The False Charge

The pen that has written this tale relates,
That when Yusuf fled through the palace gates,
Soon as his foot in the court was set,
The Grand Yizier and his lords he met.
The master looked on his troubled face
And questioned him wherefore he fled apace.
Yusuf was ready with apt reply,
And with courteous words put the question by.
The Grand Vizier took his hand in his own.
And they came where Zulaikha sate brooding alone,
She saw them together, and cried, dismayed,
To her own sad spirit, “ Betrayed ! betrayed ! ”
Moved by the fancy, in loud lament.
The veil of the secret she raised and rent :
“ O Balance of Justice, what sentence is due
To him who to folly thy wife would woo ?
And, false to his duty, has plotted within
The folds of his treason a deed of sin ? ”
“ Speak, fairest one, speak : let thy tale be clear,
Who has thus dared ? ” said the Grand Vizier.
“ The Hebrew servant,” she cried, " has done
This thing, whom thy favour has made a son.
Treed from the trouble and toil of the day,
Here in my chamber asleep I lay,
He came to the bed where alone X repose,
And would pluck the flower of the spotless rose ;
But the hand of the robber my slumber broke,
With a start and a cry from my rest I woke.
He started in fear when I raised my head,
And swift to the door of the chamber fled.
He fled amain, but I followed fast
An d caught him ere yet from the palace he passed.
I caught his garment, my strength outspent,
And it split as the leaf of a rose is rent.
The garment he wears on his shoulders view,
And see that the words which I speak are true.
How were it best for a little time
To send him to prison to mourn his crime ;
Or let the sharp lash on his tender skin
Cure the wild boy of his wish to sin.
Let the scourge he heavy, the pain severe,
That others in time may he warned and fear.”
The Grand Vizier in amazement heard :
His visage changed and his heart was stirred,
From the path of justice he turned aside,
And his tongue was a sword of rebuke as he cried :
“ Treasures of pearl and of gold I gave,
When I weighed out my jewels to purchase my slave.
I made thee my son of mine own free grace,
And gave thee beside me an honoured place.
I gave thee Zulaikha for guardian to tend
Thy youth with her maidens and be thy friend.
The slaves of my household obeyed thy will;
They were gentle in speech and ne’er wished thee ill.
I made thee lord over all that I had,
And never would suffer thy heart to be sad.
A folly and sin was this thought of thine :
May God forgive thee the base design.
In this evil world, full of grief and woe,
Kindness responsive to kindness we owe.
But thou, all my love and my trust betrayed,
My tender affection with ill hast repaid.
Thou hast broken the bond which the meal had tied,
And the pledge which the salt had sanctified.”
At the wrathful words of the Grand Vizier
He shrank like a hair when the flame is near.
He cried to his master: “How long, how long
Wilt thou burthen the guiltless with cruel wrong ?
False is the tale that Zulaikha has told :
Her lie is a lamp when the flame is cold.
'From the man’s left side came the woman. Who
Will hope that the left will be right and true ?
From the day Zulaikha beheld me first,
A frantic passion her heart has nursed.
About me ever she comes and goes,
And with soft allurement her fancy shows.
But ne’er have I lifted mine eye to her face,
Ne’er have I looked for a kiss or embrace.
'Who am I, thy servant, that I should be
The tempter of her who is sacred to thee ?
From earthly wealth I had turned away,
To the pangs of exile my heart was a prey.
A word from Zulaikha bade doors unclose.
And opened a way to a hundred woes.
She called me hither — her spells were sweet —
And drew me aside to this lone retreat.
With passionate pleading her love she pressed,
And made my bosom a stranger to rest.
By many a bar for awhile detained,
The gate of the palace at length I gained.
She followed fast as I fled, and tore
Behind from the shoulder the coat I wore.
This is the story I have to tell :
This, only this and no more, befell.
If thou wilt not believe I am free from guilt.
In the name of Allah do what thou wilt.”
Zulaikha heard, and in self-defence
Called Heaven to witness her innocence.
She swore an oath on each sacred thing,
By the throne, and the crown, and the head of the king,
By the rank and state of the Grand Yizier
Whom the monarch honoured and held so dear.
When trouble and doubt in a suit arise,
An oath the place of a witness supplies.
But ah, how oft, when the truth is known,
Has the shameless lie of that oath been shown !
Then she cried, as her tears in a torrent ran :
“ From Yusuf only the folly began.”
Tears, ever ready to flow, supply
Oil for the lamp of a woman’s lie.
Fed with this oil the flame waxes in power
And destroys a whole world in one little hour.
The oath of Zulaikha, the sob, the tear,
Shut the blinded eye of the Grand Yizier.
He gave a sergeant his order, like
The strings of a lute the boy’s heart to strike,
That the vein of his soul might be racked with pain,
And no trace of compassion or mercy remain ;
That the boy should he lodged in the prison till
They had thoroughly fathomed the secret ifl.