Selected Poems (Engelse vertaling)

96 JEHUDAH HALEVI

47

HAST THOU FORGOTTEN?

(For rhymed version see page 162)

Cant. 1,13. My love, hast Thou forgotten Thy resting
between my breasts?

And wherefore hast Thou sold me for ever to
them that enslave me?

Have I not followed Thee of old through a
land not sown?

Lo, Seir and Mount Paran and Sinai and Sin
are my witnesses.

And my love was Thine, and Thy favour upon
me,

And how now hast Thou apportioned my glory
away from me?

Thrust unto Seir, cast out unto Kedar,

Tested in the furnace of Greece, afflicted under
the yoke of Media—

Is there, beside Thee, a redeemer or, beside
me, a captive of hope?—

O give Thy strength to me, for I give Thee
my love.