Selected Poems (Engelse vertaling)

106 JEHUDAH HALEVI

52

THOU WHO KNOWEST OUR SORROWS

Ps. 147,3. Thou who knowest our sorrows, and bindest
up our wounds,

Turn again our tens of thousands to the land
of our abodes.

There shall we offer our oblations, our vows,
our freewill offerings,

There shall we make before Thee the offerings
due to Thee.

The faithful recall to-day the wonders of
olden time;

The children groan, for other lords beside Thee
are their masters.

Where is God ^,s covenant to the fathers, where
His former mercies,

When He spake from the heaven of His
dwelling, unto us, face to face,

When He gave into the hand of the faithful
envoy the two tablets of stone?

And where are all His marvels which our
fathers have told us?

How long have we drunken our fill of bitter-
ness, and hoped for Thy salvation?

How many seasons were we sick with longing,
but entreated none but Thee,

And watched for the light of morning, but
were covered with thick darkness?