THE KASÎDAH II, 17, 28

“This gloomy night, these grisly waves,
 these winds and whirlpools loud and dread:
What reck they of our wretched plight
 who Safety’s shore so lightly tread?”

Thus quoth the Bard of Love and Wine,
 whose dream of Heaven ne’er could rise
Beyond the brimming Kausar-cup
 and Houris with the white-black eyes;

Ah me! my race of threescore years
 is short, but long enough to pall
My sense with joyless joys as these,
 with Love and Houris, Wine and all.