Selected Poems (Engelse vertaling)

42 JEHUDAH HALEVI

Among the earth clods,
In a place of secrets,
A place of wonders,

The fountain of prophecies—
Their faces glowing

With the glory of God!
I shall fondle its dust

I shall nestle beside it
And lament upon it
As over a grave—
And the goal of my thoughts

To make my couch
^,Mid my fathers' graves
In the demesne of the pure.

Go up, O ship!

And seek the region
Which hath for the Shekhinah

Abodes within.
O hasten thy flight

And God's hand waft thee,
And bind thou thy wings

To the wings of the dawn—
For them that flee and wander

With the wind of the sails,
For the hearts that are torn

To a thousand shreds.
But I am in fear of

The iniquities of youth,
Those which are counted
In the scrolls of my God;

was buried before the destruction of the first Temple to
save it from exile or desecration.