Stain Your Prayer Rug with Wine 197“The blame is all mine,” Layla cried, flinging curses on herself. “I
am the one who has set fire to my lover’s heart and reduced his being
to ashes.” Desperate, she removed the jewels from her earrings and
handed them to the old merchant. “These are for you. Now go to
Majnun and bring him here. I only want to see him, to look upon his
face for a little while, to bathe in the light of his countenance for but a
moment.”
The old man agreed. For days he searched the desert for Majnun.
When he finally found him, he relayed Layla’s message. “Could you
not bring yourself to break your vows of separation from the world to
look upon her tearful face, just for a second?” he pleaded.
“Little does anyone understand me,” Majnun thought. “Do they
not realize that their idea of happiness is not mine? Do they not see
that while it may be possible for them to have their wishes granted in
this life, my longing is something else entirely, something that cannot
be fulfilled while I remain in this transient world?”
But Majnun could not resist the opportunity to look upon the face
of his beloved. Putting on a cloak, he followed the merchant to a palm
grove and hid there while the old man left to fetch Layla.
As the merchant led her by the hand to the grove, to Majnun,
Layla’s entire body trembled. When no more than twenty paces sepa-
rated her from her lover, she froze. The old man tugged on her arm,
but Layla could not move.
“Noble sir,” she pleaded, “this far but no farther. Even now I am
like a burning candle; one step closer to the fire and I shall be con-
sumed completely.”
The old man left her and went to Majnun. Pulling him out of
the palm grove, he brought the boy—his face drained of color, his eyes
glass—under the moonlight and pointed him toward Layla. Majnun
stumbled forward. Light from the stars peeked through the tops of the
palm trees. There was a movement in the darkness, and suddenly,
under the dome of heaven, Layla and Majnun faced each other.
It was only a moment: a rush of blood to the cheeks. The two
lovers stared at one another, drunk with the wine of love. Yet though
they were now close enough to touch, they knew that such wine could
be tasted only in paradise. A breath, a sigh, a stifled cry, and Majnun