Selected Poems (Engelse vertaling)

12 JEHUDAH HALEVI

Isa. 33,23. And the mast and the sails are grown weak,
And the ark and her chambers are confused,
Gen. 6,14-16. The lowest with the second and the third;

And they that pull the ropes are in travail,¹
And women and men in desperation,¹
isa. 33.23. And the spirit is gone from their pilots,
And the bodies are weary of the souls,
Gen. 36.26. There is no worth in the strength of the masts,
And no desire for the guidance of the old men;
job 41,21. And the cedar-masts are accounted as stubble,

The fir beams as if they were reeds.
Prov. 27.3. And the ballast of sand on the surface of the

sea is like a straw,
isa. 5,24. And the iron sockets are like bits of chaff,

And the people pray, each one to his holy one,
But thou turnest to the Holy of Holies,
And rememberest the marvels of the Red Sea
and the Jordan,
jer. 17,1. Which are graven upon all hearts.
P8. 65.8. Thou praisest Him that stilleth the roaring

of the seas,
isa. 57.20. When its waters cast up mire;

And while thou recallest unto Him the abom-

inations² of unclean hearts
He recalleth for thee the merit of the saintly
fathers.

¹ See play on words in Hebrew text.

^ג Following Harkavy ^,s opinion that ITOf should be read
in place of niDf.