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The Peace, the Jealousy, and the Ecstasy of God. 
The night is full of small breezes, blowing apple-
blossoms hither and thither.  All the stars shine, 
and thou shalt have a caress for every star.  But 
there is only one moon, and only once shall thy 
podex be invaded ;  for not until the dawn breaks 
will El Qahar withdraw his member. 
Even so that happy one, who is united with Al-
lah, shall never leave Him ;  so the crimson of the 
West shall fade into the blue of the whole sky, and 
the blue be illumined by the streamers of the false 
dawn, which is like death as the true dawn is like 
the last day.7  I hope, Habib, that thy podex is ca-
pable of severe combat ;  for not until the dawn 
breaks will El Qahar withdraw his member. 
 
 
 
1.  So our best M.S. [Persian text] But [Persian 
text] flesh — meaning buttocks — sounds more 
likely.  Consideration of prosody support the text. 
2.  Meteor-struck :  meteors are the stones flung 
by the angels at the Jinn who pry into Heaven.  
This epithet confirms our view of the allegory. 
3.  Eunuchs. Those from whom the testicles only 
are removed can still copulate, and experience 
sexual orgasm, though of course no fecundation 
results.  Hence the possibility of Gibbon’s remark 
that a certain lady “ preferred the titillations of her 
favourite eunuch to the ponderous emballings of 
the Roman praetor ” ;  and of Martial’s epigram : 
“ Cur tantum eunuchos habeat tua Gellia, quae-
ris, Pannice ?  vult frui Gellia, non parere.” 
4.  This jest depends on the pun — a somewhat 
significant one ! — between [Persian text] uncons-
cious, stupefied and [Persian text] matron, a vir-
tuous woman. 
5.  An excellent prescription.  Olive oil is of 
course meant.