Selected Poems (Engelse vertaling)

78 JEHUDAH HALEVI

41

TO RABBI MOSES IBN EZRA—
ON PARTING

We know thee, O separation, from the days of
youth,

jud. 5,21. And the river of weeping—that ancient river!

Shall we strive with fate, that hath not sinned,

And with days, though days bear no iniquity?

They run in circles, in a right course,

And naught is perverse nor crooked in the
Heights.—

Can this be a new thing, since naught in the
world is new,

And since her laws are inscribed by the
finger of God?

And how shall her words change, since they
all

ps. 77.11. Are sealed by the ring on the right hand of
the Most High?

And every cause is re-found in the circuit,

And every new thing hath been already many
times;

And man is united but to be parted again,

Gen. 25.23. To bring forth out of one nation many nations.

Gen. 11,1-9. For had not the sons of man been divided
from of old,

Then would the earth not be filled with peoples.