Number 17

Though Majnun wept in the wilderness from grief for Layla, if you knew the secrets of love, you would see that Layla wept far more. When talk turned, in the gathering, to a face like fire, last night I saw the candle weep beyond all measure. At the feast of union, blood poured from a familiar eye; pity the stranger, when even the friend wept blood there. On the night of parting I hid my pain-filled sigh inside my heart, while the sky, in dread of a sudden raid, wept on and on. It was our blood-shedding eye that, in the healer's circle, wept every moment in longing for those wine-red lips.