XIII: The flowers of spring have put forth their…

The flowers of spring have put forth their blossoms in garden and in mead:
On the house-tops there are flowers, in the lanes, and in the hedges too.

The stones, the bushes, the thorns, the weeds--all are by flowers hidden:
Of every blemish and defect the flowers have the concealers become.

Wherever the eyesight may be directed, all, all are flowers there--
Flowers in front, and flowers behind--flowers on every side.

No single spot whatever is of fragrant flowers left devoid--
Flowers in the market, flowers in the wilds, flowers in the hills.

The nightingale, to revel and disport, with a loud voice, crieth out;
For the spring passeth away, and every moment the flowers fade and decay!

The youths and maidens, in their gambols and revelry, place
Flowers in their hair, flowers in their bosoms, flowers in their turbans.

The entire person of the beloved is of fragrant flowers composed--
Her feet are flowers, her hands flowers, her sweet face flowers also.

Let the wine be rosy, the goblet rosy, the wine-flask rosy likewise!
The cupbearer a flower, the associates flowers, the scene all flowers too!

When she smelleth unto a flower, let great caution be observed,
Lest on her tender, delicate lips, the flower a wound should inflict.

Gentle and simple, they have filled with delight by their display--
The flowers have, on every one, a load of obligation conferred.

But though flowers may have bloomed of a thousand hues,
No flower hath been seen like unto the beloved one of my heart.

That they thus heartily laugh, with such gladness and such glee,
What! of autumn's near approach, are not the flowers aware?

Since in them may be seen the emblem of his own loved one;
Aeabd-ul-Kadir thus remembereth the flowers in his strains.