The Third Vision

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 burns 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 Irani 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 :
“ 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.
Words would fail me to toll how fair
Was the wondrous Inanity 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: “O thou, for whose dear love Hies
All calm from my bosom, all sleep from mine eyes,
I vy the .1 tire 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
Jhy name and thy city, and lighten my woes.”
He answered : “it 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 Ids sweet voice came
To her soul new patience, and strength to her frame.
She rose from- her dream, and her heart was guy;
The cloud of madness had passed away.
Again, recalling the words that brought
Toy to her heart in her loving thought,
She cried to the maidens about her: “ You
ho shiiied the keen sorrow that pierced me through,
Bear the glad news to my father; free
His heart- from the grief that he feels forme.
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,
Bor 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,
And of many a city and country spoke,
And of Sham and Hum, 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.
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 las country she spoke or thought
When she mentioned his title, her voice was glad,
Else she lay sullen and silent and sail.
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,
Erom famous Pa'un 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