XII. Joseph and the Mirror.
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Jalal al-Din Rumi, Maulana and Redhouse, James W. (James William), Sir
The kings of yore a custom had, so I’ve been told,
Of course thou’st heard it;—must remember it, of old,
On their left hand their champions took their usual place;
Because the heart is on the left of body’s space.
Their chancellor and scribes stood on their right hand all;
In that the writer’s art to the right hand doth fall.
Before their face the holy teachers stood erect,—
The mirrors of the soul;—than mirror more correct.
Their breasts they’ve polished with the acts of thought and praise,
That, mirror-like, they catch each image facts may raise.5
Each object born in nature with a lovely mien
Should always have a mirror set to catch its sheen.
A beauteous face enamoured is with mirror’s glance;
Heart’s piety’s the polish best the soul can chance.
A friend of tried sincerity came from afar,
And guest became with trusty Joseph;—free from bar.
They had been friends before, in childhood’s artless days;
Had leant their elbows on one cushion, in their ways.
His brethren’s envy and wrong-dealing touched upon,
Said Joseph: “’Twas a chain. It bound a lion. ‘Non!10
Disgrace affects not lions, if with chains they’re bound.
With God’s decree I quarrel not;—it’s always sound.
A lion with a chain around his lordly neck,
Is still the lord of them who forged the chain as check.”
The friend asked: “How wert, in the well, the prison, cast?”
Said Joseph: “As the moon in wane and change at last.”
At change, the new moon’s bent in two, a poor weak thing,
But ripens to the full apace, night’s matchless king.339
Pearls in a mortar pounded are, by chance, sometimes;
Still, they’re esteemed a joy to glad eyes in all climes.15
Then, grains of wheat are cast into the lowly earth;
But golden ears thence spring, a source of glee and mirth.
These, too, are ground to dust in mill;—vile as to show;
Increased in value, thence, bread it becomes, we know.
Again ’tis crushed between the teeth; to chyme it turns,
And feeds the mind, the thoughts, the soul;—in wisdom burns.
The soul, in turn, is subject to the stress of love;
New miracles, as seen, “the sowers marvel”340 prove.
But truce to these reflections; let us follow now
The words of Joseph’s friend. ’Tis worth while these to know.20