Selected Poems (Engelse vertaling)

106 JEHUDAH HALEVI

jer. 48.11. Her perfume is not changed; as at this day,
so was it ever:
She retaineth the same fair form, she groweth
not dim.

Refrain, ye men, from being like foxes
Whose way is contrary to the king and his
law;

Cease from being head over them that from the
law stray far,

Ezek. 19,2. And be a tail¹ to the lions י whelps which she
hath reared,
Which eat her bread in order to fight them

that wage war on her,²That would do, every man, as his soul desireth,
Every man of whom goeth his own way, for
in truth,

jer. 31,28-29. The tooth that eateth sour grapes, that alone

Ezek. 18.2. is set on edge.

But as for me, I will cleave to her, and my

soul shall hold fast
To her cords, and because of her it waiteth
for the Lord.

Gen. 12,13. Truly she is my sister, and sheddeth sweetness
upon me,

The while I take pleasure in her, and she in me.
I have gloried all my life-long that she is my
sister,

Gen. 12,13. And my soul liveth for her sake.

¹  See Ethics of the Fathers IV, 20.

^2 a Note play on the word לחם.