Selected Poems (Engelse vertaling)

26 JEHUDAH HALEVI

13

ON THE SEA
V

My desire for the living God hath constrained
me

To seek the place of the throne of mine an-
ointed—

Gen. 31.28. Even so that it hath not suffered me to kiss

The children of my house, my friends, and my
brethren;

And that I weep not for the orchard which I
planted

And watered, and my green shoots that
prospered;

And that I remember not Jehudah and Azariel,

My two beautiful choice flowers;

And Isaac, whom I counted as my child,

Deut. 33,14. Fruit of the sun, best of the growth of my
moons;

And that I have all but forgotten the house
of prayer

In whose place of learning was my rest,

And that I forget the delights of my Sabbaths,

The beauty of my Festivals, the glory of my
Passovers,

isa. 42,8. And have given my glory unto others,

And forsaken my praise unto graven images.