Unshown was my excuse, till on his cheek the hair Grew and the darkness crept, bewildered, here and there. A fawn, when eyes of men are fixed upon his charms, His glances straight on them a trenchant poniard bare.
His lovers' souls have woven upon his cheek, I ween, A net the blood has painted with all its ruddy sheen. Oh, how at them I marvel! They're martyrs; yet they dwell In fire, and for their raiment, they're clad in sendal green.[FN#154]
It chanced, one festival day, that Kuzia Fekan went out, surrounded by her handmaids, to visit certain kindred of the court; and indeed beauty encompassed her; the rose of her cheek vied with the mole thereon, her teeth flashed from her smiling lips, like the petals of the camomile flower, and she was as the resplendent moon. Her cousin Kanmakan began to turn about her and devour her with his eyes. Then he took courage and giving loose to his tongue, repeated the following verses:
When shall the mourning heart be healed of anger and disdain? When, rigour ceasing, shall the lips of union smile again? Would God I knew if I shall lie, some night, within the arms Of a beloved, in whose heart is somewhat of my pain!
When she heard this, she was angry and putting on a haughty air, said to him, "Hast thou a mind to shame me among the folk, that thou speakest thus of me in thy verse? By Allah, except thou leave this talk, I will assuredly complain of thee to the Grand Chamberlain, Sultan of Baghdad and Khorassan and lord of justice and equity, whereby disgrace and punishment will fall on thee?" To this Kanmakan made no reply, but returned to Baghdad: and Kuzia Fekan also returned home and complained of her cousin to her mother, who said to her, "O my daughter, belike he meant thee no ill, and is he not an orphan? Indeed, he said nought that implied reproach to thee; so look thou tell none of this, lest it come to the Sultan's ears and he cut short his life and blot out his name and make it even as yesterday, whose remembrance hath passed away." How ever, Kanmakan's case was not hidden from the people, and his love for Kuzia Fekan became known in Baghdad, so that the women talked of it. Moreover, his heart became contracted and his patience waned and he knew not what to do. Then longed he to give vent to the anguish he endured, by reason of the pangs of separation; but he feared her anger and her rebuke: so he recited the following verses: