the weary one. And the wretched one cried from his heart, and ran here and
there, and moaned to himself: “Surely this watchman is Izrá’íl, my angel
of death, following so fast upon me; or he is a tyrant of men, seeking to
harm me.” His feet carried him on, the one bleeding with the arrow of
love, and his heart lamented. Then he came to a garden wall, and with
untold pain he scaled it, for it proved very high; and forgetting his
life, he threw himself down to the garden.

And there he beheld his beloved with a lamp in her hand, searching for a
ring she had lost. When the heart-surrendered lover looked on his
ravishing love, he drew a great breath and raised up his hands in prayer,
crying: “O God! Give Thou glory to the watchman, and riches and long life.
For the watchman was Gabriel, guiding this poor one; or he was Isráfíl,
bringing life to this wretched one!”

Indeed, his words were true, for he had found many a secret justice in
this seeming tyranny of the watchman, and seen how many a mercy lay hid
behind the veil. Out of wrath, the guard had led him who was athirst in
love’s desert to the sea of his loved one, and lit up the dark night of
absence with the light of reunion. He had driven one who was afar, into
the garden of nearness, had guided an ailing soul to the heart’s
physician.

Now if the lover could have looked ahead, he would have blessed the
watchman at the start, and prayed on his behalf, and he would have seen
that tyranny as justice; but since the end was veiled to him, he moaned
and made his plaint in the beginning. Yet those who journey in the garden
land of knowledge, because they see the end in the beginning, see peace in
war and friendliness in anger.