Selected Poems (Engelse vertaling)

88 JEHUDAH HALEVI

When I am bowed despite me, and the moth
Eateth my bones aweary of sustaining me;

And I fare forth whither my fathers fared,
And where they rested find my camping place.

Stranger and sojourner am I on face of earth,
While in her womb is mine appointed home.

My youth, until to-day, hath done its
pleasure:

But when shall I do good for mine own soul?

Ecci. 3,11. The world which Thou hast set within my
heart

Hath held me back from seeking out mine
end;

And how then shall I serve my Maker, while
A captive to my lust, a slave to my desire?

And how shall I aspire to lofty place?—
Tomorrow morn the worm will be my sister;

And how upon a day of gladness shall my

heart be glad?—
I know not if it shall be well with my to-
morrow;

For lo, the days and nights are pledged to-
gether

All to consume my flesh till I am gone,

To scatter to the wind the half of me,
And half of me restore unto the dust.