Selected Poems (Engelse vertaling)

3 JEHUDAH HALEVI

2

ODE TO ZION

(For rhymed version see page 151)

Zion! wilt thou not ask if peace be with thy

captives

That seek thy peace—that are the remnant of
thy flocks?

From west and east, from north and south—
the greeting

i Kings5,4. "Peace" from far and near, take thou from
every side;

And greeting from the captive of desire,¹ giv-
ing his tears like dew

Of Hermon, and longing to let them fall upon
thine hills.

To wail for thine affliction I am like the jackals;
but when I dream

Of the return of thy captivity, I am a harp for
thy songs.

My heart to Bethel and Peniel yearneth sore,
Gen. 32,2,3. To Mahanaim and to all the places where thy
pure ones have met.

There the Presence abideth in thee; yea, there
thy Maker

Opened thy gates to face the gates of heaven.²

¹ Some editions have תקוה for mwi.
^ג See No. 6, line 32.