The 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 Yizier.
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 Eus and Efim.
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 Hush of a young rosebed.
Orient pearls from their line 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-lmed 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 waist 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
fleeter at need than the flying ball.
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 Bum 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.
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 wore with gold o’erlaid.
Its gold- wrought awning was bright as the sun,—
Jamshfd 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 line
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 sprin time
Was fleeting away to a distant clime.
From’s garden envied the spot which those
Bright flowers of the palace to rest them chose ;
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.”