Selected Poems (Engelse vertaling)

2 JEHUDAH HALEVI

I

MY HEART IS IN THE EAST

My heart is in the east, and I in the utter-
most west—

How can I find savour in food ? How shall it
be sweet to me?

How shall I render my vows and my bonds,
while yet

Zion lieth beneath the fetter of Edom, and I in
Arab chains?

A light thing would it seem to me to leave all
the good things of Spain—

Seeing how precious in mine eyes to behold the
dust of the desolate sanctuary.