Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 7.djvu/169

149 Meseemeth, indeed, that I see you, bytimes, in illusions of sleep: Ah would that the visions were real we see in the dreams of the night! Indeed, I’m desirous of slumber, I crave after sleep, without need, So haply, therein, with the loved one a dream may the lover unite.

Then he walked on, little by little, heeding not how he went, till he reached the foot of the stairs, whence he dragged himself to his own chamber and shutting the door, lay there, sick and drowned in the sea of his solicitude, eating not nor drinking. He passed the night thus, weeping and bemoaning himself, till the morning, when he repeated the following verses:

When the sun rose, he went forth of the chamber and ascending to the roof, sat down before the pavilion and awaited the return of the birds, till nightfall; but they came not; wherefore he wept till he fell down in a swoon. When he came to himself, he dragged himself down the stairs to his chamber; and indeed, the night was come