The Scented Garden

56 The Results of Sin. IX. The Hakim1 Thy breast smells of all the jasmine in Iran, Ha- bib, just as thy podex has the essence of all its roses. But it is too much like the bosom of a wom- an. Though thy buttocks are like nargis, they are no longer firm. This is because thou lingerest in bawdy talk in taverns, drinking forbidden liquors ; because thou dalliest all day with that camel-backed monocular from Nubia. He serveth thee without remission from the Wolf’s Tail2 to the Evening Star, O thou eaten up with beastliness ! and for this thou forgettest the manly games of youth. When I first had thee, thou wast like a young deer, bounding over the grassy plains ; now thou waddlest like a gravid she- ass. Puffy are thy cheeks and bloated, just as if the moon were turned by a sorcerer into putrid cheese.3 Fie ! thou art surely bewitched by this ugly fel- low, with his lips like rotten bananas.4 Because he has a member like an ass, why shouldest thou be in conduct like a mule ? I shall annoint myself with camel’s dung5 and drink many decoction of chob-chini,6 since nothing appeases thee but male vigour. Alas ! thou carest no more for riding, but only for tippling ; Firdausi6 pleases thee not, nor the Ghazals of thine El Qahar.7 Thou art but an hog wallowing in Nubian mire ; thou art fat ; thou stinkest ; thy voice is getting like a jackal’s, while thy podex is no more elastic than a ten year old