Selected Poems (Engelse vertaling)

15 JEHUDAH HALEVI

And vain would be the deed of the fathers who

were embalmed
And their bodies sent to her earth—
And they sighing for her sake
Though the land was full of reprobates;
And for naught would the fathers י altars have

been built,
And in vain their oblation offered there.

Is it well that the dead should be remembered,
And the Ark and the Tablets forgotten?
That we should seek out the place of the pit

and the worm,
And forsake the fount of life eternal?
Have we any heritage save the sanctuaries of
God?—

Then how should we forget His holy Mount?
Have we either in the east or in the west
A place of hope wherein we may trust,
Except the land that is full of gates,
Toward which the gates of Heaven are open—
Like Mount Sinai and Carmel and Bethel,
And the houses of the prophets, the envoys,
And the thrones of the priests of the Lord ^,s
throne,

And the thrones of the kings, the anointed?
Unto us, yea, and unto our children, hath
He assigned her;