Shorter Pieces of Arabian Poetry: To a Lady Weeping, by Ebn Alrumi

TO A LADY WEEPING. BY EBN ALRUMI. WHEN I beheld thy blue eye shine Through the bright drop that Pity drew, I saw beneath those tears of thine A blue-eyed violet bathed in dew. The violet ever scents the gale, Its hues adorn the fairest wreath; But sweetest through a dewy veil Its colours glow, its odours breathe. And thus thy charms in brightness rise: When Wit and Pleasure round thee play; When Mirth sits smiling in thine eyes, Who but admires their sprightly ray? But when through Pity's flood they gleam, Who but must love their softened beam?