Proclaim, O crier, at the head of every market, "Have you


seen, Muslims, a runaway slave?"

"A slave moonfaced, musk-scented, a troublemaker--swift of

pace in time of coquetry, in time of peace slow.

"A boy, ruby-robed, charming of countenance, sugar-sweet,

cypress-stature, saucy-eyed,acute, perfectly poised;

"In his bosom a rebec, in his hand a plucker; he plays a sweet

air, charming, well-seated.

"Does anyone have a fruit of the garden of his beauty? Or a

bunch of roses to smell from the rose bed of his loveliness?

"A Joseph by whose price the king of Egypt was bankrupted,

on every side heart-wounded ones like Jacob by his glance.

"I will give freely my sweet life as lawful to whomever brings

me a sign of him, or even a veiled hint."



-- Translation by A. J. Arberry

"Mystical Poems of Rumi 2"

The University of Chicago Press, 1991