Selected Poems (Engelse vertaling)

5 JEHUDAH HALEVI

Deut. 32.49.50. Mount Abarim, and Mount Hor, where are
the twain

Ps. 136,6.7. Great lights—thy Luminaries, thy Teachers.

The life of souls is the air of thy land, and of

pure myrrh
The grains of thy dust, and honey from the
comb thy rivers.

isa. 20,2.3 Sweet would it be unto my soul to walk naked
and barefoot
Upon the desolate ruins where thy holiest
dwellings were;

In the place of thine Ark where it is hidden¹

and in the place
Of thy cherubim which abode in thine inner-
most recesses.

jer. 7,29. I will cut off and cast away the splendour of
my crown of locks, and curse the fate
That desecrated in unclean land the heads
that bore thy crown.

How shall it be sweet to me to eat and drink
while I behold

jer. 15,3. Dogs tearing at thy lions' whelps?

Eccies. 11,7. Or how can light of day be joyous to mine
eyes while yet
I see in ravens' beaks torn bodies of thine
eagles?

O cup of sorrow! gently! hold a while! already

Ps. 38,8. My loins are filled, yea, and my soul, with
thy bitterness.

¹ Yoma 52b53־b.