Selected Poems (Engelse vertaling)

144 JEHUDAH HALEVI

79

NATURE AND LAW¹

(For rhymed version see page 172)

The words of God are pure; they are more
precious than rubies;

They are wrapped up in hearts, they are
bound up in souls.

Weary are all words with fervent pursuit after
His praises,

For what hath one of numbered days to do
with His infinite eternities?

As clouds above the dust, so high above him
are God ^,s ways.

How can understanding that is deficient and
reason that is cut short

Grasp the ways of might, the high, the im-
pregnable?

Be silent before Him, each that speaketh of Him,
and perish his thought!

Only about His works let him frame song, let
him ply his tongue;

Yea, concerning the law of His mouth let him
lift his voice and make loud his throat.²

¹ Referred to by Zunz as a Piyut for the 1st day of

Pentecost. It occurs in the Avignon ritual and others.

* The liturgies read these two lines thus:

אך במפעליו יחבר קול וירחיב את גרונו
.ובדברי שיר יגבר פיו ויאריך את לשונו

See rhymed version.