Selected Poems (Engelse vertaling)

JEHUDAH HALEVI 155

Panting towards thee; all they bending low,

Each one from his own place, towards thy
gates;

The flocks of all thy multitudes of old
That, sent from mount to hill in scattered
flight,

Have yet forgotten nevermore thy fold;

That take fast, clinging hold upon thy skirt,
Striving to grasp the palm-boughs on thine
height,

To come to thee at last with strength begirt.

Shinar and Pathros—nay, can these compare
With thee in state? And can thy purity,

And can thy light be like the vain things
there?

And thine anointed—who among their throng
Compareth? Likened unto whom shall be

Levites and seers and singers of thy song?

Lo! it shall pass, shall change, the heritage,
Of vain-crowned kingdoms; not all time
subdues

Thy strength; thy crown endures from age to
age.