The Slave-Market

Blest is the time, of all hours most sweet,
When two fond lovers, long parted, meet.
When love’s touch bums with a steady ray,
And the pangs' of longing have passed away.
The beauty of Yusuf so charmed each eye
That thousands of Memphis came round to buy.
Each one his costliest treasure sold,
And ran to the mart with the ready gold.
They say an old crone for his beauty sighed :
She caught up a handful of yarn and cried :
'‘No gold or silver to show have I,
But this will admit me with those who would buy.”
The crier shouted : “ Come, listen to me.
Who would purchase a slave from all blemish free ?
The first dawnings of grace on his young cheek shine.
And his lip is a ruby from beauty’s mine.
High wisdom’s stamp on his brow is impressed,
And the gentle virtues have filled his breast.
He speaks no word but the truth alone,
And fraud and falsehood to him are unknown.”
The first who spoke in the dense array
A bag of red gold for the boy would pay :
A bag containing, all duly told,
A thousand coins of the finest gold.
Then others on horseback the market sought,
And a hundred bags, each of like value, brought.
Another outbid them all and would pay
As much fine musk as the boy might weigh.
Another priced him at higher rate
And offered in ruby and pearl his weight.
Thus each tendered his wealth in store,
And the price of Yusuf rose more and more.
Zulaikha was ’ware of the strife and stir,
And the highest offer was doubled by her.
Their lips were closed, and their faces blank,
As low on the knee of despair they sank.
To the Grand Vizier in her haste she spake :
“ The price of the slave to his owner take.”
He answered: “The musk and the pearl and gold,
And all the wealth that my treasuries hold,
Hot half the price of the boy would be ;
And how can the ransom he paid by me ? ”
She had a casket of jewels — nay,
A vault of heaven where the bright stars lay ;
And of all the gems of her treasure few
Were less valued than Egypt’s whole revenue.
“ Take these jewels,” she cried, “ O my soul’s dear gem,
And pay the price of the hoy with them.”
With fresh excuses he met her prayer :
“ The king will buy him, a slave so fair,
And set over all, at Iris household’s head,
A youth so true and so gently bred.”
“ Hasten,” said she, “ to the king, and all
Thy faithful care to his mind recall.
Say, ‘ Bar to my joy have I only one,
That mine eyes may look on no darling son.
Enhance my state by the boon I crave,
And leave me free to command the slave.’ ”
Zulaikha spoke, and her lord obeyed :
Before the king his request he laid.
Just was the plea, and the monarch bent
His ear to listen, and gave assent.
He gave him permission the slave to buy
And look on the boy with a father’s eye.
He brought the youth to his home ; and she,
Zulaikha, at length from her grief was free.
Thus in a rapture the lady cried
As her eyes from the pearls of her joy she dried :
“ Can it be real, this bliss supreme ?
Have I found my love, or is all a dream ?
Ne’er could I hope in the gloom of night
To look on the dawn of a day so white.
The moon of triumph her splendour shows :
Night has no sorrow and day no woes.
My gentle friend will my secrets share —
Thanks he to Heaven who has heard my prayer.
Who is blest like me in this world of grief,
When verdure revisits the faded leaf?
I gasped for water, but none was nigh :
The sun was fierce and the sand was dry.
From the cloud of grace came the gentle rain
And bore the poor fish to her native main.
I wandered lost in the gloom of night,
My soul on my lips for toil and affright.
A fair moon rose in the east and led
My faint steps home with the light it shed.
I lay on my bed, I was tortured with pain,
With the lancet of Death in my heart’s vital vein,
When suddenly Khizar appeared in the room,
And with Water of Life brought me back from the tomb.
Now thanks be to Heaven who has sent me my friend,
And brought the long woes of my life to an end.
A thousand lives be that noble heart’s prize
Who brought to the market such merchandize.
If my jewels are gone, and I gain a rich mine
Of jewels instead, shall I fondly repine !
What are jewels and gems when compared with a soul ?
He is welcome, whate’er they may be, to the whole.
I recover my soul, and a few stones are lost :
Whoe’er bought such a prize at so paltry a cost ?
What does he gain by his traffic who sells
The blessed Isa for coral and shells ?
My coral and shells I have bartered away :
But Isa the blessed is mine to-day.”
She sifted these thoughts in the sieve of her soul,
And let pearls of tears from her glad eyes roll.
How she thought of Yusuf but spoke no word,
Though her heart with the joy of his presence stirred.
Again she recounted the woes that were past,
And her soul rejoiced : he had come at last.