XX.
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hen by and bye The Shah was made awareOf that Soul-wasting absence of his Son,He reach'd a Cry to Heav'n—his EyelashesWept Blood—Search everywhere he set a-foot,But none could tell the hidden Mystery.Then bade he bring a Mirror that he had,A Mirror, like the Bosom of the wise,Reflecting all the World, and lifting upThe Veil from all its Secret, Good and Evil.That Mirror bade he bring, and, in its FaceLooking, beheld the Face of his Desire.He saw those Lovers in the Solitude,Turn'd from the World, and all its ways, and People,And looking only in each other's Eyes,And never finding any Sorrow there.The Shah beheld them as they were, and PityFell on his Eyes, and he reproach'd them not;And, gathering all their Life into his Hand,Not a Thread lost, disposed in Order all.Oh for the Noble Nature, and Clear Heart,That, seeing Two who draw one Breath togetherDrinking the Cup of Happiness and TearsUnshatter'd by the Stone of Separation,Is loath their sweet Communion to destroy,Or cast a Tangle in the Skein of Joy. The Arrows that assail the Lords of SorrowCome from the Hand of Retribution.Do Well, that in thy Turn Well may betide Thee;And turn from Ill, that Ill may turn beside Thee. Firhád, Moulder of the Mountain,Love-distracted looked to Shírín,And Shírín the Sculptor's PassionSaw, and turn'd her Heart to Him.
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