The Reception

With a drum of gold the bright firmament heat
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 Yizier 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.
Alone in her litter she wept her woes,
And her lamentation to Heaven arose :
“Why hast thou treated me thus, O 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 Lent,
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 iny soul at last.
With thy word of comfort I fain was content ;
But is this the rest that the promise meant ? ”
Thus Zulailcha, weary and faint
With her burthen of sorrow, poured forth her
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 ;
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 glorious 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 !