Have no fear, for they are twisted
To allure you unto me.’
Thus she spoke, the gentle dove,
Listen to your plighted love:
‘Oh, how long I wait, till my sweetheart comes back,’ she said,
‘Laying his caressing hand underneath my burning head.’
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Time-servers are the cowering slaves of slaves,
Each soul shall win the gift that it most craves;Seek God, my soul — God shall your portion be!Based on the translation by Solomon Solis-Cohen that’s reproduced on pages 376-377 of A Treasury of Jewish Poetry: From Biblical Times to the Present, edited by Nathan and Marynn Ausubel (Crown Publishers, 1957).
My heart is in the east, and I in the uttermost west—
How shall I render my vows and my bonds, while yetZion lieth beneath the fetter of Edom, and I in Arab chains?A light thing would it seem to me to leave all the good things of Spain—Seeing how precious in mine eyes to behold the dust of the desolate sanctuary.Translated by Nina Salaman
Into my eyes he lovingly looked,
And in the mirror of my eyes,What but his image did he find?Upon my dark-hued eyes he pressedHis lips with breath of passion rare.The rogue! ‘Twas not my eyes he kissed;He kissed his picture mirrored there.
greet my love with wine and gladsome lay;
Six slaves the weekdays are; I shareWith them a round of toil and care,Yet light the burdens seem, I bearFor your sweet sake, Sabbath, my love!On the First-day to the accustomed taskI go content, nor reward ask,Save in your smile, at length, to bask —Day blessed of God, Sabbath, my love!Is the Second-day dull, the…
Shalom, Mount Avarim. Blessed be your slopes.
Sacred bones now buried deep in your side.If you do not know him, ask the Red Sea,Ask the green bush, ask Sinai, and they will tell you:“He was not a man of words, but he did God’s work.”I have vowed to visit you soon, God willing.Translated by Robert Mezey
The night when the fair maiden revealed the likeness of her form to me,
Golden like a topaz, coveringA brow of smoothest crystal—She was like the sun making red in her risingThe clouds of dawn with the flame of her light.Translated by Nina Salaman