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6490
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ROBA
TRUBNER'S ORIENTAL SERIES.
" A knowledge of the commonplace, at least, of Oriental literature, philo- sophy, and religion is as necessary to the general reader of the present day as an acquaintance with the Latin and Greek classics was a generation or so ago. Immense strides have been made within the present century in these branches of learning; Sanskrit has been brought within the range of accurate philology, and its invaluable ancient literature thoroughly investigated ; the language and sacred books of the Zoroastrians have been laid bare ; Egyptian, Assyrian, and other records of the remote past have been deciphered, and a group of scholars speak of still more recondite Accadian aud Hittite monu- ments ; but the results of all the scholarship that has been devoted to these subjects have been almost inaccessible to the public because they were con- tained for the most part in learned or expensive works, or scattered through- out the numbers of scientific periodicals. Messrs. TRUBXEU & Co., in a spirit of enterprise which does them infinite credit, have determined to supply the constantly-increasing want, and to give in a popular, or, at least, a compre- hensive form, all this mass of knowledge to the world." — Times.
New Edition in pi°eparalion, Post 8vo, pp. xxxii. — 748, with Map, cloth.
THE INDIAN EMPIRE : ITS HISTORY, PEOPLE, AND PRODUCTS.
Being a revised form of the article "India," in the "Imperial Gazetteer,"
remodelled into chapters, brought up to date, and incorporating
the general results of the Census of 1881.
By the HON. W. W. HUNTER, C.S.I., C.I.E., LL.D.
Member of the Viceroy's Legislative Council, Director-General of Statistics to the Government of India.
"The article 'India,' in Volume IV., is the touchstone of the work, and proves clearly enough the sterling metal of which it is wrought. It represents the essence of the ioo volumes which contain the results of the .statistical survey conducted by Dr. Hunter throughout each of the 240 districts of India. It is, moreover, the only attempt that has ever been made to show how the Indian people have been built up, and the evidence from the original materials has been for the first time sifted and examined by the light of the local research in which the author was for so long engaged. "—Times.
TRUBNER'S ORIENTAL SERIES.
THE FOLLOWING WORKS HAVE ALREADY APPEARED:— Third Edition, post 8vo, cloth, pp. xvi.— 428, price i6s.
ESSAYS ON THE SACRED LANGUAGE, WRITINGS, AND RELIGION OF THE PARSIS.
BY MARTIN HAUG, PH.D.,
Late of the Universities of Tubingen, Gottingen, and Bonn ; Superintendent of Sanskrit Studies, and Professor of Sanskrit in the Poona College.
EDITED AND ENLARGED BY DR. E. W. WEST.
To which is added a Biogi-aphical Memoir of the late Dr. HAUG
by Prof. E. P. EVANS.
I. History of the Researches into the Sacred Writings and Keligion of the
Parsis, from the Earliest Times down to the Present. IT. Languages of the Parsi Scriptures.
III. The Zend-Avesta, or the Scripture of the Parsis.
IV. The Zoroastrian Religion, as to its Origin nnd Development.
" 'Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings, and Religion of the Parsis.' by the late Dr. Martin Ilaug, edited by Dr. E. W. West. The author intended, on his return from India, to expand the materials contained in this work into a comprehensive account of the Zoroastrian religion, but the design was frustrated by his untimely death. We have, however, in a concise and readable form, a history of the researches into the sacred writings and religion of the Parsis from the earliest times down to the present — a dissertation 011 the languages of the Parsi Scriptures, a translation of the Zend-Avesta, or the Scripture of the Parsis, and a dissertation oil the Zoroas- trian religion, with especial reference to its origin and development."— Times.
Post 8vo, cloth, pp. viii. — 176, price ys. 6d.
TEXTS FROM THE BUDDHIST CANON
COMMONLY KNOWN AS " DHAMMAPADA."
With Accompanying Narratives.
Translated from the Chinese by S. BEAL, B.A., Professor of Chinese, University College, London.
The Dhammapada, as hitherto known by the Pali Text Edition, as edited by Fausboll, by Max Muller's English, and Albrecht Weber's German translations, consists only of twenty-six chapters or sections, whilst the Chinese version, or rather recension, as now translated by Mr. Beal, con- sists of thirty-nine sections. The students of Pali who possess Fausboll's text, or either of the above named translations, will therefore needs want Mr. Beal's English rendering of the Chinese version ; the thirteen above- named additional sections not being accessible to them in any other form ; for, even if they understand Chinese, the Chinese original would be un- obtainable by them.
" Mr. Beal's rendering of the Chinese translation is a most valuable aid to the critical study of the work. It contains authentic texts gathered from ancient canonical books, and generally connected with some incident in tlie history of Buddha. Their great interest, however, consists in the light which they throw upon everyday life in India at the remote period at which they were written, and upon the method of teaching adopted by the founder of the religion. The method employed was principally parable, and the simplicity of the tales and the excellence of the morals inculcated, as well as the strange hold which they have retained upon the minds of millions of people, make them a very remarkable study." — Times.
" Mr. Beal, by making it accessible in an English dress, has added to the great ser- vices he has already rendered to the comparative study of religious history." — Awdt my,
"Valuable as exhibiting the doctrine of the Buddhists in its purest, least adul- terated form, it brings the modern reader face to face with that situ pie creed and rule of conduct which won its way over the minds of myriads, and which is now nominally professed by 145 millions, who have overlaid its austere simplicity with innumerable ceremonies, forgotten its maxims, perverted its teaching, and so inverted its leading principle that a religion whose founder denied a God, now worships that founder as a g»d himself." — Scot*nt<'i>.
TR UB NEK'S ORIENTAL SRKIKS.
Second Edition, post 8vo, cloth, pp. xxiv. — 360, price ics. 6d.
THE HISTORY OF INDIAN LITERATURE.
Bvr ALBRECHT WEBER.
Translated from the Second German Edition by JOHN MANN, M. A., and THEODOK ZACHAUIAE, Ph.D., with the sanction of the Author.
Dr. BUHLER, Inspector of Schools in India, writes: — "When I was Pro- fessor of Oriental Languages in Elphiiistone College, I frequently felt the want of such a work to which I could refer the students."
Professor CoWELL, of Cambridge, writes :— " It will be especially useful to the students in our Indian colleges and universities. I used to long for such a book when I was teaching in Calcutta. Hindu students ate intensely interested in the history of Sanskrit literature, and this volume will Supply them with all they want on the subject."
Professor WHITNEY, Yale College, Newhaven, Conn., U.S.A., writes :— " I was one of the class to whom the work was originally given in the form of academic lectures. At their first appearance they were by far the most learned and able treatment of their subject ; and with their recent additions they still maintain decidedly the same rank.'*
" Is perhaps the most^ comprehensive and lucid survey of Sanskrit literature extant. The essays contained in the volume were originally delivez-ed as academic lectures, and at the time of their first publication were acknowledged to be by far the most learned and able treatment of the subject* They have now been brought up to date by the addition of all the most important results of recent research. "^» Times.
Post 8vo, cloth, pp. xii. — 198, accompanied by Two Language Maps, price 128.
A SKETCH OP THE MODERN LANGUAGES OF THE EAST INDIES.
BY ROBERT N. CUST.
The Author has attempted to fill up a vacuum, the inconvenience of which pressed itself on his notice. Mueh had been written about the languages of the East Indies, but the extent of our present knowledge had not even been brought to a focus. It occurred to him that it might be of use to others to publish in an arranged form the notes whieh he had collected for his own edification.
" Supplies a deficiency which has long been felt." — Times.
" The book before us is then a valuable contribution to philological science. It passes under review a vast number of languages, and it gives, or professes to give, in every case the sum and substance of the opinions and judgments of the best-informed Writers. " — Saturday Reviev}.
Second Corrected Edition, post 8vo, pp. xii. — 116, cloth, price 58,
THE BIRTH OF THE WAR-GOD.
A Poem. BY KALIDASA.
Translated from the Sanskrit into English Verse by RALPH T. H. GRIFFITH, M.A.
" A very spirited rendering of the Kumdrasambhara, which was first published twefity-six years ago, and which we are glad to see made once more accessible." — Times.
" Mr. Griffith's very spirited rendering is Well known to most who are at all interested in Indian literature, or enjoy the tenderness of feeling and rich creative imagination of its author."— Indian Antiquary.
" We are very glad to welcome a second edition of Professor Griffith's admirable translation. Few translations deserve a second edition better."— Aihei\aurn.
TRUBNER'S ORIENTAL SERIES.
Post 8vo, pp. 432, cloth, price i6s.
A CLASSICAL DICTIONARY OF HINDU MYTHOLOGY
AND RELIGION, GEOGRAPHY, HISTORY, AND
LITERATURE.
BY JOHN DOWSON, M.R.A.S., Late Professor of Hindustani, Staff College.
" This not only forms an indispensable book of reference to students of Indian literature, but is also of great general interest, as it gives in a concise and easily
cessible form all that need be known about the personages of Hindu mythology whose names are so familiar, but of whom so little is known outside the limited circle of savants." — Times.
" It is no slight gain when such subjects are treated fairly and fully in a moderate space ; and we need only add that the few wants which we may hope to see supplied in new editions detract but little from the general excellence of Mr. Dowson's work." — Saturday Review.
Post 8vo, with View of Mecca, pp. cxii. — 172, cloth, price gs,
SELECTIONS FROM THE KORAN.
BY EDWARD WILLIAM LANE,
Translator of " The Thousand and One Nights ; " &c., &c. A New Edition, Revised and Enlarged, with an Introduction by
STANLEY LANE POOLE.
"... Has been Ion? esteemed in this country as the compilation of one of the greatest Arabic scholars of the time, the late Mr. L-ane, the well-known translator of the ' Arabian Nights. "... The present editor has enhanced the value of his relative's work by divesting the text of a great deal of extraneous matter introduced by way of comment, and prefixing an introduction." — Times.
" Mr. Poole is both a generous and a learned biographer. . . . Mr. Poole tells us the facts ... so far as it is possible for industry and criticism to ascertain them, and for literary skill to present them in a condensed and readable form." — English- man, Calcutta.
Post 8vo, pp. vi. — 368, cloth, price 143.
MODERN INDIA AND THE INDIANS, BEING A SERIES OF IMPRESSIONS, NOTES, AND ESSAYS.
BY MONIER WILLIAMS, D.C.L., Hon. LL.D. of the University of Calcutta, Hon. Member of the Bombay Asiatic
Society, Boden Professor of Sanskrit in the University of Oxford. Third Edition, revised and augmented by considerable Additions,
with Illustrations and a Map.
" In this volume we have the thoughtful impressions of a thoughtful man on some of the most important questions connected with our Indian Empire. . . . An en- lightened observant man, tra veiling among an enlightened observant people, Professor Monier Williams has brought before the public in a pleasant form more of the manners and customs of the Queen's Indian subjects than we ever remember to have seen in any one work. He not only deserves the thanks of every Englishman for this able contribution to the study of Modern India— a subject with which we should be specially familiar — but he deserves the thanks of every Indian, Parsee or Hindu, Buddhist and Moslem, for his clear exposition of their manners, their creeds, and their necessities."— Times.
Post 8vo, pp. xliv. — 376. cloth, price 143.
METRICAL TRANSLATIONS FROM SANSKRIT WRITERS.
With an Introduction, many Prose Versions, and Parallel Passages from
Classical Authors. BY J. MUIR, C.I.E., D.C.L., LL.D., Ph.D.
"... An agreeable introduction to Hindu poetry."—?'"/"'.
"... A volume which maybe taken as a fair illustration alike of the religious and moral sentiments and of the legendary lore of the best Sanskrit wii' Edinburgh Daily R^ieii.
TKUISXKR'S ORIENTAL .VAA'/A.Y
Second Edition, post 8vo, pp. xxvi. — 244, cloth, price IDS. 6d.
THE GULISTAN; OR, ROSE GARDEN OF SHEKH MUSHLIU'D-DIN SADI OF SHIRAZ.
Translated for the First Time into Prose and Verse, with an Introductory Preface, and a Life of the Author, from the Atish Kadah,
BY EDWARD B. EASTWICK, C.B., M.A., F.R.S., M.R.A.S.
" It is a very fair rendering of the original." — Times.
" The new edition has long been desired, and will be welcomed by all who take any interest in Oriental poetry. The Gulistan is a typical Persian verse-book of the highest order. Mr. Eastwick's rhymed translation . . . has long established itself in a secure position as the best version of Sadi's finest work." — Academy.
" It is both faithfully and gracefully executed."— Tablet.
In Two Volumes, post 8vo, pp. viii. — 408 and viii. — 348, cloth, price 283.
MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS RELATING TO INDIAN SUBJECTS.
BY BRIAN HOUGHTON HODGSON, ESQ., F.R.S.,
Late of the Bengal Civil Service ; Corresponding Member of the Institute ; Chevalier of the Legion of Honour ; lato British Minister at the Court of Nepal, die., &c.
CONTENTS OF-' VOL. I.
SECTION I.— On the Kocch, Bodo, and Dhinial Tribes.— Part I. Vocabulary.-- Part II. Grammar.— Part III. Their Origin, Location, Numbers, Creed, Customs, Character, and Condition, with a General Description of the Climate they dwell iu. — Appendix.
SECTION II. — On Himalayan Ethnology. — I. Comparative Vocabulary of the Lan- guages of the Broken Tribes of Ne"pal. — II. Vocabulary of the Dialects of the Kiranti Language. — III. Grammatical Analysis of the Vayu Language. The Vayu Grammar. —IV. Analysis of the Bahing Dialect of the Kiranti Language. The Billing Gram- mar.—V. On the Vayu or Hayu Tribe of the Central Himalaya.— VI. On tue Kirami Tribe of the Central Himalaya.
CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
SECTION III. — On the Aborigines of North-Eastern India. Comparative Vocabulary of the Tibetan, Bodo, and Garo Tongues.
SECTION IV. — Aborigines of the North-Eastern Frontier.
SECTION V.— Aborigines of the Eastern Frontier.
SECTION VI. — The Indo-Chinese Borderers, and their connection with the Hima- layans and Tibetans. Comparative Vocabulary of Indo-Chinese Borderers in Arakan. Comparative Vocabulary of Indo-Chinese Borderers in Tenasserim.
SECTION VII. — The Mongolian Affinities of the Caucasians. — Comparison and Ana- lysis of Caucasian and Mongolian Words.
SECTION VIII.— Physical Type of Tibetans.
SECTION IX. — The Aborigines of Central India. — Comparative Vocabulary of the Aboriginal Languages of Central India. — Aborigines of the Eastern Ghats. — Vocabu- lary of some of the Dialects of the Hill and Wandering Tribes in the Northern Sircars. — Aborigines of the Nilgiris, with Remarks on their Affinities. — Supplement to the Nilgiriaii Vocabularies.— The Aborigines of Southern India and Ceylon.
SECTION X. — Route of Nepale^e Mission to Pekiu, with Remarks on the Water- Shed and Plate ;u of Tibet.
SECTION XL— Route from Kathmandvi, the Capital of Nepal, to Darjeeling in Sikim.— Memorandum relative to the Seven Cosis of Nepal.
SECTION XII.— Some Accounts of the Systems of Law and Police as recognised in the State of Nepal.
SECTION XIII. — The Native Method of making the Paper denominated Hindustan, Nepalese.
SECTION XIV.— Pre-eminence of the Vernaculars; or, the Anglicists Answered ; Being Letters on the Education of the People of India.
"For the study of the less-known races of India Mr. Brian Hodgson's 'Miscellane- ous Essays' will be found very valuable both to tnc philologist and tho ethnologist." — Times
TRUBNER'S ORIENTAL SERIES.
Third Edition, Two Vols., post 8vo, pp. viii.— 268 and viii.— 326, cloth, price 2is.
THE LIFE OR LEGEND OF GAUDAMA,
THE BUDDHA OF THE BURMESE. With Annotations.
The Ways to Neibban, and Notice on the Phongyies or Burmese Monks.
BY THE EIGHT REV. P. BIGANDET, Bishop of Ramatha, Vicar- Apostolic of Ava and Pegu.
"The work is furnished with copious notes, which not only illustrate the subject- matter, but form a perfect encyclopaedia of Buddhist lore." — Times.
"A work which will furnish European students of Buddhism with a most valuable help in the prosecution of their investigations." — Edinburgh Daily Review.
" Bishop Bigandet's invaluable work." — Indian Antiquary.
" Viewed in this light, its importance is sufficient to place students of the subject under a deep obligation to its author." — Calcutta Review.
"This work is one of the greatest authorities upon Buddhism."— Dublin Review.
Post 8vo, pp. xxiv, — 420, cloth, price i8s.
CHINESE BUDDHISM.
A VOLUME OF SKETCHES, HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL.
BY J. EDKINS, D.D. Author of " China's Place in Philology," "Religion in China," &c., &c.
"It contains a vast deal of important information on the subject, such as is only to be gained by long-continued study on the spot."~Athenceum.
" Upon the whole, we know of no work comparable to it for the extent of its original research, and the simplicity with which this complicated system of philo- sophy, religion, literature, and ritual is set forth." — British Quarterly Review.
" The whole volume is replete with learning. ... It deserves most careful study from all interested in the history of the religions of the world, and expressly of those who are concerned in the propagation of Christianity. Dr. Edkins notices in terms of just condemnation the exaggerated praise bestowed upon Buddhism by recent English writers."— Record,
Post 8vo, pp. 496, cloth, price i8s.
LINGUISTIC AND ORIENTAL ESSAYS.
WRITTEN FROM THE YEAR 1846 TO 1878.
BY ROBERT NEEDHAM CUST, Late Member of Her Majesty's Indian Civil Service; Hon. Secretary to
the Royal Asiatic Society ; and Author of " The Modern Languages of the East Indies."
" We know none who lias described Indian life, especially the life of the natives, with so n:u;h learning, sympathy, and literary talent. "t—A cademy.
"They seem to us to be full of suggestive and original remarks."— 52. James's Gazette.
" His book contains a vast amount of information. The result of thirty-five years of inquiry, reflection, and speculation, and that on subjects as full of fascination as of food for thought."— Tablet.
" Exhibit such a thorough acquaintance with the history and antiquities of India as to entitle him to speak as one having authority. "—Edinburgh Daily Review.
" The author speaks with the authority of personal experience It is this
constant association with the country and the people which gives such a vividness to many of the pages." — Athenatuvi.
TRUBN£R'S ORIENTAL SKR1KS.
Post 8vo, pp. civ.— 348, cloth, price i8s.
BUDDHIST BIRTH STORIES; or, Jataka Tales.
The Oldest Collection of Folk-lore Extant :
BEING THE JATAKATTHAVANNANA,
For the first time Edited in the original Pali.
BY V. FAUSBOLL ;
And Translated by T. W. RHYS DAVIDS.
Translation. Volume T.
"These are talcs supposed to have been told by the Buddha of what he dad seen and heard in his previous births. They are probably the nearest representatives of the original Aryan stories from which sprang the folk-lore of Kurope jis well -1.1 India. The Introduction contains a most interesting disquisition on the migrations of these fables, tracing their reappearance in the various groups of folk-lore legends. Among other old friends, we meet with a version of the J udgment of Solomon. " — Ti mat.
" It is now some years since Mr. Bhys Davids asserted his right to be heard on this subject by his able article on Buddhism in the new edition of the ' Encyclopaedia Britannica."' — Leeds Mercury.
" All who are interested in Buddhist literature ought to feel deeply indebted to Mr. Rhys Davids. His well-established reputation as a Pali scholar is a sufficient guarantee for the fidelity of his version, and the style of his translations is deserving of high praise." — Academy.
" No more competent expositor of Buddhism could be found tnan Mr. Rhys Davids. In the Jataka book we have, then, a priceless record of the earliest imaginative literature of our race ; and ... it presents to us a nearly complete picture of the social life and customs and popular beliefs of the common people of Aryan tribes, closely related to ourselves, just as they were passing through the first stages of civilisation." — St. James's Gazette.
Post 8vo, pp. xxviii. — 362, cloth, price 143.
A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY; OR, A THOUSAND AND ONE EXTRACTS FROM THE TALMUD,
THE MIDRASHIM, AND THE KABBALAH.
Compiled and Translated by PAUL ISAAC HERSEON,
Author of " Genesis According to the Talmud," &c.
With Notes and Copious Indexes,
" To obtain in so concise and handy a form as this volume a gene;:il idea of the Talmud is a boon to Christians at least." — Times.
" Its peculiar and popular chai-aeter will make it attractive to general readers. Mr. Hershou is a very competent scholar. . . . Contains samples of the good, bad, and indifferent, and especially extracts that throw light upon the Scriptures." — British Quarterly Review.
" Will convey to English readers a more complete and truthful notion of the Talmud than any other work that has yet appeared."— Dailn JV>«.
" Without overlooking in the slightest the several attractions of the previous volumes of the ' Oriental Series.' we have no hesitation in saying that this surpasses them all in interest." — Edinburgh Daily Review.
" Mr. Hershon has . . . thus given English readers what is. we believe, a fair set of specimens which they can test for themselves."— The RecarA
" This book is by far the best fitted in the present state of knowledge to enable the general reader to gain a fair and unbiassed conception of the multifarious contents of the wonderful miscellany \vhich can only be truly understood— so Jewish pride asserts by the life-long devotion of scholars of the Chosen People." — Inquirer.
" The value and importance of this volume consist in the fact that scarcely a single extract is given in its pages but throws some light, direct or refracted, upon thoso Scriptures which are the common heritage of Jew and Christian alike."— John Bull.
" It is a capital specimen of Hebrew scholarship ; a monument of learned, loving, light-giving labour."— Jewish Herald.
TRUBNER'S ORIENTAL SERIES.
Post 8vo, pp. xii. — 228, cloth, price 75. 6d.
THE CLASSICAL POETRY OF THE JAPANESE.
BY BASIL HALL CHAMBERLAIN,
Author of " Yeigo Henkaku Shiran."
" A very curious volume. The author has manifestly devoted much labour to the task of studying the poetical literature of the Japanese, and rendering characteristic specimens into English verse." — Daily News.
" Mr. Chamberlain's volume is, so far as we are aware, the first attempt which has been made to interpret the literature of the Japanese to the Western world. It is to the classical poetry of Old Japan that we must turn for indigenous Japanese thought, and in the volume before us we have a selection from that poetry rendered into graceful English verse." — Tablet.
"It is undoubtedly one of the best translations of lyric literature which has appeared during the close of the last year." — Celestial Empire.
"Mr. Chamberlain set himself a difficult task when he undertook to reproduce Japanese poetry in an English form. But he has evidently laboured con amore, and his efforts are successful to a degree." — London and China Express.
Post 8vo, pp. xii. — 164, cloth, price zos. 6d.
THE HISTORY OF ESARHADDON (Son of Sennacherib), KING OF ASSYRIA, B.C. 681-668.
Translated from the Cuneiform Inscriptions upon Cylinders and Tablets in the British Museum Collection ; together with a Grammatical Analysis of each Word, Explanations of the Ideographs by Extracts from the Bi-Liugual Syllabaries, and List of Eponyms, &c.
BY ERNEST A. BUDGE, B.A., M.R.A.S.,
Assyrian Exhibitioner, Christ's College, Cambridge.
" Students of scriptural archaeology will also appreciate the ' History of Esar- haddou.' " — Times.
"There is much to attract the scholar in this volume. It does not pretend to popularise studies which are yet in their infancy. Its primary object is to translate, but it does not assume to be more than tentative, and it offers both to the professed Assyriologist and to the ordinary nou-Assyriological Semitic scholar the means of controlling its results." — Academy.
"Mr. Budge's book is, of course, mainly addressed to Assyrian scholars and students. They are not, it is to be feared, a very numerous class. But the more thanks are due to him on that account for the way in which he has acquitted himself in his laborious task." — Tablet.
Post 8vo, pp. 448, cloth, price 2is.
THE MESNEVI
(Usually known as THE MESNEVIYI SHERIF, or HOLY MESNEVI)
OF MEVLANA (OUR LORD) JELALU 'D-DIN MUHAMMED ER-RUMI.
Book the First. Together with some Account of the Life and Acts of the Author,
of his Ancestors, and of his Descendants. Illustrated by a Selection of Characteristic Anecdotes, as Collected
by their Historian, MEVLANA SHEMSU-'D-DIN AHMED, EL EFLAKI, EL 'AniFi.
Translated, and the Poetry Versified, in English, BY JAMES W. REDHOUSE, M. R. A. S., &c.
" A. complete treasury of occult Oriental lore." — Saturday &•,
' 'Tins book will be a very valuable help to the reader ignorant of Persia, who is desirous of obtaining an insight into a vury important department of the literature extant in that language."— Tablet.
TK <7/>'.V/-: A' 'S OK I EN TA I. A /•: K 1 1. S.
Post 8vo, pp. xvi.— 280, cloth, price 6s.
EASTERN PROVERBS AND EMBLEMS
ILLUSTRATING OLD TRUTHS.
BY REV. J. LONG, Member of the Bengal Asiatic Society, F.R.G.S.
" We regard the book as valuable, and wish for it a wide circulation ami attentive reading." — A'«v<,-./.
" Altogether, it is quite a feast of good things."— Olobe. " It is full of interesting matter." — Antiquary.
Post 8vo, pp. viii. — 270, cloth, price 73. 6d. INDIAN POETRY;
Containing a New Edition of the "Indian Song of Songs," from the Sanpcrit of the "Gita Govinda" of Jayadeva ; Two Books from "The Iliad of India" (Mahabharata), " Proverbial Wisdom " from the Shlokas of the Hitopadesa, and other Oriental Poems.
BY EDWIN ARNOLD, C.S.I., Author of "The Light of Asia."
" In this new volume of Messrs. Triibner's Oriental Series, Mr. Edwin Arnold does good service by illustrating, through the medium of his musical English melodies, the power of Indian poetry to stir European emotions. The ' Indian Song of Songs ' is not unknown to scholars. Mr. Arnold will have introduced it among popular English poems. Nothing could be more graceful and delicate than the shades by which Krishna is portrayed in the gradual process of being weaned by the love of
1 Beautiful Radha, jasmine-bosomed Radha,'
from the allurements of the forest nymphs, in whom the five senses are typified."— Times.
" No other English poet has ever thrown his genius and his art so thoroughly into the work of translating Eastern ideas as Mr. Arnold has done in his splendid" para- phrases of language contained in these mighty epics."— Daily Telegraph.
" The poem abounds with imagery of Eastern luxuriousness and sensuousn' ss ; the air seems laden with the spicy odours of the tropics, and the verse has a richness and a melody sufficient to captivate the senses of the dullest." — SUnu/anl.
" The translator, while producing a very enjoyable poem, has adhered with toler- able fidelity to the original text."— Overland M«'t1.
" We certainly wish Mr. Arnold success in his attempt ' to popularise Indian classics,' that being, as his preface tells us, the goal towards which he bends his efforts." — Allen's Indian Mail.
Post 8vo, pp. xvi. — 296, cloth, price IDS. 6d.
THE MIND OF MENCIUS ;
OH, POLITICAL ECONOMY FOUNDED UPON MORAL PHILOSOPHY.
A SYSTEMATIC DIGEST OF THE DOCTRINES OF THE CHINESE PHILOSOPHER MENCIUS.
Translated from the Original Text and Classified, with Comments and Explanations,
By the REV. ERNST FABER, Rhenish Mission Society.
Translated from the German, with Additional Notes, By the REV. A. B. HUTCHINSON, C.M.S., Church Mission, Hong Kong.
" Mr. Faber is already well known in the field of Chinese studies by his digest of the doctrines of Confucius. The value of this work will be perceived when it is remembered that at no time since relations commenced between China and the West has the former been so powerful — we had almost said aggressive — as now. For those who will give it careful study, Mr. Faber's work is one of ti valuable of the excellent series to which it bcluiigs." — Jfiituri.
7'RUBNER'S ORIENTAL SERIES.
Post 8vo, pp. 336, cloth, price i6s.
THE RELIGIONS OF INDIA.
BY A. EARTH. Translated from the French with the authority and assistance of the Author.
The author has, at the request of the publishers, considerably enlarged the work for the translator, and has added the literature of the subject to date ; the translation may, therefore, be looked upon as an equivalent of a new and improved edition of the original.
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PREFACE.
ABDU-R-EAHMAN was born in the year 1414 A.D., at Jam, a little town in Khurasan, from which he took the poetic name, Jami, by which he is generally known. At the age of five he received the name of Niiru-d-din, or, Light of the Faith ; and.in later life his learning, fame, and sanctity gained for him the title of Maulana, or, Our Master. He studied at Herat and Samarkand, where he not only outstripped the ablest and most diligent of his fellow-students, but puzzled the most learned of his teachers. The fame of his learning soon spread to the most distant provinces of Persia, and into other Asiatic countries. Sultan Abu Sa'id, Timur's uncle, invited him to his court at Herat, and all the princes, nobles, and learned men of the time sought the company of the distinguished poet. In 1472 A.D., Jami performed the pilgrimage to Mecca, and, after some stay at Baghdad, returned in the following year to Herat, where he died in 1492.
Jami is the last great poet that Persia has produced. He devoted the whole of his life to study and literary work, and has left behind him at least fifty volumes of poetry, grammar, and theology, which are still read and
vi PREFACE.
admired in the eastern world. " With us," says Mr. Fitzgerald, in his notice of Jami's Life prefixed to his translation of " Salaman and Absal," " his name is almost wholly associated with his ' Yusuf and Zulaikha ; ' the ' Beharistan ; ' and this present ' Salaman and Absal/ which he tells us is like to be the last product of his old age. And these three count for three of the brother stars of that constellation into which his seven best mystical poems are clustered under the name of ' Heft Aurang ' — those ' Seven Thrones ' to which we of the West and North give our characteristic names of ' Great Bear ' and ' Charles's Wain.' "
But of all the works of Jami, " Yiisuf and Zulaikha" is undoubtedly the most famous. In India — although for obvious reasons it is not admitted into the course of Government or aided schools — it is read in all indepen- dent indigenous schools in which Persian is taught, and is in them what Ovid is or was in all grammar- schools in England. Every Persian scholar in the country has read it, and many know its finest passages by heart. In Europe, too, the merits of the poem have been acknowledged : "Le poe"me" (says Thornton) " des amours de Joseph et de Zulikha, qui est considere par les juges competens de la litterature comme le plus bel ouvrage qui existe en Orient." " Jaumee," says another scholar in his old-fashioned phonetic spelling, " whose poem on the loves of Joseph and Zuleika is one of the finest compositions in the language, and deserves to be translated into every European language — Jaumee has
PREFACE. vii
decorated with all the graces of poetry the romantic story of the youthful Canaanite."
" Yusuf and Zulaikha " has been translated into Ger- man blank verse by Eosenzweig, whose meritorious though decidedly heavy version was published side by side with the Persian text in a handsome well-printed folio at Vienna in 1824. This work has long been out of print, and is now almost unprocurable. I am indebted to Messrs. Trubner & Co. for a copy which, after three years' inquiries, they obtained for me ; and I gratefully acknowledge my obligations to the translation, which has been of service to me at times, and to the explana- tory notes, from which I have borrowed freely. The poem has not, I believe, been translated into any other European language ; only a little volume entitled "Analysis and Specimens of the Joseph and Zulaikha," by S. E., was published by Messrs. Williams & Norgate in 1872. This very unpretending work does not appear to have attracted much notice, and I was unaware of its existence till a month ago. The translator has followed Eosenzweig very carefully in the specimens which he gives in prose, and his analysis of the rest of the poem is accurate and good.
It is well known that Yusuf, or Joseph, as we call him, is looked upon by the people of Islam as the ideal of manly beauty and more than manly virtue ; but it is not so generally known perhaps that the romantic tale of the love, the sufferings, and the crowning happi- ness of Zulaikha, as told by Jami, was intended to
viii PREFACE.
shadow forth the human soul's love of the highest beauty and goodness — a love which attains fruition only when the soul has passed through the hardest trials, and has, like Zulaikha, been humbled, purified, and regenerated. So this Allegory resembles in its drift that famous and lovely one in which Celestial Cupid —
" Holds his dear Psyche sweet entranced, After her wandering labours long, Till free consent the Gods among Make her his eternal bride."
I have endeavoured in my translation to give what I can of the spirit of the poem, and at the same time to reproduce its form and manner as closely as the differ- ing idioms of the two languages permit me to do. But Jamfs plays upon words — which are looked on as beauties in Persian poetry — I have been obliged to pass by without attempting the almost impossible and use- less task of reproducing them. Most of them I omit even to notice, as they are unintelligible without the Persian text and context, and my translation is intended for English readers.
My version covers a little more than three-fourths of the entire poem, which contains about eight thousand lines. In the Appendix I give some notice of the omissions I have made in the introductory cantos and of the concluding cantos which I have not translated. I think it best to end my version with the betrothal of Yiisuf and Zulaikha, where the interest of the story culminates and ends.
PREFACE. ix
Jami has employed throughout this poem the rhymed hendecasyllabic couplet, and a translation in unrhymed verse would altogether fail to give an idea of his manner. Accordingly for the introductory cantos, which are didactic and somewhat stately in style, I have used the old rhymed heroic metre, and for the rest of the poem a lighter and freer measure, in which I vary at will the number of syllables or accents. I fear that many of my lines will not read off easily at first sight : but T trust that the greater fault of monotony has to some extent been avoided.
CONTENTS.
PAGE PREFACE ........ V
PROLOGUE ........ 3
INVOCATION ....... 5
THE CREATOR ....... 8
PRAISE OF GOD . . . . . . .II
PRAYER FOR AID ....... 13
PRAISE OF THE PROPHET . . . . . 1 6
BEAUTY ........ 19
LOVE . . 23
SPEECH . • . . . . - . .26
THE VISION OF ADAM . . . . . '3°
YtfsuF .... 33
ZULAIKHA . ' . . . . . . -39
THE FIRST VISION .... 45
LOVE'S LONGING .... 49
SUSPICIONS ....... 53
THE SECOND VISION . . . . . 60
THE THIRD VISION .... .66
THE SUITORS ....... 71
THE AMBASSADOR ....... 76
THE DEPARTURE . . . . . . .Si
THE WELCOME ...... 86
DESPAIP. ........ 89
xii CONTENTS.
PAGE THE RECEPTION ....... 93
PINING ........ 97
ENVY ........ 104
YUSUF'S DREAM . . t . . . . IQ*J
THE PLOT . . . . . . . .Ill
DECEIT . . . . . . . .114
THE WELL . . . . . . . .117
THE CARAVAN ....... 123
THE KING . . . . . . . .127
THE BATH ........ 130
RECOGNITION . . . . . , . 134
THE SLAVE-MARKET . . . . .138
BAZIGHA ........ 143
LOVE'S SERVICE . . . . . . .150
SYMPATHY ........ 154
THE SHEPHERD . . . . . . .158
LOVE REPELLED ....... l6l
QUESTIONINGS . . . . . . .165
THE MESSENGER . . . . . . .169
EXCUSES ........ 173
THE GARDEN ....... 178
THE SLAVE-GIRLS . . . . . .183
FRESH COUNSEL . . . . . . . 1 88
THE PALACE ....... 192
IN THE PALACE ....... 196
FLIGHT . .... 203
THE FALSE CHARGE . ... 214
THE INFANT WITNESS . . . . . .219
THE WOMEN OF MEMPHIS ..... 223
CONTENTS. xiii
PAOE
THREATS ........ 232
IMPRISONMENT ....... 237
REPENTANCE ....... 243
THE VISIT TO THE PRISON ..... 2$O
THE PALACE-ROOF . . . . . .255
FELLOW-PRISONERS ...... 260
THE KING'S VISION ...... 264
RELEASE ........ 270
THE BLIND WIDOW ...... 275
THE COTTAGE OF REEDS ...... 282
THE CONVERT ....... 287
YOUTH RESTORED ....... 2Q2
APPENDIX ... ... 297
YtiSUF AND ZULAIKHA.
( 3 )
prologue.
UNFOLD, 0 God, the bud of hope : disclose
From Thine eternal Paradise one rose
Whose breath may flood my brain with odour, while
The bud's leaf-liplets make my garden1 smile.
O grant that I, in this drear world of woe,
The boundless riches of Thy grace may know.
May gratitude to Thee my thoughts employ ;
To sing Thy praises be my task and joy.
Vouchsafe a prosperous day from those that are Best on the roll of "Wisdom's calendar. Send forth Thy soldier to the war 'and teach His lips to conquer in the field of speech. Grant that my tongue may weigh the pearls, 0 Lord, Which Thy dear bounty in my heart has stored ; And let the fragrance Thou hast lent my muse Its musky breath from Kaf to Kaf2 diffuse. Lips sweet as sugar on my pen bestow, And from my book let streams of odour flow.
1 That is, my heart.
2 From east to west, from north to south. Kdf is, like the Lokdloka of the Hindus, the ring of mountains which encircles the flat earth.
4 PROLOGUE.
In this world's inn, where sweetest songs abound, I hear no prelude to the strain I sound. The guests have quaffed their wine and passed away ; Their cups were empty and they would not stay. No sage, no stripling — not a hand ere mine — Has held this goblet o£ poetic wine. Kise, Jami, rise : thy fear behind thee cast, And, be it clear or dull, bring forth the wine thou hast.
( 5 }
3n\>ocatton
ON Him I call who keeps the worlds, the Lord Whose praises deck the tongue as gems the sword ; Dewed with the fountain of whose grace the tongue Finds its best rapture when His name is sung. To mortal sense each moment He declares Ten thousand subtleties like finest hairs. He formed the tongue to comb those hairs, and laid The teeth in even rows that task to aid. Supreme, omniscient, God for ever reigns ; He lifts the humble and the weak sustains. He framed the roof of heaven's revolving sphere, And bade the elements their walls uprear. He bids the rose that decks the bush unfold, Balmed with the musk He gives, her leaves of gold. From Him the flowers, the brides of Spring, receive The glorious raiment which His fingers weave. He bids the cypress by the river-side Lift her fair form erect in stately pride. He to the great of soul gives high renown, And casts the arrogant and foolish down.
INVOCATION.
Still near to those who watch the night away, He is the Friend who cheers the toiler's day. His vernal clouds from bounteous seas upborne Bedew alike the jasmine and the thorn. Eich from His mines the winds of Autumn blow, And o'er the mead a gold- wrought carpet throw. His body is the sun's resplendent sphere, Lighting each atom, be it far or near. If from the sun or moon He hid His face, Each globe would perish, lost in empty space. To us His grace the boon of being gives : In His existence every creature lives. Go, with the foot of lightest fancy tread Down to earth's centre from the vault o'erhead ; Above, below, no spot thine eye shall find Marked with no impress of His sovereign mind. To Him their forms embodied creatures owe : Before His glory loftiest heads are low. To tell His nature weak is wit and lore ; Hopeless the search that would His ways explore. Unless He meet and guide us on our way, Farther, still farther from His grace we stray. When loud hosannas laud with high acclaim His might and majesty, a pang of shame Thrills through the angels in His court who own They ne'er may know Him as He should be known,
INVOCATION.
And heaven's revolving sphere itself, dismayed, Would ceasetfrom motion and awhile be stayed. Let us, mere handfuls of the shifting dust, Purge our soul's mirror from ambition's rust, Low on the knee of wondering silence sink, And on our brief existence cease to think.
Creator*
How long, my soul, in this false world wilt thou Pursue the childish play which charms thee now ? Thou, dainty bird, wast bred with care to rest, Tar from this vain earth, in a sweeter nest. Why seems that home so strange and far away ? Why, owl-like, wilt thou in this desert stay ? Throw off the dust that dims thy feathers, spring Forth to thy heavenly home on burnished wing. Behold those spheres for ever circling, bound With scarves of azure, in their mystic round. See, their light mantles loosely floating throw A flood of radiance on the world below. See them pursuing through the night and day, True to their purpose, their triumphant way. Each, like a player's ball obedient, still Is moved and guided by superior will. One eastward from the west its journey bends ; The other's ship to western waves descends. Each in due progress with alternate sway Lights the still night or cheers the busy day.
THE CREATOR. 9
One writes fair lines that promise golden joys : One with sad aspect bonds of bliss destroys. All, joying in their might, their task renew, And with untiring haste their course pursue. Onward for ever to the goal they press With feet and loins that know not weariness. Who learns the secret of their dark intent ? Who knows on whom each wanderer's face is bent ? Break from these reins, deluding doubt dismiss : Ne'er of a planet say, " My Lord is this." Seek, like the Friend,1 truth's kingdom, nor forget To cry with him, " I love not gods who set." '* Cast doubt away, each idle fancy shun, And turn thine eyes in constant faith to One. One, only One, see, learn, and know, and seek : Call on One only, of One only speak. Each several atom leads the soul to Him, And proves His being though our eyes be dim. Deep lies the truth impressed on every heart — The picture certifies the painter's art,
1 Abraham, called by the followers of Islam, the Friend of God, or simply, as here, the Friend.
2 " And when the night overshadowed him, Abraham saw a star, and he said, ' This is my Lord ; ' but when it set, he said, ' I love not gods which set.' And when he saw the moon rising, he said ' This is my Lord ; ' but when he saw it set, he said, ' Verily, if my Lord direct me not, I shall become one of them that go astray.' " — Kurdn, Sura vi. 77.
io THE CREATOR.
Without whose forming hand no single line In fair proportion aids the fair design. Scan every brick in this world's frame : behold Each one will show the great Creator's mould. Each bears the impress of His pen ; the writ Proves that the hand of Wisdom fashioned it. And canst thou read the message there, nor learn On Him who fashioned all thy thoughts to turn ? Canst thou behold each glorious scene, nor spare One thought to Him who made the world so fair ?
In life's last hour, which none who breathes can flee, Thine only Lord, thine only hope, is He. Then turn to Him e'en now thy longing eyes, And joy for ever be thy labour's prize.
( II )
praise of <So&,
IN the beginning, Lord, unformed were we, And from the fear of non-existence free ; Then, bound in chains of water and of clay, Thy fiat called us to the light of day. From helpless childhood by Thy grace released, Our knowledge grew and ignorance decreased. Thy mercy sent the Scripture's blessed light, With clear commands to guide our steps aright. We, failing yet to know Thy sovereign will, Fail or exceed, confounding good and ill. From our allegiance, Lord, we err and stray, Forget Thy holy laws or disobey. Yet spite of sin, spite of rebellious pride, Thy light is not withdrawn, Thy grace denied. But ah ! what boots it, when our hearts are dead To earnest effort, that Thy light is shed ? Give us Thy grace — hear our dull hearts complain- Thy grace to toil, nor let that toil be vain. When sage and idiot perish in the pool, How is the sage more happy than the fool ?
12 PRAISE OF GOD.
Ne'er may the guiles of sensual joy impede Our forward course in virtuous thought and deed. Let Thy sweet mercy from this world of woes Some path of safety to our feet disclose. Still to the ways of faith conduct Thine own, And lead us with Thee to Thy glorious throne.
prater for Hi&,
I AM the bird, my lure Thy heavenly grain ; Thy story tames me like a magic strain. Thou hast equipped me for mine earthly race, And opened for my feet Thy door of grace. Thou hast not spurned my feeble service ; Thou My head exaltest when in prayer I bow. To Thy pure path through Thee my forehead cleaves ; Mine eye clear vision from Thy touch receives. By Thee my lips to sing Thy praise are stirred, And in my heart Thy name is charactered.
Thou at the portal of my throat hast hung That member soft and delicate, my tongue, To meet with gentle touch and tempered sound The rows of even teeth which fence it round. Sweeten my lips, 0 Lord, to sing of Thee ; From taint of gall make Thou mine utterance free. This tongue, Thy gift, from evil words restrain ; Ne'er may it lead me to disgrace or pain.
And if my pen, in unconsidered haste, A word that needs excuse or blame has traced,
J4 PRAYER FOR AID.
Each letter that offends in mercy blot,
And keep mine honour free from stain and spot.
Thy nursling I, a weed beside the way, Eaised by Thy bounty from the mire and clay : Each breeze that passes bows my humble head, Yet in Thy path my clinging rootlets spread To clay more precious than the rose may be Whose scent and beauty speak not, Lord, of Thee. Like some sweet bud's, a single heart be mine, The tulip's single mark within its shrine. A double heart is fraught with grief and pain, And single-mindedness alone is gain. The full ear holds a hundred grains, and all Beneath the sickle of the reaper fall : The rosebud wears a single heart, and scorns The thousand daggers of encircling thorns.
Though vast the burthen of my many crimes, Thy grace is vaster, Lord, a thousand times. If ample garners scarce contain my guilt, My lightning sighs may burn them if Thou wilt. What though a hundred books my sins record ? Thou with my tears canst wash them clean, 0 Lord.
Each cheek I loved, fair as the rose's bud, Draws from each eyelash now a tear of blood. Still from their fount the drops of anguish start And wash each lovely image from my heart.
PRAYER FOR AID.
In vain mine eyes would look for honour fled : Mine only honour is the tear I shed. Mine eyes are rivers full of floods of shame : This till the Day of Doom is all my fame. Now if my yearning aught of gain may bring, Lead to the Prophet, Lord, the song I sing.
16
praise of tbe ipropbet
IN separation pine the souls of all :
For pity, Prophet sent by God, we call.
Art thou not he who pities all, and how
Canst thou be distant from the wretched now ?
0 dew-sprent Tulip, thou hast drunk thy fill :
Awake, Narcissus ! wilt thou slumber still ?
Show from the screen of bliss thy head ; display
That brow that bids the dawn of life be gay.
Turn thou our night of woe to sun-bright morn,
And let thy face our glorious day adorn.
Loose from thy head thy long black hair, to meet
Like shadows falling at thy cypress' l feet.
Soft skins of Taif 2 for thy sandals take,
And of our heart-strings fitting latchets make.
Sages before thee like a carpet lie,
And fain would kiss thy foot that passes by.
Leave for the sacred court thy far retreat,
And tread on lips which yearn to touch those feet.
1 Cypress, for a tall graceful figure in man or woman, is one of the commonplaces of Persian poetry.
2 A town not far from Mecca.
PRAISE OF THE PROPHET. 17
Eaise up the fathers ; from their misery free,
And comfort those who give their hearts to thee.
Though o'er our heads the waves of sin roll high ;
Though by thy path with thirsty lips we lie ;
Thou art a cloud of gentle mercy : turn
Thy pitying look on lips that thirst and burn.
O blest are they who turn to thee with eyes
Dimmed with thy pathway's dust and strengthened rise.
We sought the mosque thanksgivings to renew ;
Our souls like moths about thy splendour flew.
Each heart a lattice open to the day,
We sported in thy garden and were gay.
On sacred thresholds of thy courts we wept
Tears from the clouds of eyes that never slept.
We swept the dust that on the pavement lay,
And cleared the thistles with our hands away.
Of that, a salve to purge our sight we made ;
Of these, a plaster on our hearts we laid.
Near to the pulpit in thy mosque we drew,
And laid beneath it cheeks like gold in hue ;
Moved from the arch to offer prayer, and wept
With tears of blood where'er thy foot has stepped.
Erect we stood at every pillar's base,
And 'mid the upright prayed for blissful place.
Our souls yearned for thee : warmed with sweet desire,
We fed each flambeau from our holy fire.
i8 PRAISE OF THE PROPHET.
Our souls, thank God, are in that holy spot, Though with their dust our bodies strew it not.
Helpless are we ; our own wild aims we seek : 0 aid the helpless and forgive the weak. Do thou with loving hand our steps sustain, Or all our labour, all our strength is vain. Fate drives us wandering from the path astray : To God our guide, to God for light we pray. May His great mercy keep our lives secure, And in the path of faith our steps assure. When comes that day that wakes the dead at last, Let not our honour to the flames be cast. Still may He grant, though we have wandered thus, Free leave to thee to intercede for us. 'Tis thine with downward head, as suits the mace,1 To urge the ball through intercession's space. And through thy aid may Jami's work be found — Though some may scorn it — with completion crowned.
1 An allusion to the game of changdn, the modern polo.
Beauty
roiD lay the world, in nothingness concealed, Without a trace of light or life revealed, Save one existence which no second knew — Unknown the pleasant words of We and You. Then Beauty shone, from stranger glances free, Seen of herself, with naught beside to see, With garments pure of stain, the fairest flower Of virgin loveliness in bridal bower. No combing hand had smoothed a flowing tress, No mirror shown her eyes their loveliness. No surma1 dust those cloudless orbs had known, To the bright rose her cheek no bulbul flown. No heightening hand had decked the rose with green, No patch2 or spot upon that cheek was seen. No zephyr from her brow had filched a hair, No eye in thought had seen the splendour there. Her witching snares in solitude she laid, And love's sweet game without a partner played.
. l Collyrium or antimony, applied under the eyelid.
2 Small black " beauty spots " were used by Persian, as formerly by English ladies.
20 BE A UTY.
But when bright Beauty reigns and knows her power, She springs indignant from her curtained bower. She scorns seclusion and eludes the guard, And from the window looks if doors be barred. See how the tulip on the mountain grown, Soon as the breath of genial Spring has blown, Bursts from the rock, impatient to display Her nascent beauty to the eye of day.
When sudden to thy soul reflection brings The precious meaning of mysterious things, Thou canst not drive the thought from out thy brain ; Speak, hear thou must, for silence is such pain. So beauty ne'er will quit the urgent claim Whose motive first from heavenly beauty came, When from her blessed bower she fondly strayed, And to the world and man her charms displayed.
In every mirror then her face was shown, Her praise in every place was heard and known. Touched by her light, the hearts of angels burned, And, like the circling spheres, their heads were turned, While saintly bands, whom purest motives stir, Joined in loud praises at the sight of her, And those who bathe them in the ocean sky Cried out enraptured, " Laud to God on high ! "
Bays of her splendour lit the rose's breast And stirred the bulbul's heart with sweet unrest.
BEAUTY. 21
From her bright glow its cheek the flambeau fired, And myriad moths around the flame expired. Her glory lent the very sun the ray Which wakes the lotus on the flood to-day. Her loveliness made Laila's1 face look fair To Majniin, fettered by her every hair. She opened Shirm's sugared lips, and stole From Parviz' breast and brave Farhad's the soul. Through her his head the Moon of Canaan2 raised, And fond Zulaikha perished as she gazed.
Yes, though she shrinks from earthly lovers' call, Eternal Beauty is the queen of all ; In every curtained bower the screen she holds, About each captured heart her bonds enfolds. Through her sweet love the heart its life retains, The soul through love of her its object gains. The heart which maidens' gentle witcheries stir Is, though unconscious, fired with love of her. Eefrain from idle speech ; mistake no more : She brings her chains and we, her slaves, adore. Fair and approved of Love, thou still must own That gift of beauty comes from her alone. Thou art concealed : she meets all lifted eyes ; Thou art the mirror which she beautifies.
1 Laila and Majniin, and Shirin, Parviz, and Farhdd, are typical lovers, celebrated and frequently alluded to in Persian poetry.
2 Yusuf.
22 BEAUTY.
She is that mirror, if we closely view
The truth — the treasure and the treasury too.
But thou and I — our serious work is naught ; We waste our days unmoved by earnest thought. Cease, or my task will never end, for her Sweet beauties lack a meet interpreter. Then let us still the slaves of love remain, Tor without love we live in vain, in vain.
Hove,
No heart is that which IOVQ ne'er wounded : they Who know not lovers' pangs are soulless clay. Turn from the world, 0 turn thy wandering feet ; Come to the world of love and find it sweet.
Heaven's giddy round from craze of love was caught ; From love's disputes the world with strife is fraught. Love's slave be thou if thou would fain be free : Welcome love's pangs, and happy shalt thou be. From wine of love come joy and generous heat : From meaner cups flow sorrow and deceit. Love's sweet, soft memories youth itself restore : The tale of love gives fame for evermore. If Majmin ne'er the cup of love had drained, High fame in heaven and earth he ne'er had gained. A thousand sages, deep in wisdom's lore, Untaught of love, died, and are known no more : Without a name or trace in death they sank, And in the book of Time their name is blank.
The groves are gay with many a lovely bird : Our lips are silent and their praise unheard ;
24 LOVE.
But when the theme is love's delicious tale, The moth is lauded and the nightingale. What though a hundred arts to thee be known : Freedom from self is gained through love alone. To worldly love thy youthful thoughts incline, For earthly love will lead to love divine. First with the Alphabet thy task begin, Then take the Word of God and read therein.
Once to his master a disciple cried :— " To wisdom's pleasant path be thou my guide." "Hast thou ne'er loved?" the master answered ; "learn The ways of love and then to me return." Drink deep of earthly love, that so thy lip May learn the wine of holier love to sip. But let not form too long thy soul entrance ; Pass o'er the bridge : with rapid feet advance. If thou would rest, thine ordered journey sped, Forbear to linger at the bridge's head.
Thank God that ever from mine early days My steps have been in love's delightful ways. Love stood beside me when my life was new, And from my mother's breast love's milk I drew. White as that milk are now my hairs, but still Sweet thoughts of love mine aged bosom thrill. Still in my heart -the youthful warmth I feel, While in mine ear re-echoes Love's appeal : —
LOVE. 25
" In love, 0 Jami, have thy days been passed : Die in that love gay-hearted to the last. Some tale of love's adventure, that may win Thy name remembrance in the world, begin : Some picture with thy finest pen assay, Which still may live when thou art gone away." I heard entranced : my spirit rushed to meet Love's welcome order, for the voice was sweet ; With gladsome heart the clear command obeyed, And straight the magic of new spells essayed. Now if kind Heaven will bless and aid the task, And lade my palm-tree with the fruit I ask, I from this glowing heart will pour a song To melt the tender and to move the strong; Veil the blue vault of heaven with cloud of sighs, And with wild weeping dim its starry eyes.
Speecb.
SPEECH, prime of new-born blossoms that belong
To Love, is prelude to Love's book of song :
The loftiest height the sage's foot may climb,
The surest monument to vanquish time.
The might of speech alone unfolds to view
Whate'er the world brings forth of old or new.
Speech gave the mandate : eager to obey,
The writer's pen on Being's tablet lay.
The pen's existence from that hest began,
And from its opening eye a fountain ran.
Those waters dancing as they murmur by
Inebriate the world, the low and high :
They move the tongue ; each word becomes a rose
From mystic gardens as the lips unclose,
And comes, the breath of life about it shed,
With graceful motion from its flowery bed.
It gains the portal of the listening ear,
And Wisdom trembles when the power is near.
SPEECH. 27
The will speeds forth to greet the welcome guest,
And shrines the virgin bud within the breast.
Now to the lip the smile of joy it brings ;
Now wins the tear-drop from her secret springs ;
Now with gay smile it wreathes the lip of woe ;
Now from each laughing eye bids tears o'erflow.
When linked with speech this heavenly power I see,
Her faithful servant let me ever be.
Old age has caught me drinking still this wine :
Now to cast off the load of eld be mine.
The secret of my heart I will not keep,
But make the world that listens smile and weep.
Shirin and Khusrau's1 might are themes outworn ;
A sweeter Khusrau shall my song adorn.
Laila and Maj nun's love have had their day ;
Another's name shall animate my lay,
Who spread, a parrot sugar-fed, the fame
Of Yiisuf s beauty and Zulaikha's flame.
The Word of God has called this tale the best ; 2
And in my sweetest verse shall it be dressed.
No lie may here find entrance : search it through ;
The tale is stamped by revelation true.
A falsehood never, dressed by flattering Art
To show like truth, may satisfy the heart.
1 Khusrau Parviz (Chosroes), the lover of Shirin.
2 "We will relate to you the most excellent of stories." — Kurdn, Sura xii.
28 SPEECH.
Speech by fair truth is decked and honoured best,
As the full moon is ever loveliest.
Dark is the dim false dawn,1 because, forsworn,
It proudly boasts to usher in the morn ;
But the true morning comes, and straight unfurled,
His golden banner glitters o'er the world.
No darling ever was like Yusuf fair, In peerless beauty far beyond compare. Still is each youth, above his fellows famed For charm of face, a second Yiisuf named. None like Zulaikha loved. 0 far above All women's her immeasurable love ! To age from childhood, love's unconquered flame In wealth and poverty burnt on the same. When after age, infirmity, and pain, Her youth, and strength, and gladness came again, She never turned from love's true path aside, But, born to love, in love she lived and died. Now from my pen I strew the pearls of verse And the sweet story of her love rehearse. A store of wisdom ever new repays Each golden piece expended in their praise. If some good man — this grace I pray to win — Opens this book of love and reads therein,
1 A transient light on the horizon preceding the true dawn in the East.
SPEECH.
May he not turn, as turns the leaf, his back, Nor with his finger's reed my lines attack. If here and there a slip or fault he see, May he not lay the blame of all on me. May he correct my errors, or befriend With generous silence faults he cannot mend.
29
IDteion of Hbam,
THEY who can read the Book which God revealed, And weigh the pearls which mystic oceans yield, Tell thus of Adam, when their pens begin The story of this world and all therein. His world-embracing eye unclosed to see In glorious line his children yet to be. There in due order of precedence stood Before his face the prophets' brotherhood. Then from the rest apart, a noble band, He saw the saints of God in order stand ; Then crowned, in pomp and pride of royal state, Passed many a king and famous potentate ; And myriad others came, apart from those, In due succession of their marshalled rows.
The long procession passed, and Adam viewed Each for a moment in the multitude. He looked on Yiisuf and beheld a moon, A sun most glorious in his height of noon ; A chosen lamp conspicuous o'er the rest, Of all the goodly throng the goodliest.
THE VISION OF ADAM. 31
Before the golden sun the stars are dim, And beauty faded at the sight of him. Loose flowed his graceful mantle ; prone before His feet adorers kissed the robe he wore. Thought cannot picture, lips can ne'er express, Though skilled in speech, his perfect loveliness. Robed in the garb of heavenly favour, on His brow a crown of kingly glory shone. Spring of the dawn of joy, his brow was gay ; Night at his coming shone like glorious day. Before, behind, from darkening bodies free, The holy prophets' glorious company, And spirits sanctified, a countless band, Waving a banner in each radiant hand Before that temple and the light he shed In whispering adoration bowed the head.
And Adam marvelled at the glorious show, And from his lips came question soft and low : — " Lord, in whose garden grows this gracious plant ? Whose happy eyes will its sweet flower enchant ? Why falls on him this light of glory ? WTience This splendour, beauty, and magnificence ? " " Thine eyes' dear light is he," a voice replied, " Thy wounded bosom's sweetest joy and pride. A tender plant from Jacob's flowery dell, From Abraham's spacious plain a fair gazelle.
32 THE VISION OF ADAM.
High over Saturn shall his palace tower, And Egypt's fruitful land enthrone his power. The perfect beauty in his face expressed Shall wake the envy of earth's loveliest. He holds a mirror in his hand to show His face ; on him thy treasured gift bestow."
And Adam said : — " Unclosed is favour's door : Six shares has beauty, and I give him four. May every charm by loveliest youth possessed In him be double, single in the rest ; And, when his splendour comes to vanquish all, Their gift of beauty to a third shall fall."
Then to his guileless heart the youth he drew, And gave him strength to keep him pure and true ; Told him the love that thrilled his happy breast, And on his brow a father's kiss impressed ; Bloomed like the rose in proud paternal joy, And blessed in bulbul 1 tone that rose-like boy.
1 The bulbul, or nightingale, is the lover of the rose,
( 33 )
IN this orchestra full of vain deceit
The drum of Being, each in turn, we beat.
Each morning brings new truth to light and fame,
And on the world falls lustre from a name.
If in one constant course the ages rolled,
Full many a secret would remain untold.
If the sun's splendour never died away,
Ne'er would the market of the stars be gay.
If in our gardens endless frost were king,
No rose would blossom at the kiss of Spring.
When Adam's service in the temple ceased, Seth took his station as presiding priest. He passed away, and Idris * next began In this sad world to preach pure lore to man. When he was called away to read in heaven, To Noah's watchful care our faith was given. • When Noah sank beneath death's whelming wave, To Allah's friend 2 the door admittance gave.
1 Enoch. Idris is derived from darasa, "he read," and the follow ing line contains a play on the word.
2 Abraham.
0
34 YUSUF.
When heavenly mansions claimed him for a guest,
Isaac the treasure which he left possessed.
When Isaac wearied of the world and died,
The voice of Jacob was religion's guide.
He lived and prospered : planted by his hand,
His banner waved o'er Shain1 and Canaan's land,
Wherein he made his dwelling. Eich was he
In patriarchal wealth and progeny ;
And sheep and rams cropped on his hills their food
Like ants and locusts for their multitude.
Twelve sons were his. Among them Yusuf won
The father's heart, his best beloved son,
The darling of his age. The happy mother
Bore him the heavenly moon's terrestrial brother.
In the heart's garden a fair plant was reared ;
A bright young moon in the soul's heaven appeared ;
In Abraham's rosebed a sweet blossom, bright
In gar.b of tender beauty, sprang to light ;
In the House of Isaac there rose a star
Whose splendour streamed through the sky afar ;
In the garden of Jacob a tulip grew,
The balm of his heart and its sorrow too :
A fawn of the sweetest odour, that made
Cathay2 envy the fields where his young feet strayed.
1 Syria. 2 Khutan or Chinese Tartary, famous for its musk-deer.
YUSUF. 35
The mother, while earth was her place of rest, Dewed the babe's sweet lips from her loving breast. When two glad years she had nursed her son, Time poisoned her food and her course was run. That pearl from the ocean of grace was left An orphan in tears, of her love bereft. The father pitied the babe. The fair Young pearl he gave to his sister's care ; And her heart's dear nursling, a bird endued With gay wings, roamed in the garden of food.1 Then stood the child on his baby feet, And the lisping words of his lips were sweet. Not for an instant the dame would part From the infant whose love had enchained her heart. On her bosom at night, like her soul, he lay, And was ever the sun of her eyes by day.
But the love of the father grew strong, and he Would fain the face of his darling see ; He longed that the babe, who alone could kill The grief of his heart, should be near, him still ; Day and night he would have him near, A moon the gloom of his soul to cheer. Thus to his sister he said : — " 0 thou Whom love for me bends like the willow bough,
1 Was weaned and began to eat.
36 YUSUF.
My Yusuf, my child, to my side restore ; His absence is grief I can bear no more. Let him come to the place where I pray alone, To the dreary cell where I make my moan."
The sister heard the words that he said; In sign of obedience she bowed her head, But plotted deep in her heart the while To bring the child back to her home by guile. She had a belt which Isaac had given, Worn by him long in the service of Heaven : Free from all evil was he whose hand Bound on his body that blessed band. When she sent the boy to his father, she braced The girdle secretly round his waist, Fastened so deftly that Yiisuf felt No strain or touch of the supple belt. So the boy went forth. But a sudden shout And a bitter cry from the dame rang out : " Lost is the girdle I wore." She left None unaccused of the graceless theft. Those of her household came at her call, And, ranged before her, she searched them all. At last came the turn of Yusuf, and round His waist the girdle she sought was found.
There was a law for repressing crime, Fixed for the faithful in ancient time,
YUSUF.
Which to the injured owner gave
The captured thief for his thrall and slave.
Thus, by the fraud she had plotted caught.
The boy again to her home was brought.
Glad was her eye and- her soul elate,
But that eye soon closed at the stroke of Fate.
The heart of Jacob at last reposed, As he gazed with his fond eyes that never closed ; From the sons that were round him he looked away, And turned to him as we turn to pray. For Yusuf now was his only thought In each work that he planned, in each aim that he sought. In Yiisuf only his soul had delight, For only Yiisuf his eye grew bright.
How may I tell the boy's beauty ? Where Could Houri or Peri be found so fair ? When the moonlight shines on the landscape, none Would turn to look on a garish sun. He was a moon in the sphere of grace That threw a soft light over life and space : And yet no moon, but a sun that lent His light to the moon of the firmament. But shall I his light to the sun's compare — To the false mirage of the desert air ? 'Twas a wondrous ineffable lustre, far Beyond the brightness of things that are ;
38 YUSUF.
For the One Unspeakable God in that frame
Lay concealed under Yiisuf s name.
How shall we marvel if, fostered long
In the father's bosom, his love grew strong ?
Zulaikha, envied of Houris, at rest In her virgin bower afar in the West, Ne'er had seen the sun of his beauty gleam, But was snared by his loveliness seen in a dream. If Love's dominion no distance can bar, When heart is near heart he can never be far.
( 39 )
Zulaifcba.
THUS the masters of speech record,
In whose bosoms the treasures of words are
stored :
There was a king in the West.1 His name, Tainriis, was spread wide by the drum of fame. Of royal power and wealth possessed, No wish unanswered remained in his breast. His brow gave lustre to glory's crown, And his foot gave the thrones of the mighty
renown.
With Orion from heaven his host to aid, Conquest was his when he bared his blade. His child Zulaikha was passing fair, None in his heart might with her compare ; Of his royal house the most brilliant star, A gem from the chest where the treasures are. Praise cannot equal her beauty, no ; But its faint, faint shadow my pen may show.
1 In Mauritania.
40 ZULAIKHA.
Like her own bright hair falling loosely down,
I will touch each charm to her feet from her crown.
May the soft reflexion of that bright cheek,
Lend light to my spirit and bid me speak,
And that flashing ruby, her mouth, bestow
The power to tell of the things I know.
Her stature was like to a palm-tree grown In the garden of grace where no sin is known. Bedewed by the love of her father the king, She mocked the cypress that rose by the spring. Sweet with the odour of musk, a snare For the heart of the wise was the maiden's hair. Tangled at night, in the morning through Her long thick tresses a comb she drew, And cleft the heart of the musk-deer in twain As for that rare odour he sighed in vain. A dark shade fell from her loose hair sweet As jasmine over the rose of her feet. A broad silver tablet her forehead displayed For the heaven-set lessons of beauty made. Under its edge two inverted Nuns1 Showed, black as musk, their splendid half-moons, And beneath them lively and bright were placed Two Sads2 by the pen of her Maker traced.
1 The letter Ntin (^ of the Arabic alphabet.
2 The letter Sdd (j° is supposed, in its right-hand portion, to resemble the eye.
ZULAIKHA. 41
From Nun to the ring of the Mim1 there rose,
Pure as silver, like Alif,2 her nose.
To that cipher her mouth add Alif, then
She had ten strong spells for the conquest of men.2
That laughing ruby to view exposed
A Sin3 when the knot of her lips unclosed
At the touch of her pure white teeth, and between
The lines of crimson their flash was seen.
Her face was the garden of Iram,4 where
Roses of every hue are fair.
The dusky moles that enhanced the red
"Were like Moorish boys playing in each rosebed.
Of silver that paid no tithe, her chin
Had a well with the Water of Life therein.
If a sage in his thirst came near to drink,
He would feel the spray ere he reached the brink,
But lost were his soul if he nearer drew,
For it was a well and a whirlpool too.
Her neck was of ivory. Thither drawn,
Came with her tribute to beauty the fawn ;
And the rose hung her head at the gleam of the skin
Of shoulders fairer than jessamine.
1 The small circular part of the letter Mim is compared to a mouth.
2 Alif is a long straight letter ; it stands for the number one, and, prefixed to a cipher, notes 10.
3 The letter Sin bears a rough resemblance to teeth.
4 A fabulous garden in Arabia, like the Garden of the Hesperides of the Greeks.
42 ZULAIKHA.
Her breasts were orbs of a light most pure,
Twin bubbles new-risen from fount Kafur : 1
Two young pomegranates grown on one spray,
Where bold hope never a finger might lay.
The touchstone itself was proved false when it tried
Her arms' fine silver thrice purified ;
But the pearl-pure amulets fastened there
Were the hearts of the holy absorbed in prayer.
The loveliest gave her their souls for rue,2
And round the charm their own heartstrings drew.
Her arms filled her sleeves with silver from them
Whose brows are bound with the diadem.
To labour and care her soft hand lent aid,
And to wounded hearts healing unction laid.
Like reeds were those taper fingers of hers,
To write on each heart love's characters.
Each nail on those fingers so long and slim
Showed a new moon laid on a full moon's brim,
And her small closed hand made the moon confess
That she never might rival its loveliness.
Two columns fashioned of silver upheld
That beauty which never was paralleled,
And, to make the tale of her charms complete,
They were matched by the shape of her exquisite feet.
1 Camphor : the name of a well in Paradise. 2 The small black seeds of the wild rue were used in enchantments.
ZULAIKHA. 43
Feet so light and elastic no maid might show, So perfectly fashioned from heel to toe. If on the eye of a lover she stepped, Her foot would float on the tear he wept.
What shall I say of her gems and gold ? Weak were my tale when my best were told. She was not fairer for gold or gem, But her perfect loveliness glorified them. Each gem the tax of a realm, she set On her forehead a glistering coronet ; And the rubies that hung from her fine ears stole Each gazer's senses, and heart and soul. A thousand jewels most rich and rare Studded the band that confined her hair. Not a hand but hers had the art to twist The bracelet which circled her delicate wrist. What need I say of her jewels more ? Glistering anklets of gold she wore. She moved through her chambers in raiment wrought With gold, from Egypt and Syria bought, Or with languishing looks on her couch she leant In brocades which China and Bum1 had sent. She decked her beauty with some new dress Each morn that she lit with her loveliness. As the moon each night by fresh stars is met,
1 Greece.
44 ZULAIKHA.
So she wore not twice the same coronet.
The hem of her mantle alone might gain
A kiss of that foot while kings sought it in vain ;
And no hand but the fold of her robe embraced
The delicate stem of her dainty waist.
Maidens like cypresses straight and tall, With Peri faces, obeyed her call ; And by day and by night in her service stood The Houris' loveliest sisterhood. No burthen as yet had her sweet soul borne ; Never her foot had been pierced by a thorn. No breath of passion her heart might stir, And to love and be loved was unknown to her. Like the languid narcissus she slept at night, And hailed like an opening bud the light.
With silver-faced maidens in childhood's hour,
i
And gazelle-like playmates in garden and bower,
Heedless of Fate and its cruel play,
Sport was her business and life was gay.
By no fear of peril or woe oppressed,
Blithe was each thought of her virgin breast,
Tor she knew not the fate that the days would bring,
Or what terrible birth from the nights would spring.
( 45 )
ifirst IDision*
SWEET as the morning of life, the night
Was filled like the springtide of youth with de-
light.
Each bird was asleep, and each fish in the rill, And even the stream of event was still. In this garden, the joy of uncounted eyes, All were at rest save the stars in the skies. Night had hushed the tongue of the tinkling bell, And stolen the sense of the sentinel. His twisted tail, as he curled him round, Was a collar to choke the voice of the hound. The bird of night had no power to sing, For his reed was cut with the sword of his wing. The drowsy watchman scarce raised his eye, And the palace dome, where it rose on high, Wore, as his senses had well-nigh fled, The form of a monstrous poppy-head. The drummer ceased, and his hand, o'ercome By the might of slumber, lay still on the drum,
46 THE FIRST VISION.
Ere the loud-voiced Muezzin calling to prayer
Had rolled up the beds of the sleepers there.
Her narcissus eyes * in deep slumber closed,
Sweetly the sweet-lipped Zulaikha reposed.
Tresses of spikenard her pillow pressed,
And the rose of her limbs strewed the couch of her
rest,
While the hair dishevelled on that fair head Wrote on the rose with each silken thread. The outward eye of the maiden slept, But the eye of her spirit its vigil kept ; And she saw before her a fair youth stand — Nay, 'twas a being from spirit-land : From the world of glory, more lovely far Than the large-eyed damsels of Paradise are ; For his face made their beauty and glances dim, And their glances and beauty were stolen from
him.
His form like a sapling was straight and tall, And the cypress-tree was, to him, a thrall.2 His hair, a beautiful chain to bind The heart of the wisest, flowed unconfined. The sun and the moon confessed with shame That a purer light from his forehead came.
1 Eyes heavy with sleep are frequently compared to the narcissus. 2 The usual epithet of the cypress is " free."
THE FIRST VISION. 47
The arch l of the mosque where the holy bow, Or the canopy made for their rest, was his brow. His eyes, where the tint of the surma was new, With a dart from each lash pierced the bosom
through,
And the pearls, when the rubies apart were drawn, Were as lightning's flash through the red of dawn.
Zulaikha saw, and a moment — one — Was too much, for the maid was for ever undone. One glance at that loveliest form, which passed Men, and Peris, and Houris, she cast, And to that sweet face and those charms a slave Her heart — nay, a hundred hearts — she gave. From the visional form she would never forget The plant of love in her breast was set. Lit by the light of his beauty, the flame Zulaikha's patience and faith o'ercame. She tied her heartstrings to each hair of that head Whence the precious odour of amber was shed. The tears welled forth from her eyes in a flood, And those orbs, as she slumbered, were flecked with
blood.
The mole on that fair face was still in her view, And she burned in the fire of his love like rue.2
1 The arch towards which worshippers turn in prayer. 2 The seeds of the wild rue burnt as a charm.
48 THE FIRST VISION.
That rounded throat was her constant pain, And that chin a sweet apple she longed to gain. 0 marvellous beauty ! The shape had fled, But the love grew stronger which fancy fed. Weary of self had the maiden grown, And could find her rest in that form alone.
( 49 )
Xove's longing,
NIGHT, the black raven, had flown away, And the cock crew loud at the dawn of day. The voice of the bulbul to song addressed, Drew the veil of her leaves from the rose's breast. With the tears of morning the jasmine was wet, And dew gemmed the bud of the violet.
Zulaikha still lay motionless there, Her heart turned to that night as we turn for prayer. But no sweet slumber now held her fast, But the senseless swoon of the night that had passed. Her maidens kissed her soft hand, and round Her couch their foreheads were pressed to the ground. Then the veil from the dew-sprent tulip1 she raised, And with weary eyes round the chamber gazed. Like a fair young sun or a moon her face Shone forth from her collar, its rising-place. No sign of that youth could her eye behold, And she shrank as a soft flower shrinks in the cold. She thought of that cypress in longing grief And would rend her robe as the rose her leaf.
1 The dew-sprent tulip is her eye.
D
50 LOVE'S LONGING.
But the maiden's hand was by shame restrained,
And her foot 'neath the mantle of patience retained,
And her secret love she still kept unknown
like the ruby that sleeps in the heart of the stone.
Her bosom bled, but no drop might show
The cause of the wound and her bitter woe.
With her waiting-maids she would talk and smile,
But her soul was heavy with grief the whila
Her lips of sugar would laugh, but pain
Knotted her heart like the sugar-cane.
Gay was her tongue with the tale and jest,
But the tongues of love's flame flickered fierce in her
breast.
On the forms of her maidens her eye she cast, But her heart was bound to the loved one fast Her soul's rein had slipped from the hand of her
will,
For where'er she might be she was with him still 'Tis vain for the poor heart to struggle while Love holds it with teeth of the crocodile. Xo wish had she now, not a thought save for one ;
in him no rest and no comfort, none. If she spoke, his image prompted the word ; If she wished, he only her bosom stirred. Often her soul had near passed away Ere the sweet night ended her weary day —
LOVE'S LONGING. 51
Night, the dear friend of all lovers ; night,
Who hides their secrets that fear the light —
Night, the meet theme of the lover's praise,
AVI 10 drops the kind veil which the morn would raise.
Then she turned her face to the wall of lament,
And her back was curved as a harp is bent.
The strings of that harp were the streams from her
eyes,
And its voice was the tune of her ceaseless sighs. From the depths of her soul the wild music rose, And its treble and bass were the tale of her woes. The loved one's image in sight she kept, And uttered these pearls with the pearls she wept : " Purest of gems, from what mine art thou For whom I am weeping these tear-gems now ? Thou art gone from my sight with the heart thou hast
snared,
But thy name and thy home thou hast not declared. Of whom shall I ask ? To whom shall I turn, Thy name and the place where thou dwellest to learn ? Art thou a king, by what name art thou known ? A moon ? — with what stars is thy heavenly throne ? Ah, ne'er may a maiden be captured like me ! I am robbed of my heart and the robber goes free. I saw thine image ; it stole my sleep ; And now blood from mine eyes and my heart I weep.
52 LOVE'S LONGING.
Sleepless for ever my body must be,
For my heart is on fire with the love of thee.
I was a rose in youth's garden ; there
Like the Water of Life I was fresh and fair.
No breeze might roughly visit my head,
And my delicate foot on no thorn might tread.
With one glance thou hast thrown to the winds my
rest,
And a thousand thorns my pillow infest. On a thorny bed there is little repose Tor a frame that is soft as the leaf of a rose."
Thus in wailing and wild lament For the vanished image her night was spent. When the flush of morning was near, to hide All traces of sorrow her eyes she dried. Her cypress form on her bed she threw, And the pillow was bright with the rose's hue. But the wounds of her teeth were visible yet On the lips where her sorrow-parched tongue was set. Thus unchanging, by night and by day, The hours of Zulaikha passed sadly away.
( 53 )
Suspicions*
THE arrows of Love are pointed so well
That no wisdom's shield may their stroke repel.
To the ground of the heart they will cleave their way,
And a hundred traces their wounds betray.
The odour of incense breathes far and wide,
And love, like musk, it were vain to hide.
Through a hundred folds of the veil will steal
The perfume your labour would fain conceal.
The love of Zulaikha was unconfessed, And the seed of sorrow lay dark in her breast. But the love waxed strong, and the sorrow grew, And more, ever more, they were forced to view. The water flowed from her eyes in a flood — Water ? All, no ; 'twas a stream of blood ; And, as each big drop from their lashes fell, There was a traitor her secret to tell. From her burning bosom she heaved the sigh, And the steam1 of her sorrow went up to the sky,
1 A sigh is called in Persian the " smoke of the heart."
54 SUSPICIONS.
While each long sigh from her bosom came To show the fierce heat of her secret flame. At night she was sleepless ; her food she spurned, And to yellow tulips her roses were turned. You may search the garden, but look in vain For a tulip l free from all spot and stain.
'Twas known to her maidens by signs like these That the mind of Zulaikha was ill at ease. But her hidden sorrow they knew not, nor guessed What troubled the calm of their lady's breast. " Who ever," cried one, " has seen aught so strange ? Some evil glance may have wrought the change." Another maiden the grief would trace To a Dev,2 or one of the Peris' race. Cried a third : " A magician, I know full well, Has laid on our lady his secret spell." " Nay," said another, " 'tis Love that weighs On the captive bosom whereon he preys. When she wakes no lover can meet her sight, And the anguish comes from the dreams of night." Thus each maiden her thought expressed, Pondered each sign, and inferred and guessed. But still the secret of love, concealed Mid doubt and conjecture, was unrevealed.
1 The flecked tulip is the emblem of a love-wounded heart.
2 An evil spirit.
SUSPICIONS. 55
She had a nurse who possessed a store Gleaned from the treasures of magic lore. Deep was her knowledge of lovers' ways ; She had loved and been loved in her youthful days. Skilled in the arts which let lovers meet, She could lead the cold youth to the maiden's feet. Before her lady one night she fell, Eecalled how long she had served her well, And " Sweet bud of the royal garden," she cried, " A thorn from whose stem were a beauty's pride, May thy lips ever smile, and thy heart be gay, And thy splendour lend to my fortune a ray. My soul like a pheasant would flutter round thee, Of the garden of beauty thou fair cypress-tree. My sea of affection the stream has supplied, Which has fed thy growth on its fertile side. These eyes of mine saw thy dear cheek first, And the new-born child in these arms was nursed. With musk and rose-water thy limbs and head I bathed, and sweet drops on thy lips I shed. With the strings of mine own loving soul I tied The cradle bands which my heart supplied. Thy sugar lips to this breast I drew, And by me thy body and spirit grew. Night came, but my care for thee robbed me of rest ; Morn dawned, and my nursling I bathed and dressed.
56 SUSPICIONS
The babe that by night on my bosom lay,
Was the stamp on my back when I moved by day.
The fair rose-bush to a cypress grew,
But my hand from thy mantle I never withdrew.
In each loving service for thee I wrought,
And cared for thy needs with mine earnest thought.
Where'er that heart-ravishing cypress moved,
The love of thy faithful shadow was proved.
When my dear lady rested I stood by her bed,
And laid at her feet, when she slumbered, my head.
Ne'er has this love for thee fallen away:
Still with faith and affection I serve and obey.
Then wilt thou refuse thy heart's secret to tell,
A stranger to her who has served thee so well ?
Tell me the cause of this wild unrest,
Of this heavy heart in a youthful breast.
Why are thy roses so faded ? Why
Is thy warm breath turned to a cold cold sigh ?
Why, sun as thou art, wilt thou wane like the moon,
And long for the eve ere the height of thy noon ?
Some moon has bewitched thee. But, darling, say
What moon is he that has crossed thy way.
If he be an angel in heaven above,
A child of pure light, who has gained thy love,
By adoration and stress of prayer
I will draw him down from the glories there.
SUSPICIONS. 57
If a Peri, dwelling in waste and hill, My trade and my strength is in magic skill. The might of my spells shall the spirit confine In a glassy prison and make him thine. And soon shall thy bosom be glad, if a son Of the race of Adam thy heart has won. For what son of earth would refuse to see His lady, and mistress, and queen in thee ? "
She ceased ; and the heart of Zulaikha was stirred By the tale of magic and love she heard. Her only hope was the truth to speak, While her tears were as stars to the moon of her cheek : " Unseen is the treasure I long for. The key Of the treasure-house door is lost to me. How can I tell where the bird may rest Who makes with the phoenix of story his nest ? Yet the fabled phoenix is known to fame, While the bird of my love has not even a name. How sweet is their longing, compared with mine, Who can name the dear object for which they pine ! Though bitter the thought that they may not meet, Yet to name the beloved one ever is sweet."
Then the faithful nurse was honoured, and shared The secret the love-lorn maiden declared. The tale of the vision made watchful her eyes, And the senseless love-swoon made her active and wise.
58 SUSPICIONS.
Scarce a line in the book of that heart had she read,
And the hope to aid her was cold and dead.
Tor that line was conjecture and vain surmise,
And where can be searching with blinded eyes ?
She could open no prison to free Love's slave,
But she opened her lips in the counsel she gave :
" The hand of the Devs in this trouble I trace,
For guile and deceit is the joy of their race.
They raise bright phantoms and overthrow
Our maddened brain's empire with empty show."
" Nay," cried Zulaikha, " weak, weak were their skill,
To show the rare beauty that haunts me still.
And poor frail woman could ne'er give birth
To an angel fairer than children of earth."
" Why trouble thy soul," said the nurse, " for a dream
Whose forms are but fancy and only seem ? "
" If the dream had been false it had never misled
A true-hearted maiden," Zulaikha said ;
" For the maxim of sages is, all the world through,
' The false to the false, and the true to the true.' "
" Thou art wise and prudent," she answered ; " strive
The thought of the dream from thy breast to drive."
" Had I strength," said Zulaikha, "the thought to control,
This crushing weight never had pressed on my soul.
But counsel is feeble the load to withstand,
And the reins of my purpose fall loose from my hand.
SUSPICIONS.
59
On my heart the fair vision I saw in my sleep
Is engraved as on stone, and the letters are deep.
The flood may rush o'er them, wild winds blow in vain,
For the lines that are graven on rock will remain."
The sad nurse ceased from the vain assay
To counsel where Love held his paramount sway.
To Zulaikha's father the tale she confessed,
And wild was the grief of his troubled breast,
But the hand of counsel might lend no aid,
And Fate must be guide of the life of the maid.
60
Seconfc IDteion,
SUPEEMELY blest is the bosom where
Love rules unfettered by earthly care ;
Whence fire to the flash of the lightning is lent,
That on garners of wisdom and patience is spent.
Thought may not vex it for life or fame,
And light as a straw is a mountain of blame.
For Love laughs at the counsel which Wisdom would
give,
And reproach is the food that will help him to live. Twelve months Zulaikha declined and sank, And the fair full moon to a crescent shrank. One eve she sat curved like the young moon with woe, And her eyes were red like the morning's glow. " How hast thou dealt with me, Heaven ? " she cried ; " The sun of my glory has faded and died. Like an archer's bow thou hast bent my frame, And made me the mark of the arrow of blame. Thou hast given my reins to rebellion ; beside Eebellion my heart will acknowledge no guide.
THE SECOND VISION. 61
That form made my bosom with, love to glow,
But scarce in a dream his dear face will he show.
Never he comes when I watch and weep,
And he comes no more in a vision of sleep.
The sight of that world-lighting moon was a gleam
Of waking bless and no empty dream.
With ceaseless watching these eyes are dim :
May my waking fortune give sleep to him !
Tor then would my fortune watch o'er me in truth,
And grant me a sight of that well-loved youth."
Hours of the night in this wild lament, With her troubled soul at her lips, she spent. Slumber at length lulled to rest her thought — Slumber ? — the swoon of a brain o'erwrought. Ere she had rested her weary frame, Again the sight that she longed for came. The self-same form with a cheek more fair Than the softest moonlight was standing there. When her eye saw the face she remembered so well She sprang from her couch and before it fell. " Dear cypress," she cried, " with the grace of the rose, Thou hast robbed me of patience and strength and repose. By that Creator who fashioned thee From the purest light where no stain may be. Sweet as the Water of Life, a king In beauty supreme o'er each living thing :
62 THE SECOND VISION.
Who gave thee that lip for the spirit's food,
And that rose with a charm for the soul endued ;
Who gave bloom to that cheek and soft light to those eyes,
Where the moth of my heart flutters round till it dies ;
Who gave thee those musky tresses, a snare
Whereof my heart prizes each single hair ?
Give my lost heart the sweet pity I seek,
Open that ruby, thy mouth, and speak.
Speak in thy fulness of ravishing grace ;
Say who thou art and the name of thy race.
Art thou a gem ? From what mine dost thou spring ?
Where is thy palace if thou art a king ? "
" Of the children of Adam," his answer came ; " Earth and water composed my frame. Now if the words of thy lips be true, That my love has pierced thy young bosom through, Ne'er from thy promise and faith must thou swerve, But thy troth unplighted for me reserve. Beware, sweet maiden ; let no one sip The sugar that lies on thy virgin lip. That lip and thy heart and thy love must be Preserved from others and kept for me. Think not the heart in this bosom is cold And returns not the love which thy lips have told. The net of thy charms o'er my heart is thrown, And the brand of thy love marks me out as thine own."
THE SECOND VISION. 63
Soon as the maid from his lips had heard That his answering breast with her loved was stirred, Anew o'er her bosom the frenzy came, And her soul like a moth fluttered fast to the flame. She arose from the thought of that vision of night, And the flame that consumed her rose fierce and bright. Wild and more wild grew her sorrow ; her sighs Went up from her heart like a cloud to the skies. Her hand cast the rein of her prudence away ; No prayer could move her, no counsel stay. She tore, till a rosebud, her soul's veil apart, And poured down, like a tulip, the blood of her heart. She wounded her cheek because his was so fair, And tore, when she thought of his tresses, her hair. Her maidens about her sate close in a ring As ye see round the moon a fair halo cling. Had the chain been unlinked, like an arrow sped From a bended bow far away she had fled. That circle of maidens her garment held, Or forth she had rushed by her frenzy impelled. The bud of her will was fast bound, or her feet Like a rose deflowered had sought the street. When her father was ware of her madness, he sought From the sages a cure for her mind distraught. Through the paths of wisdom they roamed in vain, And could find no counsel but bond and chain.
64 THE SECOND VISION.
So they brought her a serpent of burnished gold,
With ruby and pearl on each twisted fold,
Like the watchful guardian of treasure,1 round
Her silver ankle the snake was bound.
Each treasure is watched by a serpent. Where
Was a treasure of beauty so rich and rare ?
Soon as the snake 'neath her mantle slept,
She uttered these pearls with the pearls she wept:
" My heart is the captive of Love. My chains
Are dearer than all that the world contains.
Why will life-wasting Heaven with its sleight of
hand
Make heavy my foot with the weight of this band ? To me, of all vigour and strength bereft, Scarce is the power of motion left. Why drive this sword through my bosom ? Why Let this heavy chain on my weak foot lie ? Deep is the cypress-tree rooted in clay, And hard were the task would it move away. About its foot will the gardener cast His chains of water to bind it fast ? Not me, my heart's robber in chains ye should bind Who stole in a moment my peace of mind ; Who would not stay near his victim till On his tulip face she had gazed her fill.
1 A serpent is supposed to be the guardian of hidden treasures.
THE SECOND VISION. 65
Like the flash of the lightning he fled from mine eyes,
And uprose from my heart a thick cloud of sighs.
If happy Fortune should favour at last,
With this chain of gold I would bind him fast.
While I chose I would gaze on his cheek's fair bloom,
And his eyes should lighten my days of gloom.
Did I say I would bind the soft darling ? Nay,
If a grain of dust on his instep lay,
A mountain's weight on my soul it would be,
And the carpet of joy would be folded for me.
Would I lay on his heart a load heavy to bear,
Or his silver ankle with fetters wear ?
No ; my heart with a thousand daggers be torn
Ere his robe be pierced by a single thorn."
Of the wishes she uttered in deep lament One, only one, to its aim was sent. For with mangled heart to the earth she fell Like a bird when the fowler has aimed too well. Senseless awhile was her 'wildered brain, But sense returned and renewed her pain. Again love's flame in her bosom rose, Again she recounted her tale of woes. In her altering mood she would laugh or weep, Now full of life, now as dead, or asleep.
Thus ever changing from day to day, She lived while a year passed slowly away.
( 66 )
IDisioru
LOVE, with thy magic and guile, draw near, To whom now war and now peace is dear: Thou, who canst turn with the might of thy rule The fool to a sage, and the sage to a fool. When thy net is spread in a maiden's hair, Wisdom is caught in the maddening snare ; And when thy hand loosens the braided chain, The lamp of wisdom hums bright again.
Zulaikha, senseless in dark despair, The twin-sister of sorrow, embraced by care, Drank to the dregs of the bitter bowl, And found no rest for her love-lorn soul ; From her head in her passion the coif she drew, And dust on her amber-sweet tresses threw, Bent her cypress form to the earth in prayer, While the rosebuds of Iram were wild with despair. She wept red tears from narcissus eyes, And her tongue, like the lily's, gave words to her sighs, As with anguish deep in her tender breast, The youth of her vision she thus addressed :
THE THIRD VISION. 67
" Thou hast robbed me of sense and of comfort, and left
The life of thy victim destroyed by the theft ;
Thou hast pierced me with grief, and I sorrow alone ;
Thou hast stolen my heart, and not given thine own.
I know not thy name for my lips to speak,
Nor thy home for my love-guided foot to seek.
Sweet as pure sugar was once my smile —
Like the. sugar-cane now I am bound by thy guile.
Like a rose unveiled I am scorned, though a bud,
I drank for my love of the draughts of blood.
I claim not dear in thine eyes to be ;
To be least of thy slaves were enough for me.
Some favour, at least, to thy servant show,
And deliver her soul from the fetters of woe.
May no maiden, as I am, with blood be stained,
None mocked by the people, like me, and disdained.
My mother weeps for the daughter she bore,
And my father delights in his child no more.
The maidens who served me are distant, and leave
Their love-lorn mistress alone to grieve.
And by thee are lighted the fires that feed
On my helpless heart like a worthless weed."
Thus, ere sleep o'er her senses stole, She reproached the idol that filled her soul. When her eyes were heavy with sleep's soft dew, Came the thief of her rest in a vision anew.
68 THE THIRD VISION.
Words would fail me to tell how fair
Was the wondrous beauty she looked on there.
The hem of his garment was fast in her hold,
And over his feet her hot weepings rolled.
And she cried : " 0 thou, for whose dear love flies
All calm from my bosom, all sleep from mine eyes,
By the Pure One who made thee so pure from thy birth,
And chose thee most fair of the beauties of earth,
Pity the anguish I suffer, disclose
Thy name and thy city, and lighten my woes."
He answered : " If this may content thee, hear ; In Egypt's land I am Grand Vizier. Mid her proudest princes my place is high, And the trusted friend of the king am I."
These words from her idol Zulaikha heard, And her spirit, long dead, with new life was stirred, In the quickening balm of his sweet voice came To her soul new patience, and strength to her frame. She rose from her dream, and her heart was gay; The cloud of madness had passed away. Again, recalling the words that brought Joy to her heart in her loving thought, She cried to the maidens about her : " You Who shared the keen sorrow that pierced me through, Bear the glad news to my father ; free His heart from the grief that he feels for me.
THE THIRD VISION. 69
Say that my senses are troubled no more, And the stream flows clear as it flowed before. Say : ' Be not thou as the misers are, But release thy treasure from lock and bar. Come, loose my foot from the golden chain, For I fear not the fury of madness again.' "
When the joyful news to the king was brought, He flew to his daughter like one distraught He opened the jaws of the snake and unrolled From the silver- armed maiden the coil of gold. Her damsels bowed them before her feet, And prepared for their lady a royal seat, Where they placed her with dutiful hands, and set On her fair brow a glittering coronet. Her Peri-faced maidens about her came, Drawn by her beauty as moths by the flame. Pleasant and gay were Zulaikha's words, And her voice was sweet as a musical bird's ; The seal of the casket of speech she broke, Arid of many a city and country spoke, And of Sham and Piiim, and sugar ran down From her lips at mention of Egypt's renown ; * Of the deeds that her people had done of old, Of the Grand Vizier and his state she told.
1 Egypt (Misr) was famous for sugar, which in India is still called misri.
70 THE THIRD VISION.
When she spoke of the title she loved so well, As falls a shadow, to earth she fell ; She rained down blood from the cloud of her eyes, And the voice of her weeping went up to the skies.
Thus passed her day and her night ; of naught Save her love and his country she spoke or thought. When she mentioned his title, her voice was glad, Else she lay sullen and silent and sad.
Suitors*
ZULAIKHA lay pining. The world no less Was filled with the fame of her loveliness, And her beauty, whispered from land to land, Unseen, was a spell which no heart could withstand. Slaves to the might of the maid's renown, Enamoured princes and kings bowed down, And again and again for the love of her Sent trusty herald and messenger,
One day in her calmer moments she Sate high on her throne, from her frenzy free, Envoys of kings of each distant land, From famous Kiim and from Syria's strand, More than a hundred, about her pressed, And in her bright presence at length had rest. One bore a list of the realms of his king, And one on his finger showed Solomon's ring. Each with the gift of a monarch came To woo the fair maid in his master's name. " The land she may shine on will see the town Where its queen dwells graced with a matchless crown,
72 THE SUITORS.
And her feet shall be set upon diadems strewn In the streets of the city she makes her own. If she pour on Damascus her soft moonlight They will bless their lady from morn till night. If Bum be her choice, her glad slaves will be All nations from Bum to the Indian Sea."
Thus mid the envoys' assembly, each Spoke for his master a suitor's speech. Zulaikha, 'ware of the aims they sought, Was tossed on the billows of anxious thought : " Has the land of Egypt no envoy sent ? With the love of her people my heart is bent. As Egypt's land to my soul is most dear, What boots it if none from that realm is here ? The soft wind blowing from Egypt's sand, Bringing dust to mine eyes from that happy land, Sweeter a hundredfold would be Than the musk-laden breezes of Tartary."
Thus in the depth of her heart she cried ; And thus spoke the king as she sate by his side : " Thou light of mine eyes and my spirit's joy, Sweet charter, exempting from care and annoy, Kings through the world for their beauty known, — Each lord of a crown and ancestral throne, — Are suitors for thee, while their bosoms bleed, Filled with the growth of Love's maddening seed.
THE SUITORS. 73
Afire with the hope of my daughter's hand, They have sent their envoys from every land. I will speak of the herald of each who sues, And try which king it may please thee to choose. Of the country to which thy free heart may incline I will make thee queen, and its people thine."
Still and silent Zulaikha remained ; For the loved one's name her fond ear she strained, For 'tis sweet to listen in hope to hear The name breathed forth which we hold most dear. He spoke of them all from the first to the last, But the land of Egypt unnamed was past. His tale was done ; and Zulaikha knew That from Egypt — his home — there was none to woo. She rose to her feet with one hopeless look, And with grief, like the spray of a willow, shook. Pearls on the lash of her eye were strung, And she cried, as the blood from her heart was wrung : " 0 that my mother had never born Or fed from her bosom her child forlorn ! What star that frowned on my natal hour Has darkened my fate with its evil power ? If a cloud were to rise from the distant main, On every lip it would pour sweet rain, But if to my thirsty mouth it came It would bring no water but scorching flame.
74 THE SUITORS.
What sin, 0 Heaven, in me hast thou known
That blood has reddened my skirts like thine own ? 1
Though I may not fly to the love of my heart,
Think not 'tis distance that keeps us apart.
Wilt thou have me die ? I am dead even now,
And the cruel cause of my death art thou.
Wilt thou see me troubled and sore distressed ?
A mountain of woe hast thou laid on my breast.
What matter to thee if my life be glad,
Sweet or bitter, joyous or sad ?
What is my being, and what am I ?
What matter to thee if I live or die ?
Should I cast my life to the wind he would scorn,
Mid a hundred harvests, my single corn.
He hurries a thousand fresh roses away,
Which thou hast delivered to death and decay.
When bright blooms unpitied are torn from the
stem, Will it trouble his heart if I perish with them ? "
She wailed through the livelong day; like a bud Her heart was filled full to the brim with blood. A deluge of tears from her eyes she shed, And the hand of sorrow threw dust on her head.
When her father knew that her troubled breast With the love of Egypt's Vizier was possessed,
1 The sun -flu shed horizon.
THE SUITORS. 75
He dismissed the envoys with friendly speech,
And with princely presents he honoured each :
" Already to Egypt's Grand Vizier
Pledged was the troth of my daughter dear :
And ye know full well — for your hearts are wise —
That the first in the race ever wins the prize.
I hold this proverb the best of all,
< To the lot of the first must the treasure fall/ "
Thus, baffled in hope, with defeated aim, The royal envoys went as they came.
Hmbassabor,
DAY by day Zulaikha's despair
Grew a weight too heavy for her to bear.
In blank pale longing, though overcast
With the black hue of sorrow, her days were passed.
The father pitied the maiden's grief
And counselled thus for her soul's relief :
" A prudent envoy I needs must send
To Egypt's Vizier that her woe may end,
A tender message from her to bear,
That the bonds of love may unite the pair."
He chose a chamberlain deeply skilled : With praise of his wisdom his ear he filled, And with many a present most rich and rare Bade him to Egypt's vizier repair, And say : " 0 Prince on whose threshold lies Dust that is kissed by the circling skies, May the favour of Heaven increase each day Thy fame and honour and princely sway. In the House of Purity shines my Sun By whose splendour the envious moon is outdone.
THE AMBASSADOR. 77
Higher her place than the moon's, I ween :
Her shadow never the sun has seen.
Purer than pearls in their virgin shells ^
Her splendour the lustre of stars excels.
She veils her moonlight from the world, and debars
From the sight of her beauty the curious stars.
Only her comb may loosen each tress,
And her mirror behold her loveliness.
Only the coils of her hair are blest
On her delicate foot for a while to rest.
The hem of her mantle — and only this —
As she walks in the courtyard her foot may kiss.
Never her chin has been touched by her maid,
On her lip not the sugar-cane's finger laid.
She shrinks away from that flower who throws
The veil of her beauty aside, the rose.
From the sweet narcissus her eyes decline,
For its blossom is heavy and drunk with wine.
Even her shadow's pursuit she would shun,
And fly from the lustre of moon and sun.
To the stream and the fountain she will not repair
Lest her eye should meet her reflexion there.
She dwells in her home behind screen and bar,
But the fame of her beauty is known afar.
A hundred kings with their hearts on fire
In eager Jiope to her hand aspire.
78 THE AMBASSADOR.
From Eum to Damascus beyond the flood Each heart for her love has drunk deep of blood. But longing for Egypt has filled her breast, And she turns her eye and her heart from the rest. Eor Kum she can find in that heart no room, And gay Damascus is naught but gloom. Her eye towards Egypt has marked the road, And the Nile of her tears has for Egypt flowed. I know but her longing ; I know not the cause, Or the charm that to Egypt her spirit draws. 'Tis her destined home, and from Egypt came The dust, I ween, that composed her frame. If in thy sight it seem good, I have planned To send her to thee in her chosen land. If she be not peerless in beauty and grace She may hold in thy palace a menial's place."
The Grand Vizier heard the speech, and, amazed, To the highest heaven his head was raised. He bowed and made answer : " And what am I That a seed of this doubt in my heart should lie ? The grace of thy lord lifts me up from the mire, And 'tis meet that my head to the heavens aspire. I am the dust which the cloud of spring Bedews with the drops which he loves to fling. If a hundred tongues like the grass-blades grew, My tongues to thank him were all too few.
THE AMBASSADOR. 79
The grace of the monarch is guarantee
That Fortune ever shall favour me.
With the head of my foot, with the eyes of my shoe,
I would hasten to meet him, his pleasure to do.
But to Egypt's ruler, the great and wise,
I am bound so closely by duty's ties,
That, were I absent a single hour,
I should feel the weight of the sword of his power.
Then pardon the servant whom duties bind,
And impute not the blame to a haughty mind.
Should the king thy lord to my prayer attend,
Two hundred litters of gold will I send
With thousands of boys and maidens, all
Like the Tuba- tree,1 graceful, and straight, and tall ;
Those boys are noble, and free from vice,
And purer than children of Paradise.
Their laughing lips are most sweet, with rare
Pearl and ruby they bind their hair ;
With caps coquettishly set on the side
Of their heads, on saddles of gold they ride.
And the maidens are robed like the Houris ; they
Are pure of all blemish of water and clay.
Above their bright faces are full-drawn bows,
And their sweet locks shadow their cheeks of rose.
1 Tubd is the name of a tree iu Paradise.
So THE AMBASSADOR.
All gems and jewels their beauty adorn,
And veiled in litters of gold are they borne.
Their guides shall be elders, the pillars of State,
Prudent in council, and wise in debate,
To receive the fair maid with due honour, and bring
To my humble home the sweet child of the king."
He ceased : the envoy bowed down his head, And kissed the ground at his feet, and said : " Spring of the glory of Egypt, thou Hast added a grace to thy favours now. But send no escort; my lord will provide From his ample household a train for the bride. The boys and the delicate maids who dwell In his courts are too many for number to tell ; Robes of honour in store has he, More than the leaves of a shady tree, Showering gems from a liberal hand More than the desert has grains of sand ; To please thee only his wish is bent, And blest is the man with whom he is content. If the vintage be worthy thy table, he Will quickly send the sweet fruit to thee."
Departure.
To release Zulaikha's sad heart from pain From Egypt returned the wise chamberlain, And even the selfish rejoiced to hear The message he brought from the Grand Vizier. Her rose of felicity bloomed anew, And the Huma * of fortune above her flew. A dream had bound her in fetters : she Saw a vision again and her soul was free. So ever from dream or from fancy springs The joy or the sorrow which this world brings. Most happy is he who from both can fly, And lightly pass the dread whirlpool by.
Her father rejoiced, and with care and speed He prepared the escort the bride would need. Thousands of maids in their youthful bloom He chose from the fairest of Bus2 and Bum.
1 The humd is a fabulous bird whose shadow falling on a man's head denotes that he will become a king.
2 Russia.
P
82 THE DEPARTURE.
Their breasts were pomegranates, their mouths,
half-shut,
Showed each like a tender pistachio-nut, And over each bosom and cheek was spread The sweet faint flush of a young rosebed. Orient pearls from their fine ears hung, And black bows over their eyes were strung, Pure of all dye as the leaves of the rose In the cool of the morning when zephyr blows. On tulip blossoms fell scented curls, And on rounded necks was the glimmer of pearls ; And a thousand boys with bright eyes that took The heart of a maiden with each- long look, With red caps stuck on their heads oblique, And loose locks shading each youthful cheek. Each of his gold-hued garment was vain, 'Twas soft as the rosebud, and tight as the cane. Each tress escaping, as loosely it flowed, Like spikenard under a tulip showed. Their jewelled belts round their fine waists
clung,
And a hundred hearts on their bright hair hung. There were thousand horses of noble breed, Gentle to saddle, unmatched in speed ; With paces easy as rivulets, all Meeter at need than the flying ball.
THE DEPARTURE. 83
If they saw but the shade of a falling lash,
Away from the race-course of Time would they dash.
Swift as wild asses they scoured the plain,
And like birds of the water they swam the main.
Their tails were knotted like canes ; the dint
Of their strong hoofs shattered the hardest flint.
They flew o'er the hill like an even lawn,
But stayed their speed when the rein was drawn.
And a thousand camels, a wondrous sight, With their mountain backs and their stately height. Mountains, supported on pillars, were they, And the course of their tempest no hand might stay. Like holy hermits, their food was spare ; Burthens they bore as the patient bear. Through a hundred deserts unwearied they went, With thorns, as with spikenard and rose, content. They tasted no food and they closed no eye, But toiled on through the sand at the drivers' cry, A hundred loads from the royal store, Each the yearly yield of a province, they bore ; Two hundred carpets of rich brocade, In Eiim and Damascus and Egypt made ; Two hundred caskets of gems most rare, — Pearls, sapphires, Badakhshan's rubies were there ; Two hundred trays with fine musk therein, And amber, and aloe from Comorin.
84 THE DEPARTURE.
Like a meadow in China each spot was bright Where the driver rested his camels at night.
Her father's care for Zulaikha supplied A litter fair as the bed of a bride. Of the wood of the aloe its frame was made, And the well-joined boards were with gold o'erlaid. Its gold- wrought awning was bright as the sun, — Jamshid1 never boasted a brighter one. Pearl in clusters, and many a pin And stud of gold decked it without and within ; And finest needlework graced each fold Of the heavy hangings of tissue of gold.
Thus with imperial pomp and pride They carried to Memphis the beautiful bride. Her litter was borne by swift steeds, as the rose Is wafted by winds from her place of repose. Her maidens followed, with figures fine As the graceful cypress, the plane, or the pine ; With arm and bosom and cheek and hair Like jasmine sweet or like jasmine fair. You had said that the bloom of the young spring- time
Was fleeting away to a distant clime. Iram's garden envied the spot which those Bright flowers of the palace to rest them chose ;
1 A celebrated Persian king, the builder of Persepolis.
THE DEPARTURE. 85
Where the boys dismounting their pastime took, And the girls from their litters shot many a look, And spread the fine net of their beautiful hair Till each captured her prey in the silken snare ; And each boy shot from his eye a dart That enslaved a maiden and touched her heart. Here were seen gallantry, glances, and smiles, The lover's wooing, the maiden's wiles. Lovers and loved were assorted well, Those eager to buy and these ready to sell. Thus each stage of the journey they passed, And Memphis city was gained at last.
Zulaikha — for Fortune now seemed her friend — Had longed in her heart for the journey's end, When the dawn should rise on her night of woe And the pangs of the parted no more she should know. But oh ! black is the night that before her lies ; 'Tis an age till the sun of her joy shall rise.
Through the glare of day, through the gloom of night, They travelled, and Memphis was now in sight. From the city a messenger came at speed — Whose litter the coming pomp should precede To bring the glad news to the Grand Vizier, That she whom he looked for was near, was near. " Eise up, rise up, and with eager feet Thy bliss who approaches go forth to meet."
Welcome.
To the Grand Vizier the glad news was brought, And he deemed he had compassed each aim he sought. He bade proclamation be made, and all The army of Memphis obeyed the call, That with full equipment and arms complete, At the place appointed the hosts should meet.
From head to foot they were bright to behold, Smothered in jewels, and sheen of gold. Myriad boys and maidens were there, With cheeks of the rose, and like full moons fair. Like a palm-tree of gold in the saddle set, Showed each youth with his collar and coronet, And bright in her charms with their sevenfold aid,1 Screened in her litter of gold was each maid ; Loudly in triumph glad voices rang As sweet-toned singers in unison sang, The harp of the minstrel was strung anew, And the music he made was of triumph too.
1 Hemra for the hands ; surma or Tcuhl for the eyes ; wasma for the eyebrows ; rouge and sapeddb, or white water, for the face ; and bracelets and anklets. Other enumerations are also given.
THE WELCOME. 87
Of meeting and pleasure the soft flute spoke, And tender thoughts in each heart awoke, While sorrow fled far at the merry din Of the drum, and rebeck, and violin.
Thus in jubilee blithe and gay, The escort from Memphis pursued its way. Three stages, as journeys the moon, they passed, And the sun of beauty was reached at last. To a smooth and spacious meadow they came, Studded with thousands of domes of flame, You had said that the sky had poured down on the plain Its brightest stars in a golden rain. There rose a pavilion, girt with a wall Of chosen sentinels, high over all Laughed the Vizier as he saw it gleam, As the orient laughs with the first sunbeam. Swift from his steed he alighted and bent t His eager steps to the royal tent. The harem warders came forth to meet The noble, and bowed to the earth at his feet. He asked of their lady, and bade them say, What of the weather and toil of the way.
Of the princely gifts that were with him, those That were fairest and best in his sight he chose : Sweet-smiling boys of his own household, With caps and girdles ablaze with gold ;
88 THE WELCOME.
High-bred horses with golden gear,
Covered with jewels from croup to ear;
Eaiment of satin and woven hair,
And pearls from his storehouse most rich and rare ;
Sugar of Egypt, with care refined,
And sherbet of every colour and kind —
All on the spacious plain were arrayed,
And with courteous words his excuses he made.
He ordered the march at the break of day,
When homeward again he would bend his way.
Beapair.
THE ancient Hraven delights to cheat The children of earth with his vain deceit. The heart of the lover with hope he will stay, And then dashes the idle phantom away. The fruit that he longed for was shown afar, And his bosom will bear through his life a scar.
A shadow lay on the ground, and near Zulaikha's tent stood the Grand Vizier. She dropped the rein of patience and prayed For one glance at her love with her nurse's aid. " 0 thou whose affection through life I have tried, I can bear this longing no longer," she cried. " Near a cup of sweet water the thirsty lip Is maddened with pain if it may not sip."
The faithful nurse marked the maiden's grief, And looked round the wall for a way of relief. With her crafty finger she made a rent Like a narrow eye in the cloth of the tent. Zulaikha looked through with an eager eye, But heaved from her bosom a long sad sigh :
90 DESPAIR.
" Ah me ! that so wondrous a fate should befall !
Low in the dust lies my half-built wall.
This is not the youth of my vision, he
Whom after long troubles I hoped to see ;
Who seized the rein of my heart and stole
With his magic power my sense and soul ;
Who told me his secret and gently brought
Eeason again to a mind distraught.
Alas ! the star of my hapless fate
Has left me deceived and disconsolate.
Palm-trees I planted, but thistles grew :
I sowed Love's seed, but the harvest is rue.
I endured for my treasure long sorrows and toils,
But the guardian dragon my labour foils.
I would cull the rose for the precious scent,
But, alas ! my robe with the thorn is rent.
I am one athirst in a desert land,
Seeking for water and mocked with sand.
Dry is my tongue with unbearable thirst,
And the blood from my feverous lip would burst.
I see at a distance fair water gleam,
And I struggle and crawl to the tempting stream,
And find no water but sand whereon
Deluding beams of the bright sun shone.
A camel am I, on the mountain strayed,
With a mountain of hunger and toil down-weighed.
DESPAIR. 91
The stones are sharp and my feet are sore :
I fear to stay but can move no more.
A form I see with my blood-shot eye,
And I deem that my lost companion is nigh.
My weary steps to his side I bend :
'Tis a ravening lion and not my friend.
I am a sailor ; my vessel sank,
And I float forlorn on a single plank.
On the restless wave I am tossed on high
And low in the depths of the ocean lie.
A light skiff near me comes on o'er the wave,
And my heart is glad, for it comes to save.
Nearer and nearer my rescue draws :
Ah ! 'tis a shark with his cruel jaws.
Ah me ! of unfortunate lovers none
Is helpless as I am, ah no, not one.
My heart is stolen, my lover is fled :
A stone lies on my back and dust on my head.
0 Heaven ! pity my many woes
And a door of hope, in thy mercy, unclose. If Thou wilt not bring my dear love to my side, Oh save me from being another's bride. Preserve the pure name of the hapless maid, No polluting touch on her vesture laid.
1 made a vow to my lover, mine own, To keep my love ever for him alone.
92 DESPAIR.
Ah, let not grief my poor heart consume, Nor give to a dragon my virgin bloom."
Thus she ceased not to sigh and complain, And tears on her eyelashes hung like rain. Transfix'd with anguish her young heart bled, And low in the dust lay her beautiful head. Then the Bird of Comfort1 came near, and there fell On her ear the sweet message of Gabriel : " Lift thy head, sad maiden, and cease to repine, Tor easy shall be this sore burthen of thine. The Vizier is not he whom thou longest to gain, But without him thy wish thou canst never attain. Through him wilt thou look on thy loved one's eyes, And through him at last thou wilt win the prize."
Zulaikha heard, and in grateful trust Bowed down humbly her head to the dust. She ceased from weeping, and strove like a bud To drink in silence her own heart's blood. Fraught with deep grief was each breath that came, But speechless she suffered woe's scorching flame. Her eyes, though eager, must look and wait, Till the knot shall be loosed by the hand of Fate.
1 Gabriel, the messenger of Heaven.
( 93 )
IReception.
WITH a drum of gold the bright firmament beat At morn the signal for night's retreat. The stars with the night at the coming of day Broke up their assembly and passed away. From that drum, gold-scattering, light was shed, Like a peacock's glorious plumes outspread.
In princely garb the Vizier arrayed, Placed in her litter the moon-bright maid. In the van, in the rear, on every side, He ordered his soldiers about the bride, And golden umbrellas a soft shade threw O'er the heads of Zulaikha's retinue. The singers' voices rang loud and high, As the camels moved at the drivers' cry, And the heaven above, and below, the ground Echoed afar with the mingled sound.
Glad were the maids of Zulaikha's train That their lady was free from her sorrow and pain ; And the prince and his people rejoiced that she The idol and queen of his house should be.
94 THE RECEPTION.
Alone in her litter she wept her woes,
And her lamentation to Heaven arose :
" Why hast thou treated me thus, 0 Fate,
And left me unhappy and desolate ?
For what sin against thee, what fault of mine,
Hast thou left me hopeless to weep and pine ?
Thou stolest my heart in a dream, like a thief,
And I awoke but to suffer still bitterer grief.
But if thou hast ruined my life, mine all,
Why, in my folly, on thee do I call ?
Nay, at the moment when help was near,
Thou hast torn me from home, and from all that was
dear.
Beneath the weight of one sorrow I bent, And thou addest the burthen of banishment. If thine only aid is to rend the breast, Oh ! what must she feel whom thou torturest ! Break not the cup of my patience, nor set, Again to ensnare me, thy terrible net. Thine was the promise that, sorrows passed, I should find sweet rest for my soul at last. With thy word of comfort I fain was content ; But is this the rest that the promise meant ? "
Thus Zulaikha, weary and faint
With her burthen of sorrow, poured forth her plaint.
THE RECEPTION. 95
Loud rose the cry of the host meanwhile, " Memphis ! Memphis ! the Nile ! the Nile ! " Horse and foot onward in tumult hied, And rejoicing, stood on the river's side.
To the Grand Vizier, as by duty taught, Trays piled high with treasures they brought, To lade the bride's litter with wealth untold, Of the rarest jewels and finest gold. Each brought his gift, and a mighty cry, Welcome ! welcome ! went up to the sky. On the head of Zulaikha fell pearl in showers As the rain of spring on the opening flowers Till the lady's litter beneath a heap .Of countless jewels was buried deep. Wherever the feet of the camels trod, They trampled jewels, not sand or sod. When the spark leapt forth at the courser's dint, The shoe and the ruby were steel and flint ; In ranks extended o'er many a mile, Still scattering jewels, they left the Nile, And the rain of pearl from their hands that fell Made each fish's gill like a pearl-rich shell, And the countless dirhams they cast therein Made the crocodile gleam with a silver skin.
Thus the escort in proud array, To the prince's palace pursued their way;
96 THE RECEPTION.
Nay, 'twas an earthly paradise ; sun
And moon in their splendour were here outdone.
In the midst of the palace was set a throne,
Fairest of all that the world has known.
The hand of a skilful artist had made
The glorioiis seat with fine gems o'erlaid.
Close to the throne her litter was placed,
And the seat by that jewel of ladies graced.
But still no rest to her sad soul came,
The gold she pressed was as burning flame.
The peerless maiden was brighter yet
Than the throne and the crown on her forehead set.
But the glittering crown that her temples pressed
Increased the mountain of woe in her breast ; • §
They showered pearl on her head like rain :
It tortured her heart like a flood of pain.
Pearls, the desire of the maids of the sky,
Filled with the pearls of her tears her eye.
In the battle of Love, who cares for a crown, When a hundred heads to the dust go down ? Who for the loveliest pearl will care, When her eye is damp with the dew of despair ? Shame on the wretch who would value a throne, When his love is lost, and he pines alone !
( 97 )
pining,
WHEN the heart has found with its darling rest,
Will it turn to welcome a meaner guest ?
Will the moth spread her wings in the warm sunlight,
When the sheen of the lamp has attracted her flight ?
In vain for the bulbul sweet basil is strown,
For he lives for the love of the rose alone.
If the rising sun bids the lotus wake,
Will she glance at the moon from her native lake ?
In a palace meet for the mightiest kings, Zulaikha saw round her all precious things. The Grand Vizier was her watchful slave ; Gold and treasure unasked he gave. Maidens, lovely, with cheeks of rose, Served her ever, nor sought repose ; Slave-girls, whose ravishing glances were sweet, Sate waiting her pleasure about her feet ; And boys in silk raiment, a goodly train, Young, fresh, and sweet as the sugar-cane — Moorish pages of amber wrought, Pure as angels, in word and thought —
98 PINING.
Duteously served in the harem, all Eeady to come at their lady's call.
Many a young and lovely dame Of Memphis to visit Zulaikha came ; They delighted to talk with the bride, her peers In graceful stature and youthful years. She received her guests in the corridor, where Stranger and friend might her welcome share ; She spread the carpet of joy, and while Her heart was bleeding, her lip had a smile. She spoke and listened ; her look was gay, But her heart was in pain, ah ! far away. By her absent lover her soul was claimed, Though words of welcome her sweet lip framed.
When night o'er her face a dark curtain had thrown, She withdrew, like a moon, to her chamber alone. On the pedestal raised by her love she set The dear, dear form she could never forget ; Humbly before it her knee she bent, And poured out her grief in a wild lament ; While the harp of her love with a mournful air, Kept time with the outburst of deep despair : "Didst thou not tell me, 0 thou most dear To this longing heart, that thy home was here, The Grand Vizier of the kingdom ? How I wish that thine were the title now !
PINING. 99
Thine honour the crown of my head would be,
And to live thy slave were enough for me ;
I pine in Egypt, forlorn, unknown,
Hopeless of meeting with thee, mine own.
How long to this terrible fate am I doomed ?
How long shall my heart in this flame be consumed ?
Come, be the light of my garden ; calm
The pangs of my soul with thy healing balm.
In the deep of despair for my lover I pined,
But an angel came and left hope behind ;
That hope has driven my doubt away,
And is still my life's consolation and stay.
By the light of thy beauty that lives in my heart,
I know we shall meet, yes, never to part.
Tears of hot blood these sad eyes ever fill,
But in all the six regions 1 they yearn for thee
still
How blessed, my love, will the time be when I shall look once more on my moon of men. I shall roll up the carpet of life when I see Thy dear face again, and shall cease to be. For self will be lost in that rapture, and all The threads of my thought from my hand will fall ; Not me wilt thou find, for this self will have fled : Thou wilt be my soul in mine own soul's stead.
1 Above, below, right, left, before, and behind.
ioo PINING.
All thought of self will be swept from my mind, And thee, only thee, in my place shall I find ; More precious than heaven, than earth more dear, Myself were forgotten if thou wert near."
Thus through the night in her anguish she spoke, Nor ceased her complaint till the morning broke. At the first faint breath of the young day's breeze, She changed her lament into words like these : " Wind of the morning, whose soft touch floods With musky odour the jasmine buds, That makes the cypress and lily so fair, And decks the rose-leaf and the spikenard's hair ; Each leaf is a bell while the branches sway, And the trees are dancing, though rooted in clay ; The heart has rest when thy light wings stir, Tor thou art the lover's fleet messenger. From the distant beloved thou bringest news, That bids the sad spirit forget its bruise. And what beating heart has a woe like mine ? What soul in such anguish can waste and pine ? Bowed down with sorrow, my heart is faint, Have pity upon me, and hear my plaint. The world has no place where thou mayest not win An easy entrance to breathe therein ; By no gate of iron art thou opposed, A window admits thee if doors are closed.
PINING. 101
Pity me, visit each distant place
Where thy breath may fall on my loved one's face ;
Visit each palace where dwells a king,
Each prince's home, on thy balmy wing ;
Seek my moon in each city ; repair
To each throne and see if my king be there.
Steal through the garden where spring is gay,
On the lip of the streamlet a moment stay.
Peradventure, thine eye in the search may discover
By the rill the cypress form of my lover ;
Speed to the deserts of far Cathay,
And the picture-houses of China l survey.
Here look around for his likeness ; snare
A wild gazelle with his fragrance there.
When thou turnest back from those distant scenes,
Over mountain tops and through deep ravines,
If a partridge gracefully move from the brake,
Lay thy hand on the bird for my dear love's sake.
Shouldst thou meet on thy journey a caravan
Led by a gallant heart-ravishing man,
Look with mine eyes on that prince that he
May travel hither and come to me ;
One glance of his eye will assuage my woes,
And I from Hope's garden shall gather a rose."
1 Allusions to the painters and pictures of China frequently occur in Persian poetry.
102 PINING.
Thus, from the dawn till the sun rose high
And raced through the course of the noonday sky,
With blood in her eyes, in her heart unease,
She poured her complaint to the morning breeze,
And when the whole land with the full light glowed,
The light of her face to her friends she showed.
The maidens her fellows, each in her place,
Basked in the light of the lady's face ;
With those damsels, gay-hearted and pure as gay,
Her bearing changed not from day to day.
Thus, in the gloom of unceasing woe,
Month and year passed dreary and slow.
In the guarded bounds of the house confined,
For the fresh free air of the field she pined ;
Then seared with anguish, with woe forspent,
Like the mourning tulip she raised her tent.
To the tulip she spoke of the scars she bore,
And her love whom perchance she should see no more.
Like a torrent that sweeps down a deep defile,
She sped with wet eyes to the banks of Nile,
Confided to him her keen sorrow and gave
The flood of her tears to the rushing wave.
Thus, through the daylight she sorrowed and wept, And the eye of hope on the road she kept, If perchance her love, her true soul's delight, Should rise like the sun or the moon on her sight.
PINING. 103
Rise, Jaini ! rise ! turn thy thought aside, And the Moon of Canaan from Canaan guide. In the heart of Zulaikha sweet hope is strong As she looks on the road she has watched so long ; Too long has she waited, and* hoped, and endured, Let her lover come, and her heart be cured.
( 104 )
SAGES, who guided the pen of old, Thus the story have framed and told : As Yiisuf in stature and beauty grew, His father's heart to himself he drew ; The old man turned from the rest aside To his own eye's apple, his joy and pride ; And to him such kindness and favour showed, That the hearts of his brothers with envy glowed. In the court of the house stood an ancient tree Whose leafy branches were fair to see ; In their vesture of green like monks the sprays Danced in a rapture of joy and praise ; From the level ground of the court it grew, And its stately height a long shadow threw; Each leaf on the tree was a vocal tongue, Singing a hymn as the branches swung. To heaven rose the boughs of the topmost stem, Whose birds were the angels who rested on them,
ENVY. 105
When a son to Jacob by God was given ;
From that tree that rivalled the Lote-tree1 in heaven,
A tender branchlet sprouted anew,
And still with the growth of the infant grew ;
And when the boy came to his manhood he
Eeceived a green staff from the honoured tree.
But for Yiisuf, first in his father's eyes,
A staff from the tree were too mean a prize ;
A severed bough were no gift for one
From his own soul's garden, his darling son.
One night the boy to his father cried : " 0 thou whose wishes are ne'er denied, To the Lord of Paradise offer thy prayer, And win me a staff from the garden there, That whithersoever my feet may stray, From youth to age it may guide my way."
Humbly the father bowed down and prayed, And suit to the Lord for his darling made. Then Gabriel came from the Lote-tree's height, A topaz staff in his hand shone bright, That never had suffered a wound or flaw From the axe of Time or from Change's saw, Precious in value, but light to wield, Splendid with hues of its native field.
1 The Sidra or Lote-tree is the seat of the angel Gabriel in Para- dise.
io6 ENVY.
And a voice was heard : " Take the staff I bring, Which shall prop, as a pillar, the throne of a king." Thus Yiisuf by Heaven was favoured and blest ; But envy burnt fierce in each brother's breast. A hundred wood staves were a lighter load For them than this one which the Lord bestowed. Tell fancy wrought in each bosom apart, And each sowed the seed of deep hate in his heart; He nursed the seedling with tender care, But shame was the fruit which the tree should bear.
( 107 )
H?u$uf $ Bream.
How blest is lie who can close his eye
And let the vain pageants of life pass by ;
Untouched by the magic of earth can keep
His soul awake while the senses sleep ;
Scorn the false and the fleeting that meets the view,
And see what is hidden and firm and true.
Before the eyes of his sire one night, Who loved him more than his own eyesight, Yusuf his head on a pillow laid, And slept while a smile on his sweet mouth played. But the heart of Jacob was troubled while On that sleeping face he beheld the smile. "When, damp with the dew of their soft repose, Those eyes of narcissus began to unclose, And, like his own fortune, the boy was awake. Thus to his darling the father spake : " Why, 0 sweeter than sugar, didst thou Wear a sugar-sweet smile on thy lip but now ? " And Yiisuf answered : " Father, I dreamed, And the sun and moon and eleven stars seemed
io8 YUSUF'S DREAM.
To gather about me, high honour to pay,
And their heads before me in dust to lay."
" Beware," said the father, " my son, beware ;
Thy secret vision to none declare.
Let not thy brothers the story know:
In a hundred ways they would work thee woe.
With hatred and envy their heart is stirred ;
They would hate thee more if the tale were heard.
The thought of this dream they would ne'er endure,
For the meaning thereof is too clear and sure."
Thus, in his prudence the father spoke ;
But Fate the chain of his counsel broke.
One with whom Yiisuf the secret shared,
To all the brothers the tale declared.
The secret that passes beyond a pair,
Is bruited abroad on the moving air.
" Yes," said a sage, " but that pair are the lips,
And no secret is that which beyond them slips."
The fury of carnage has oft been stirred,
And nobles have died for a spoken word.
Wise is the saw of the sage who said,
" Who heeds his secret will keep his head."
When the wild bird flies from her cage, in vain
Will ye follow her flight to ensnare her again.
When the tale to the ears of the brothers came,
They rent their garments with hearts aflame :
YUSUF'S DREAM. 109
" What ails our father," they cried, " that he
His loss and advantage should fail to see ?
What can come of a foolish boy
But the childish play that is all his joy ?
He works on all with deceit and lies,
And raises his value in folly's eyes.
Our aged father his wiles ensnare,
And life with him will be hard to bear.
He rends the bond of affection apart,
And engrosses the love of our father's heart.
Not content with the favour his arts have gained,
He wishes that we, pure-hearted, unstained,
Should bend our heads and adore in the dust
The stripling raised high by his father's trust ;
Nay, father and mother, as well as we :
What will the end of this madness be ?
We, not this boy, are our father's friends ;
On us, not on him, his welfare depends.
On the hills in the daytime we guard his sheep,
And our nightly watch in his house we keep.
Our arm protects him from foemen's might,
And we, mid his friends, are his glory and light.
What is there in him but his guile that thus
His head is exalted o'er all of us ?
Come, let us counsel together and plot
To drive him away to a distant spot.
i io YUSUF'S DREAM.
Ne'er has he felt for our griefs and pains,
And banishment now the sole cure remains.
Quick to the task we must needs away!
Still it is left us to choose the way.
The thorn that springs fast for mischief should be
Torn up from the root ere it grow to a tree."
in
plot
WHEN Yiisuf s brothers, with hatred fired,
Against the innocent boy conspired,
Said one : " Our hearts in our sorrow have bled,
And his blood should flow for the blood he has shed.
When the arm of the slayer is lifted to smite,
Can ye save your lives by a timely flight ?
Let him die the death, and our task is sped :
There comes no voice from the lip of the dead."
" Nay," cried a second, " 'tis not for us
To compass the death of the guiltless thus.
Though we check his folly, he may not bleed ;
We hold, remember, the one true creed.
We shall gain our end if we drive him hence
As well as by death-dealing violence.
Let us hide him far from our father's eyes
Where a wild and desolate valley lies ;
In a waste full of pitfalls, from help afar,
Where the ravenous wolves and the foxes are ;
ii2 THE PLOT.
His only water the tears of despair,
And his only bread the sun's scorching glare ;
Where the night around him for shade shall spread,
And thorns be the pillow to rest his head.
He may linger awhile neath the lonely sky,
But soon of himself he will waste and die,
Not a stain of his blood on our swords, and we
From the sword of his guile and deceit shall be free."
" Nay, this, my brother," a third broke in,
" Were the worst of murders and grievous sin.
'Tis better to perish, if die we must,
Not of hunger and thirst, but a dagger's thrust.
This is my counsel, which seems more fit,
To search near and far for a deep dark pit,
And therein, cast down from his place of pride,
In sorrow and darkness the youth to hide.
Some travelling merchants may pass that way,
And halt at the well at the close of day.
They may lower for water a bucket and cord,
And the boy to the air will be thus restored.
Some merchant who looks on the prize will be glad
To take for a son or a slave the lad,
Who, carried away to a distant place,
Will vex us no longer with pain and disgrace."
Soon as he spoke of this living grave, The brothers approved the counsel he gave.
THE PLOT. 113
Unheeding the pit of their murderous thought,
The pit of dishonour they wildly sought.
In their evil purpose they all agreed
The heart of their father to wound and mislead.
Then to their labour they turned, each one ;
And the morrow was fixed for the deed to be done.
deceit
BLEST are the souls who are lifted above
The paltry cares of a selfish love ;
And conquering sense and its earthly ties,
Are dust in the path of the love they prize ;
Who add no weight to another's care,
And no wreight of reproach from another bear,
But in this sad world are resigned to their lot,
Support their brethren and murmur not ;
Who sleep with no malice or fraud in their breast,
And rise as pure from their welcome rest.
The foes of Yusuf came glad and gay As they thought of the counsel of yesterday, With love on their tongue, in their heart fraud and
lies,
Like wolves that have taken the lamb's disguise, In reverent duty their father to see, And bowed them down on the bended knee. They opened the flattering door of deceit, And the words they uttered were soft and sweet.
DECEIT. 115
They spoke awhile of things old and new,
And near and more near to their object drew :
" Father, we weary of resting at home ;
Through the plain around us we fain would roam.
If thou wilt grant the permission we pray,
Hence will we wander at break of day.
Our brother Yiisuf, the light of thine eyes,
Knows not the region which round us lies.
Wilt thou not send him with us ? Our joy
Will be great to attend on thy darling boy.
He stays in the house through the weary day :
Send him out with us to rove and play.
Through the field and the plain his steps we will guide
Up to the slope and the steep hill's side.
We will milk the ewes in the grassy field,
And drink with delight the sweet draught they yield.
Through beds of tulips our way will pass,
And our playground will be the carpet of grass.
We will steal the bright crowns of the tulips, and set
Their bloom on his brow for a coronet,
And the boy thus decked we will gently lead
In his graceful gait through the flowery mead.
We will watch the herds of the browsing deer,
And the wolf shall be slain if he venture near.
Perchance the fresh scene will his spirit restore,
And the dulness of home will oppress him no more.
n6 DECEIT.
Set a thousand marvels before a child, Still only by play is his heart beguiled."
The father heard as their suit they pressed, But turned away and refused their request. " Why should he follow you ? " thus he spake i " My heart is sad for my darling's sake. I fear lest, eager and reckless, ye The perils about him may fail to see. I fear lest a wolf from the neighbouring waste Should sharpen his teeth the boy's blood to taste ; Should tear with keen fangs each delicate limb, And rend my soul as he mangles him."
Thus was their suit by the father denied : Again to move him their arts they tried : " Think us not, father, such feeble men That a single wolf can o'ermatch the ten. "We can seize, as we seize a fox, and slay A lion making of men his prey."
Thus they insisted. The father heard : He gave no refusal, he spoke no word. But his will at last by their prayers was bent, And woe brought on his house by his silent consent.
Well.
SHAME, conjuring Heaven, whose fell delight Is to bury each morn a fair moon from sight ! Who givest for prey to the wolf the gazelle That browses at ease in life's flowery dell.
When Yiisuf in charge to those wolves was given, " See, they harry a lamb," cried pitiless Heaven. While yet in the ken of their father's eyes, Each strove, as in love, to be nearest the prize. One raised him high on his back, and round His waist another his strong arm wound. But the touch of each hand was more rough and rude, When they came to the desert of solitude. From the shoulder of pity the burden they threw, Where the flint-stones were hard, and the sharp thorns
grew.
Through the pitiless briars he walked unshod, His rosy feet rent by the spines where he trod, As he walked barefooted by thistle and thorn, The silver skin of his hand was torn.
iiS THE WELL.
The tender soles of his young feet bled,
And, soft as the rose, like the rose were red.
If he lingered a moment behind the band,
One smote his fair cheek with a ruthless hand.
May the vengeful sword on the fierce hand fall
Which struck the fair face which is loved of all !
If he walked before them they rained their blows
On his neck like a rebel's till red wheals rose.
May each hand be bound to the neck with a chain,
That gave his soft neck that unmerited pain !
If he walked abreast in his trembling fear,
Hard hands on each side of him pulled his ear.
May the savage have naught but his fingers to clasp,
Who could hold that ear in his merciless grasp !
When he clung to one's skirt with a loud lament,
He was flung aside, and his collar rent.
When he lay at their feet in his utter dread,
They laughed as their cruel feet pressed on his head.
When his pale lips uttered a bitter cry,
With jeer and reproach came the harsh reply.
In the depth of despair with wild words he complained,
And the rose of his cheek like the tulip was stained.
Now in the dust, now in blood the boy lay,
And heart-broken cried in his utter dismay :
" Where art thou, my father, where art thou ? Why
Wilt thou heedlessly leave me to suffer and die ?
THE WELL. 119
See the son of her whom thou lovedst so well;
See those who 'gainst wisdom and duty rebel.
What their hearts have devised for thy heart's love, see,
And how they repay obligation to thee.
From the ground of thy soul a young rosebud grew,
And thy tender love fed it and nursed it with dew.
By anguish and thirst it lies withered and dried,
Its life is departing, its bright hues have died.
In a garden kept with each loving device,
Was planted a scion of Paradise.
By the blast of oppression the plant is o'erthrown,
By the thorn and the thistle its height overgrown.
The moon whose fair light for thy guidance was shed,
Which the dark gloom of fate ever failed to o'erspread,
Has suffered such hardship from Heaven on high,
That it prays the new moon its faint light to supply."
Onward thus for a league they went, He longing for peace, they on slaughter bent. He was all tenderness, they were stern ; His prayers were warm, their words cold in return. They came at last to a well where they Eested awhile from the toil of the way. Like the grave of a tyrant, deep, dark as night, It struck with horror the reason's sight. Like the mouth of a dragon its black jaws gaped — A terrible portal whence none escaped.
120 THE WELL.
A tyrant's dungeon was not so deep,
Where deadly snakes o'er the prisoner creep.
The depth was too deep for the reach of sense,
And wide was its horror's circumference.
Dire was the centre, the circle despair:
The spring was bitter and poison the air.
For living creature to draw a breath
In that terrible pit were his instant death.
No depths could be found better suited to quell
That rosy-cheeked moon than that horrible well.
Once more he endeavoured to move them ; again Sought to touch their hard hearts in so soothing a strain That, could it have heard his sweet pleading, a stone Softer than wax in its fibres had grown. But the heart of each brother grew harder still, More firm the resolve of each murderous will. How shall I tell it ? My heart grows weak ; Of the deed they accomplished I scarce can speak. On that delicate arm for which, soft and fair, The silk of heaven were too rough to wear, They firmly fastened a goat-hair cord Whose every hair seemed a piercing sword. A woollen rope round his delicate waist Fine as a hair was securely braced. His coat from his beautiful shoulders had slipped, And he stood like a rose when her leaves are stripped.
THE WELL. 121
So they rent the robe of their honour away,
And clothed them with shame till the Judgment Day.
They lowered him down in the deep dark well,
And sunk in the water half-way he fell.
Down into darkness by Fate was hurled
The sun that illumined the whole wide world.
But a stone jutting out from the rocky side, Above the water a seat supplied. That humble stone, as high Fate ordained, A value greater than rubies gained. The bitter water beneath his feet At the sight of that ruby, his lip, grew sweet. The well shone with the splendour his fair cheek shed, Like the face of the earth with the moon o'erhead. The fragrance that breathed from his flowing hair Purged of its poison the deadly air, And snakes and venomous creatures fled From his radiant face and the light it spread.
A shirt in an amulet round him slung, Which had saved his grandsire from the flame, was
hung;
To Abraham sent by Eizvan,1 when the flame Like a garden of roses about him became.
1 Abraham was by the order of Nimrod thrown into the fire. He wore a silken shirt, sent to him from Heaven, and the flame turned into a bed of roses. The shirt was transmitted through Isaac and Jacob to Yusuf. Rizvdn is the porter of Paradise.
122 THE WELL.
From the Sidra-tree Gabriel came in haste,
And the heavenly gift from his arm embraced.
The precious shirt from within he drew,
And o'er that pure body the garment threw.
Then spoke the angel: "Lone mourner, see,
The Eternal Himself sends a message to thee :
' The day is nigh when I bring that band,
Who in false-hearted malice thy death have planned,
Before thy presence to bend and bow
With hearts deeper wounded than thine is now.
Then recall to thy brothers their crime and shame,
But keep from their knowledge thy story and name.' '
The words of Gabriel cheered his heart, And bade his sorrow and pain depart. In calm content on the jutting stone He sate like a king on his royal throne, While the faithful angel, if grief should stir The heart of the boy, was a minister.
Caravan.
BLEST was the lot of the caravan
From which, when he thirsted at eve, a man
From that well in the desert his bucket drew,
And brought unburied the moon to view ;
Which three days in the depth had been forced to
dwell Like the moon of Nakhshab 1 in Nakhshab's well.
On the fourth bright morn when the Yiisuf of day2 Arose from the gulf where entombed he lay, There came by good fortune a caravan, Passing to Egypt from Midian. By the weary length of the way distressed They halted there and unloaded to rest. High fate was theirs to have wandered far And found Yiisuf himself for a guiding star. The weary merchants halted, and first To the well they hastened to quench their thirst.
1 The "Veiled Prophet of Khorosan" is said to have caused a luminous body like the moon to rise out of a well at Nakhshab in Turkestan. 2 The sun.
124 THE CARAVAN.
Happy was lie who most speedily pressed
To that Water of Life and outstripped the rest,
And, a second Khizar 1 of high renown,
Sent through the darkness his bucket down.
Then Gabriel called to Yiisuf, " Shed
The water of grace on the world," he said.
" Take thy seat in the bucket a brighter sun,
And from west to east in thy swift course run.
Thine horizon shall be the well's circular brim,
And shall ne'er, while thou shinest/be dark or dim.
Send forth a beam from thy face, and through
The whole wide world light shall shine anew."
Then Yiisuf sprang from the stone, and fleet
As water took in the bucket his seat.
A strong man drew it, one skilled to say
What the water he drew from a well should weigh.
" What may there be in the bucket beside
The water that makes it so heavy ? " he cried.
When that moon appeared, from his happy soul
Burst a cry of rapture beyond control :
" 0 joy, that so lovely a moon to illume
The world should arise from the depth of gloom,
And out of the bitterest spring a stream
Of light and glory should suddenly gleam ! "
1 The prophet Khizar, or Elijah, is the guardian of the Water of Life.
THE CARAVAN. 125
So for him grew a rose in that desolate spot ; But he to his fellows revealed it not. To the place where he rested the youth he bare, And gave him in charge to his people there. Unworthy his lot is the man, unwise, Who hides not his treasure from envious eyes.
But the brothers had lingered not far from the well, And they burned in their hearts to know what befell ; They saw the merchants arrive and stood Waiting for news in the neighbourhood. To Yiisuf they called with a secret cry, But a hollow echo came back in reply. To the caravan with quick steps, intent On claiming the boy as their slave, they went, And with toil and labour they made their way Within the ring where the merchants lay. " This is our slave," as they touched him, they cried ; " The collar of service his hand has untied. The bonds of his duty were loosened, and he From the yoke of his masters has dared to flee. Though born in our house we will gladly sell The idle boy who will never do well. When a slave is negligent, idle, perverse, Ever growing from bad to worse, 'Tis better to sell him, though small the price, Than suffer still from his rooted vice.
126 THE CARAVAN.
We will labour no more to improve the wretch, But sell him at once for the price he may fetch."
He was sold for a trifle to him whose cord Had brought him up to the light restored. Malik — so named was the merchant — gave A few pieces for Yiisuf as household slave. Then the traders arising their march renewed, And onward to Egypt their way pursued.
Woe unto those who that treasure sold, And bartered their souls for some paltry gold ! No life, nor the treasures of Egypt, could buy One word from his lip or one glance from his eye. Only Jacob his sire and Zulaikha, the true, The priceless worth of that treasure knew. But his worth was unknown to those blinded eyes, And they took a few pence for the blessed prize,
( 127 )
Iking*
THUS Malik gained with no labour the prize That fell to his fortunate merchandize. Such joy in the sight of his purchase he found That scarcely his foot seemed to touch the ground. With the hope that was in him his heart was gay, And with double marches he sped on his way.
Ere to the city of Memphis he came, The story was bruited abroad by fame : " Malik returns from his journey this morn With a slave of the race of the Hebrews born : A moon in the zenith of beauty, above All others a king in the realm of love. In the picture-house of the earth the skies Have not seen his peer with their thousand eyes." The King of Egypt the rumour heard, And the heart within him was strangely stirred : " Is not Egypt the garden of beauty ? Where Can the eye see roses so bright and fair ? The roses of heaven would droop from their stem And hide their shamed heads in the dust before them."
128 THE KING.
Then he cried in haste to the Grand Vizier : " Go, meet the merchants whose train is near, Go forth this moon of rare beauty to see, And lead him straight to my court with thee."
The noble obeyed ;• the merchants he met, And his eyes on that joy of the soul were set. At the sight of that beauty his senses fled, And he fain would bow down in obeisance his head. But Yiisuf raised him as lowly he bent, And chid the obeisance he might not prevent : " Bow down thy head to none living beside Him who set that head on thy neck," he cried.
He called for Malik and bade him brino-
o
The beautiful slave to the court of the king.
But Malik answered : " We thought not yet
In the monarch's palace our feet to set.
We are weary and worn with the length of the way,
And crave of thy kindness some rest and delay.
With wakeful nights and with hunger distressed
We need three days to recruit and rest.
We will wash off the dust, and refreshed after toil,
Will wait on the king without spot and soil."
The Grand Vizier gave his ready consent, And again to the king and his duties went. Of the beauty of Yiisuf he spoke but a word, Yet the king's jealous heart at the story was stirred.
THE KING. 129
He gave command, and they picked and chose, As ye cull from a rosebed each fairest rose, The most beautiful boys that the land possessed, In the kingdom of beauty kings over the rest :
«
With dainty caps bright with glittering gold,
And shawls of brocade round their shoulders to fold :
With a jewelled girdle round each fine waist,
And gay lips sweeter than sugar to taste ;
That when Yiisuf s owner should spread the tale
Of his marvellous beauty, and bring him for sale,
They to the market should come and display
Their fair forms and features in rival array.
Then were he the sun, their more beauty would dim
His splendour, and chill the demand for him.
( 130 )
Batlx
PAST were the promised three days, and on
The blue heaven of the Mle1 the sun Ytisuf shone.
"0 world-adorner," said Malik, "awhile
Light with thy splendour the bank of the Mle.
Bathe in the stream, and the waters shall flee
More bright with the dust they shall borrow from
thee."
That sun of beauty the order obeyed : Alone on the bank of the flood he strayed. His cap of bright gold he removed from his head, And his raven locks to the sun dispread ; He threw off his robe, and his limbs were bare Like the moon that shines through the cloudless air ; And his neck and shoulders were tinged with a flush Like the first faint hue of the morning's blush. A bathing-robe round his waist he tied, And the cypress of silver hung o'er the stream's side.
1 The Persian word nil signifies both "blue" and "Nile." Jdmi frequently plays upon the two meanings of the word.
THE BATH. 131
The voice of the heavens cried : " Blest, 0 blest Is the bank of the Nile which his feet have pressed. Ah, if in the place of the flood I might kiss Those delicate feet, how supreme were the bliss ! Nay, the sun would bend down from his noonday
height,
And give the glad waters his fountain of light. Yet he heeds not that fountain of splendour, but laves The dust from his limbs in the turbid waves."
He entered the river, awhile to shine In the stream like the sun in th§ Watery Sign. He dipped the fair face that was bright as a sun, As the lotus dips where the sweet waters run. He struck the waves with each naked limb, And the waters lived at the touch of him. He loosened the chains of his hair while the fleet Stream made a chain for his silver feet, And to capture the spoil of the river he set From the moon to the Fish1 a fine amber-sweet net. Now a stream from his hand on his beautiful head, Like the Pleiades decking the moon, was shed. Now he rubbed the rose where the big drops lay, Now combed with his fingers the spikenard spray.2
1 That is, from above the earth to under it, with an allusion also to the fish in the river. The earth is said to rest on Gau or the Bull, and Gau on Ma~hi or the Fish.
2 His hair.
132 THE BATH.
Then pure from all dust of the journey he
Eose up on the bank like a cypress-tree.
Then he put on his raiment : the rose of his skin
Was enhanced by the white of the jessamine.1
About his body his coat he drew,
Worked with fine fancy of many a hue.
A gold-bright cap on his brow he placed,
And girt with a zone rich with jewels his waist.
Loose hung his ambrosial tresses, and lent
To the breezes of Egypt the breath of their scent.
Again in his litter the youth was placed, And they drove to the court of the king in haste. There in front of the palace gate High on a throne was the king in state, And the fairest boys of the realm stood near Expecting when Yusuf himself should appear, And a thousand eyes to the litter flew As near to the throne of the king it drew. It chanced the clouds in their dense array Hid the light of the sun that day. Then Malik gave order to Yiisuf : " Spring From the litter and come to the throne of the king. Cast the veil from thy face, for a sun art thou, And the world shall be gay with the light of thy brow."
1 His shirt.
THE BATH. 133
He spoke ; and the lovely boy sprang to the ground, And shot sunlike rays on the circle around. " 'Tis the blessed sun," thought the wondering crowd, " That has come from the screen of his dark blue
cloud."
But they turned their eyes to the sun, and knew It was not his rays that the splendour threw, For the dark cloud still o'er the sun was spread, And the face of Yiisuf the radiance shed. They clapped their hands, and on every side Eose up a murmur of voices that cried : " What, 0 Heaven, is the brilliant star Outshining the sun and the moon by far ? " And the darlings of Egypt looked down disgraced As they saw their beauty by his effaced. When the sun shines forth in his splendour, where Is the faintest star in the Lesser Bear ?
( 134 )
IRecognitiom
NE'ER had it entered Zulaikha's heart
That one stage kept herself and her darling apart.
But a secret impulse at work in her breast
Filled her with longing and wild unrest.
She strove to calm it, and knew not whence
Came the hidden yearning that moved each sense.
She roamed in the meadow for change and relief,
For the house seemed a dungeon of care and grief.
But still each day was dreary and slow,
And she gnashed her teeth in her depth of woe.
She gathered all luxuries round her in vain,
For each moment that passed but increased her pain.
Her fountain of tears was outwept, and her mind
To change once more and to home inclined.
Again in her litter the lady lay
And hastened back on her homeward way.
On her journey homeward Zulaikha sped,
And her road by the gate of the palace led.
RECOGNITION. 135
And she asked, as the press of people she viewed,
If Doomsday had gathered the multitude.
One made answer and said to her : " Nay,
A youth from Canaan is here to-day :
No slave is he, but a splendid sun,
In the kingdom of beauty the brightest one."
She raised the curtain, her glances fell On the form and features she knew so well A long sigh burst from her heart as she lay Back in her litter, her senses astray. Home with their lady the servants pressed ; In her secret chamber they laid her to rest. Again the light in her sad eyes burned, And her senses, lost in her swoon, returned. " Say, light of my soul," cried the nurse, " say why From thy troubled breast came that bitter sigh. What reft thy senses away ? What woes Made thy sweet lips with a cry unclose ? " " Dear mother," she said, " what reply can I make ? At each word I say must my bosom ache. Thou sawest that youth in the midst of the press, While the people were praising his loveliness. It is he, my beloved, so long adored, My life and my treasure, my love and my lord, Whose face in my vision I saw when my soul, Lured by his splendour, burst forth from control ;