visit of a friend. As my heart grew heavier, I said to my slave: ‘Give me some food to pass the time.’ While the slave busied himself about my meal, I fell into a dream of the charms of a girl whom I had met at the palace, though I do not know why her memory, of all the memories which have blessed my nights, should have come so obstinately before me. So engrossed was I in my sudden desire that I did not see my slave standing by me with folded arms, waiting my signal to bring in the dishes and set them upon the cloth which he had already laid. Full of my dream I cried aloud: ‘Would that young Saidah were here! Her voice is so pleasant that I should be no more sad.’
