[Born at Cordova 993, and died at Granada 1055. He was famous as a poet, Halakist, and philologist, and was the author of a treatise on the methodology of the Talmud. Some medieval Jewish critics considered him the greatest Hebrew poet. This view, however, cannot be maintained, as he was certainly surpassed by Ibn Gebirol and Judah ha-Levi. He was for some time vizier at the court of King Habus. His poems, perhaps more than those of any other poet of that epoch, resemble the Arabic poems very closely.]
1. On Leaving Cordova[83]
The soul is deprived of that which it desires, and that which it asks is withheld from it. Although the body is plump, and fed, and fat, the glorious soul is not yet satisfied. A humble man walks on the earth, and yet his thoughts reach unto the skies. Of what avail is it to man to have his body’s pleasures, while his soul is distressed? Some friends there are who harm and profit not; they have big bodies, but their minds are small. They think that to increase my riches I depart from my dwelling-place and roam about—though the locks of my head are dishevelled and mine eye is painted with night’s stibium. My friends know not the secrets of my heart; indeed my friends spoke not knowingly. Their soul knows nought, nor does it understand; it is like the soul of a cloven-footed beast.
Shall he refrain himself, whose soul is like a moon, and, like the moon, strives to soar high? And shall he rest until he girds his loins with her wings, as one girds on a cloth, and till his deeds are heard throughout the world, and like the ocean is his fame increased?
I swear by God and by His worshippers (assuredly, my like shall keep his oath) that I will ascend the rocks on foot, and go down to the deepest pit; The borders of the desert will I join, and cross the ocean in a boat with sails; I shall roam about until I soar and rise to a height that forever shall be known. With terrors shall I then inspire my foes, but my friends shall find salvation in me. The ears of freemen shall I bore through[84] as slaves’, and mine ear, too, shall be bored through by my friends.
I have a soul that sustains my friends, but from my adversaries it is withheld. In it there is for thee a garden filled with friendship, planted by the brook of love; it is that friendship which is kept from early youth, like a signet fixed in a ring; it is engraved like the green gravings in a window cut out in the door of a palace.
May God be with thee as thou lovest, and may thy soul, which He loves, be redeemed from the hand of foes. May the God of deliverance send thee salvation, till there be no sun and moon!
2. On Having Been Saved in Mid-Ocean from a Tunny Fish[85]
Shall he that falls and stumbles rise again, and he that roams and wanders find repose? Shall I be raised yet once more, although my feet stumbled, and my ankle slipped?
In my soul are all the things that offer help and consolation to the stricken souls; but confusion reigns in the souls of them that came to gloat over me in the day of my discomfiture. They think that troublous times never change, a waste land shall not be inhabited. Yet God does raise them that He humbled and brought low; and He has mysteries, His way is hid.
O hear this word, and know that not in vain does God keep me alive upon the earth; and then shalt thou receive the evil days with cheerful heart, closed mouth, and bridled thought. Let thine ear be deaf to dissenters, and thine eye closed from seeing backsliders, who are like Hofni in Shiloh,[86] or like Zimri with the Midianite woman,[87] or Onan[88] with his brother’s wife.
O hear this word, exalt God in thy house, and on thy way, whilst thou sittest or standest.
Her head is as a row boat in size, with a countenance raised very high; she has eyes like fountains, a nostril like a furnace, and temples like a wall. Her mouth is deep and wide like a cave; when thirsty, she pours a stream into it. Her lips resemble two inflated skin-bottles, and between them is a hole like that of a torn garment. White is her body, green her back; her neck is like a tower, her belly is like a heap. Her fins are like a keen-edged sword; her scales look like a red buckler. To them that watch, her structure is like a rock projecting in mid-ocean.
When she came swimming round about the boat, no one uttered aught, nor breathed a word. Then she drew nigh unto the sides of the boat, and stood on her tail which was as a cedar or a vine.
The hearts of all men melted like wax, like water, or a stream that is swept away. Through grief I stilled me like a lamb that becomes mute on the day of slaughter. Then I thought of my God, while others at my side thought of gods like Ashima.[89] I said: ‘It is true, in such or such a way transgressions ensnare the guilty soul; though Jonah through piety was vomited from the sea on land, but what am I? My God, stay Thy wrath, for this calamity awakened me (for I had been slumbering). But if I deserve this punishment, may it be an atonement for my great guilt.’
She then sank into the water, like the host which God had cast and thrown into the sea, and came beneath to overthrow the boat; (all hearts stood still, and every breath was gone). But God rebuked her, so that she returned in a moment to her abode in the depth of the sea. Thus to small worms He brought salvation, upon a beam daubed all around with pitch. The dead restored He from the grave, and with His high and lofty hand He saved the drowning.
All men who know the ocean marvelled, and said: ‘Wherefore, and how did these escape? for hitherto no boat has yet been saved from this accursed monster of the deep.’
I answered them: ‘Thus God’s redemption is majestic and complete to them that know the glory of His splendor; He works salvation for them that know Him, and takes vengeance upon them that provoke Him. His are the sea, the beasts, and the waters of the great deep—all of them He hung on nought. What is this beast against the Lord, who made her reign supreme, and gave her strength and might?’
To God I will render the thanks of them that are redeemed—it shall be set and put in my mouth. I declare that, unlike created things, my Rock has no beginning and no end; I declare that the dead shall be quickened, when the end of the mysterious heptad[90] comes; that Moses and the Torah which is in our hands are true—it is marked with perfection; that the words of our sages are straight and upright, their Talmud and their Mishnah are pleasant; that there is a goodly reward for the pure in the next world, a recompense for them that die for the sake of the traditional law. God has dominion over land and sea, over heaven, the Great Bear, and Pleiades. His fear is put upon my countenance, and His Torah is perfect in my heart.
