The Victory of Love.

The Lover, whose desire is fixed on a true love,
Will at last obtain the title of Beloved;
Who ever trod the path of sincere love,
That in the end did not become the Beloved from the Lover!
 
Zulaikha was a faithful devotee of love,
For to love she had given up every moment of her life.
In infancy, whilst she was still occupied with her games,
Her game she would ever call the game of love.
If she placed two dolls before her,
She would name them the Lover and the Loved;
As soon as she knew her right hand from her left,
And how to rise up and sit down,*
In that dream which a kind fate sent her,
She became a captive in the net of Joseph.
She banished from her heart her affection for her own country,
And resolved on the journey to the land of Egypt;
From her own city she repaired to the city of Joseph,
Not drawn of her own accord, but attracted by him.
Her youth she passed in visions about him,
In hopes of union with him it came to an end;
In old age her yearning was still towards him;
And, blind, her longing was still in her blindness to behold him;
And when from old age she was restored to youth and sight,
Her passion for him was ever the same;
And in wishes for him she lived whilst she lived,
And so long as she lived, she lived enchained in her love.
And when he saw that her affection was boundless and sincere,
The soul of Joseph was infected with a like passion,
And became so inflamed with the warmth of her love,
That he felt, as it were, ashamed of its warmth.
Her blandishments so beset his path,
That he could not remain an hour at rest without her;
He was ever seeking to content her wishes,
And was ever pressing lips to lips and heart to heart.

Thus, set at rest in her earthly affections, Zulaikha feels her heart strongly drawn towards divine ones; and Joseph, perceiving her inclination and her devo­tion to her new Faith, builds her a beautiful Prayer-house, and when it is completed, tenderly takes her by the hand, conducts her to it, seats her on a throne, and thus addresses her:

“O thou, who by every kind of kindness
Hast made me ashamed to the day of resurrection,
In those days when thou still namedst me a slave,
Didst erect in my name a palace of wonders,
Yellow and red, with gold and rubies,
And didst adorn it with every ornament possible,
I likewise, in gratitude for all thy bounties,
Have now raised to please thee a House of Adoration:
There rest, and shew thy thankfulness for the divine beneficence,
Which hath showered its gifts on every hair of thine head.
He lifted thee out of poverty to make thee rich,
From the weakness of old age He restored thee to youth,
To the eye from which light was gone He gave light again,
And opened to admit thee the door of His mercy,
And after a life in which thou hadst tasted of every grief,
In thy union with me He provided the antidote.”
 
So Zulaikha, through the grace of God,
Sat down upon the decorated throne of sovereignty,
And in the privacy of that retired dwelling,
Was content in the attachment of Joseph and the bounty of the Lord.