Yusuf

In this orchestra full of vain deceit
The drum of Being, each in turn, we beat.
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,
Setli 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 the door admittance gave.
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 Iris hand,
His banner waved o’er Shain and Canaan’s land,
Wherein he made his dwelling. Pilch 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 garb 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
Cathay envy the fields where his young feet strayed.
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.
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 : — “ O thou
Whom love for me bends like the willow bough,
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 Yhisuf 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,;
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 Yusuf only his soul had delight,
For only Yusuf 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;
For the One Unspeakable God in that frame
Lay concealed under Yusufs name.
How shall we marvel if, fostered long
In the fathers 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.