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Zulaikha’s Lament


Blotted and Stained
Like blood on apples,
My reputation remains in tatters
After these years
But what was a woman to do?
--
He had the face of
An angel
His shoulders, A sculptors dream
His eyes,
spoke a million languages
his lips,
like daggers driven apart
--
I grew outside of Cairo
Unloving father and sad mother
Sold me for a goat and  
A bag of gold
To the first merchant who
They came across
--
My Husband,
Kind, Generous man
Made me his wife
And put me along with
Thirteen others

--
My Husband,
Kind Generous man
Kept me happy
Visited me twice a month
Blessing me with
His drunken kisses and
Impotent rage
--
I was never sad
What more could
A woman want?
Lots of wealth and
An impotent husband
Sex was a chore
The price of being so glad
--

Then he came
Chained and covered with dust
Another man from the
Slave traders den
He stood at the gate
Neither sad nor in jest
Even at a distance
His sweat
Smelled of musk
--

What was a woman to do?
He was among
Those who my right hand
Possessed
I had all I wanted,
All
but him
--
At first, it was not hard
To resist
But he would come
Smiling and breaking
Hearts in process
The slave girls would
Talk, blush
--
I would listen,
Mask of Osiris
As they would whisper
About his hands
And bare legged
Antics,
Hoping to catch a
Whiff of his scent
--

But what was a woman to do?
I plotted and schemed
For months, avoiding
Treacherous other wives
And Wiley old nuns

In the Harem,
There are no friends
--
All I wanted was for
Him to be mine
Even if it was just for a day
To take me away
And make love to me
In a desert oasis somewhere
--
But a torn shirt
and a dozen blotted apples,
and all these years later
My reputation remains in tatters
But tell me
what was a woman to do?

--






--



 Zulaikha, known in the Bible as Potiphar's wife, was the woman who fell in Love with Hazrat Yusuf (AS), Joseph in the Christian tradition and tried to seduce him, unsuccessfully.


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