Selected Poems (Engelse vertaling)

97 JEHUDAH HALEVI

48

THEY THAT KNOW MY SORROW

job 41,11. They that know my sorrow add a spark to
the fire of my heart

Cant. 5,9. When they ask me: How is thy belovèd more
precious than another love?

Praises and dark sayings fail to tell of Him;

Dan. 9,23. He is all desirable; His majesty cannot be
sought out;

Ezek. 26,16. Therefore do I clothe myself with terrors at
His flight.

Ah, pity me, and speak unto the heart so
moved,

Or comfort me; for how endure love and sepa-
ration?

Ex. 23,21. And His name is within me—like fire in my
reins,

jer. 20,9. Bound within my heart, shut up in my bones:

And they rebuke me—they that despise my
statutes—

And they reproach me when I seek to serve
Him,

And they revile me when I give glory to His
Name.

They think to set me far, O God, from Thy

service: