(1092-1167)
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“I have a garment. . . ./ “Sitting inside, I see the moon and the Pleiades.” Is it possible that 900 years ago Abraham Ibn
Ezra saw something the Hubble Space Telescope, which took this picture of the
Pleiades, could not see? |
A SELECTION OF HIS POEMS IN ENGLISH TRANSLATION
To Whom Shall I Cry in My Anguish?
Grace and Charm Are Your Weapons
ABRAHAM IBN EZRA AND THE METAPHORS OF IMAGINATION
Links to Other Web Sites with Information on Abraham Ibn Ezra
۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞
I HAVE A GARMENT
I have a garment which is like a sieve
Through which girls sift barley and wheat.
In the dead of night I spread it out like a tent
And a thousand stars pierce it with their gleams.
Sitting inside, I see the moon and the Pleiades
And on a good night, the great Orion himself.
I get awfully tired of counting all the holes
Which seem to me like the teeth of many saws.
A piece of thread to sew up all the other threads
Would be, to say the least, superfluous.
If a fly landed on it with all his weight,
The little idiot would hang by his foot, cursing.
Dear God, do what you can to mend it.
Make me a mantle of praise from these poor rags.
Translated by
Robert Mezey
Copyright © Robert Mezey, 1973.
Reprinted by permission of the author.
۞
MY STARS
On the
day I was born,
The
unalterable stars altered.
If I
decided to sell lamps,
It
wouldn’t get dark till the day I died.
Some
stars. Whatever I do,
I’m a
failure before I begin.
If I
suddenly decided to sell shrouds,
People
would suddenly stop dying.
after Abraham ibn
Ezra
Robert Mezey
Copyright © Robert Mezey, 1973.
Reprinted by permission of the author.
۞
When I come to the patron’s house early in
the morning, they say: ‘He has already ridden away.’ When I come in the
evening, they say: ‘He has already gone to sleep.’ He either climbs into his
carriage or climbs into bed — woe to the poor man, born to misfortune!*
*Lit. ‘without a star.’
Translated by T. Carmi
from The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse, edited by T. Carmi (Allen Lane, 1981).
Copyright © T. Carmi, 1981.
۞
TO WHOM
SHALL I CRY IN MY ANGUISH?
To whom shall I cry in my anguish?
And where shall I flee from the flies?
No breathing-space do they
allow me;
They treat me as would enemies.
They buzz in my ears all
their love-songs,
And creep on my brow and
my eyes.
I try to partake of my breakfast—
They swarm on the coveted prize.
They drink of my wine from
the goblets,
Considering me in no wise.
Translated by Meyer Waxman
from Meyer Waxman, A History of Jewish Literature, vo1 1
(New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1960). Copyright © Meyer Waxman.
۞
God, exalted in grandeur; praised be His glorious name.
He fashioned every form,
Both hidden and revealed;
Even reason’s rule
By himself He established! Who is privy to His council?
They who see His bounty
In the course He takes,
How can they deny him?
All are His creatures, they are His witness,
vouching for Him.
Whoever considers His wonders
With his heart and his eyes,
And with the guidance of His
prophets,
He will be grateful throughout life that his breath is in God’s hands.
Translated by Leon J. Weinberger
from Leon J. Weinberger,
Twilight
of a Golden Age: Selected Poems of Abraham Ibn Ezra
(Tuscaloosa and London: The University of Alabama Press, 1997).
Copyright © 1997 The University of
Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
۞
When I hunger to praise
Thee, I’m sated;
When to worship I thirst,
I am drunk.
Then my heart is
secure, when I fear Thee
When in terror and awe I am sunk.
When I bow to Thee low,
I am lifted;
When I fall in Thy presence, I rise.
I am free when I serve,
for Thy name’s sake,
My oppressors who Thy name
despise.
All suffering is sweet
to my heart,
When I know that My God
Thou art.
Translated by Meyer Waxman
from Meyer Waxman, A History of Jewish Literature, vo1 1
(New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1960). Copyright © Meyer Waxman.
۞
O God
of earth and heaven,
Spirit
and flesh are Thine!
Thou
hast in wisdom given,
Man’s
inward light divine;
And
unto him Thy grace accords
The gift of spoken words.
The
world was fashioned by Thy will,
Nor
did’st Thou toil at it, for still
Thy
breath did Thy design fulfil.
My
times are in Thy hand,
Thou
knowest what is best,
And
where I fear to stand,
Thy
strength brings succour bless’d.
Thy loving-kindness,
as within
A mantle, hides my sin.
Thy
mercies are my sure defence,
And for
Thy bounteous providence
Thou
dost demand no recompense.
For all
the sons of men
Thou
hast a book prepared
Where,
without hand or pen,
Their
deeds are all declared:
Yet for
the pure in heart shall be
A
pardon found with Thee.
The
life and soul Thou did’st create
Thou
hast redeemed from evil strait,
Thou
hast not left me desolate.
The
heavens Thou badest be,
Thy
bright, celestial throne,
Are
witnesses to Thee,
O Thou
the Lord alone!
One,
indivisible, Thy name
Upholds creation’s frame.
Thou
madest all—the depth, the height—
Thou
rulest all in power and might,
Supreme,
eternal, infinite!
Translated by
Alice Lucas
from Alice Lucas, The Jewish Year
(New York: Bloch, 1926).
Copyright © Alice Lucas, 1926.
۞
I bow
down with my face to the ground, for there is nothing lower than it. I throw
myself down before the Supreme One, highest of the high. What but my spirit
shall I bring when I approach Him? It comes from Him, He gives it life in the
choicest part of my body, and a man has nothing dearer than his soul. There is
no end and no beginning to His glory—how then can my tongue glorify Him? He is
farther from me than the farthest heaven, and closer than my flesh and bone! I
come to You now, my God, because none but You can be
of help. The earth and all the heavens are, like me, Your
creations; how then could I ask them to save me, when salvation by any creature
is a vain hope! A slave can find no refuge but in his master. What more can I
hope to know, knowing that You created me for my good?
Your acts of love are beyond number, but my sins outnumber the sand of the
sea-shore. How shall I lift up my eyes to You? They,
too, are sinful. What more can my lips say? They, too, have done wrong. My
wanton heart has done to me what no enemy could have done. Gusts of anger seize
me as I think of it—woe is me, I have disobeyed. My evil passions led me
astray; I had no wish to anger You. My wrongs have
wronged no one but me, and none but You will keep
faith with me. Show me the right path for it is You
who have taught me all I know. I have heard myself speak the words of my heart;
may You hear them in heaven!
Translated by T. Carmi
from The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse, edited by T. Carmi (Allen Lane, 1981).
Copyright © T. Carmi,
1981.
۞
GOD’S
O God,
You have searched me and know my mind;
You
discern my thoughts from afar, You are privy to my
every move.
You
anticipate my plans; my walking and reclining.
You observe
and are familiar with my ways.
You see
the word forming in my heart before it reaches
My
tongue; You know when my days will end;
You hem
me in behind and in front and from above;
You
guide me with your right hand, while your left supports me.
You fill
the high heavens and distant sea;
Where
can I go from your presence when You confront me
everywhere?
Darkness
does not conceal me; nothing obscures your view.
It is You who reveals my secrets.
In the
beginning You formed me; You knit me together in the
womb;
In its
depth You crafted my delicate frame.
Your
eyes beheld my bare limbs; they were all recorded
In your
book; in due time they took their separate shapes.
How
vast are the sum of your thoughts, they are most
Difficult
to comprehend; my “knowledge” and “wisdom is foolishness.
I thank
You for your wonders; I am grateful for your mercies.
By your
power I am sustained; to You belong my breath and my
soul.
Translated by Leon J. Weinberger
from Leon J. Weinberger,
Twilight
of a Golden Age: Selected Poems of Abraham Ibn Ezra
(Tuscaloosa and London: The University of Alabama Press, 1997).
Copyright © 1997 The University of
Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
۞
My help, my hope, my strength shall be,
Thou perfect law of God, in thee!
My faith shall be my rock of might,
Its law my portion and my right,
Its testimonies my delight,
And day by day, my voice I raise
In song and hymn to chant their
praise.
How did th’ angelic host lament
When from their midst, by God’s intent,
The holy law to earth was sent.
“Woe that the pure and sanctified
Should now on sinful lips abide.”
The people trembled when they saw
Approaching them the heavenly law—
Their voices rose in joy and awe:
“Thy covenant, O Lord, fulfil,
Declare it, we will do Thy will.”
Translated by Alice Lucas
from Alice Lucas, The Jewish Year
(New York: Bloch, 1926).
Copyright © Alice Lucas, 1926.
۞
I HAVE BUT ONE REQUEST
Would that my ways were steadfast in
keeping your laws!
I have found no rest except in my desire
for You.
I am ready to serve You;
lead me in your just path.
I have but one request: I want to earn your favor.
I seek nothing from You except your presence.
Truth knows that no one is your equal;
how then can You be compared?
To what can I liken your labor when all
is made by You?
Since I am your creature what can I say
[that You know not]?
Even my thoughts and talents belong to You.
All your efforts witness to You, not me.
Boundless is your compassion, and who is
not in your debt?
There is no truth but You
and the work of your hands.
Even those who deny You
testify to your presence!
Wherever I turn, I find You;
I am connected to You, for nothing separates
us.
No sooner than I leave your presence do I
hasten after You;
Your beauty is all that my eyes can see;
My ears hear only your command!
My heart’s secrets are revealed to You;
Whatever I say is within your hearing.
Send help to the tempter’s captive;
Put your Name upon his lips and make
your home in his heart;
Pity him when he lifts his eyes to your
place in heaven.
Reach out your hand and let it rest upon the faithful.
Let your face shed light upon us in our
darkness.
Translated by
Leon J. Weinberger
from Leon J. Weinberger,
Twilight of a Golden Age: Selected Poems of
Abraham Ibn Ezra
(Tuscaloosa and London: The University of Alabama Press, 1997).
Copyright
© 1997 The University of
Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
RESIGNATION
I hope for the salvation
of the Lord,
In Him I trust, when
fears my being thrill,
Come life, come
death, according to His word,
He is my portion
still.
Hence doubting
heart! I will the Lord extol
With gladness, for
in Him is my desire,
Who, as with
fatness, satisfies my soul,
That doth to heaven
aspire.
All that is hidden,
shall mine eyes behold,
And the great Lord
of all be known to me,
Him will I serve, His am I as of old;
I ask not to be
free.
Sweet is ev’n sorrow
coming in His name,
Nor will I seek its
purpose to explore,
His praise will I
continually proclaim,
And bless Him evermore.
Translated by Alice Lucas
from Alice Lucas, The Jewish Year
(New York: Bloch, 1926).
Copyright © Alice Lucas, 1926.
۞
PRAYER FOR HELP
Lord, I
pray with hands uplifted
And my
tears flow fast,
For my
manifold transgressions
And my sinful past.
Heal
mine inward wound and straighten
All my ways at last.
Merciful,
O Father, be,
Even
when Thou judgest me,
Answer
when I call on Thee,
God of
my salvation!
Glad
yet fearful, I am seeking
Pardon,
‘midst the throng
Of Thy
chosen congregation
With
sweet sound of song,
Hymns
and praise and patient striving
To amend the wrong.
Lord,
Thy power I will proclaim,
And exalt
Thy glorious name,
Yea, my
love for Thee like flame
Burns,
Thou my salvation!
Thou
o’er heavenly heights who ridest
Know’st
the inmost parts,
And Thy
love accepts repentance
When it
sorest smarts,
Counting
it as off’rings ever,
Strengthening feeble hearts.
Thou
wilt lead Thy flock aright
To the
land of my delight,
Thou my
refuge, rock, and might,
Heritage and portion.
Well-spring
Thou of strength and gladness,
Lord, I
hope in Thee,
And
declare the power eternal
Of Thy sovereignty.
O! command Thou Thy salvation
To abide with me.
Let it
guide me on my way,
Evermore
my help and stay,
Bringing
me from day to day
Still my daily portion.
Thou
wilt save me, Thou wilt guard me,
Mine
exalted King.
Have
regard to my entreaty
And
good tidings bring.
Unto us
Thy needy people
Let
Thine answer ring:
Fear
thou not, for I behold thee,
I will
strengthen and enfold thee,
Yea, my
right hand shall uphold thee!
I am
thy salvation!
Translated by
Alice Lucas
from Alice Lucas, The Jewish Year
(New York: Bloch, 1926).
Copyright © Alice Lucas, 1926.
۞
O Lord,
I call on Thee when sore dismayed,
And
Thou wilt hear my voice and lend me aid,
Nor
shall I be of myriads afraid,
For
Thou wilt ever be
The
portion of my lot—Thou savest me.
In
troubled times Thy mercy’s plenteous store
Is full
to overflowing evermore,
And
when in straitness I my plaint outpour,
With
words entreating Thee,
Then
with enlargement Thou dost answer me.
Make
known Thy love to those, who trust and pray,
To
those, who hold Thy name their help and stay,
Waiting for Thy salvation day by day.
Yea,
who, O Lord, but Thee,
Shall
make me glad, who else deliver me?
Do Thou
from heavenly heights my pain behold,
And
lead me back unto Thy sheltering fold,
That I
may answer scorners as of old:
Yea,
though my dwelling be
In
darkest night, God is a light to me.
Translated by
Alice Lucas
from Alice Lucas, The Jewish Year
(New York: Bloch, 1926).
Copyright © Alice Lucas, 1926.
۞
GRACE AND CHARM ARE YOUR WEAPONS
[God:]
O
awesome beauty, still desolate, prepare yourself for
God’s mercy;
How fair and pleasant you are!
O
daughter who played on my lap, your face breathes life and your kisses are
sweet;
Charm
and grace are your weapons, from the earrings in your ears
To your painted eyes.
O my
bride, at night, free yourself from your maidens
And come dance with me, your breasts like clusters of the vine;
If you sin, say you have been enchanted!
O
fairest one, you are wasted among the women,
You
who shines through like the dawn; when they put you to
scorn
And you fall, I will lift you up!
My
daughter, why complain? Take courage and come with me!
I
will bring you into my sumptuous home; I will betroth you and you will be my
wife;
I will adorn you and you will be consoled.
Translated by Leon J. Weinberger
from Leon J. Weinberger,
Twilight
of a Golden Age: Selected Poems of Abraham Ibn Ezra
(Tuscaloosa and London: The University of Alabama Press, 1997).
Copyright © 1997 The University of
Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
۞
THE
LIVING GOD
Athirst for God, to Him my soul aspires,
The living God it is my heart desires.
The living God created me
To life. Yea, as I live, spake He,
No living man my face shall see,
Shall see my face and live.
He fashioned all with counsel wise,
And purpose wonderful that lies
For ever hidden from our eyes,
The eyes of all who
live.
Supreme o’er all His glory reigns,
Extolled on earth in holy strains,
Blessed is he whose hand maintains
The soul of all who
live.
He separated
To teach them statutes, which indeed
If that a man do hear and heed,
His soul by them shall live.
Can pure and just themselves declare
They who of dust created were?
Lo, in Thy sight, O Lord, we dare
Call no man just who lives.
Like serpent’s poison venomous,
The sinful passion dwells in us,
Can then from evil cankerous,
Be any free that live?
But they the cords of sin who break
May yet the evil path forsake,
Ere in that house their rest they take,
That waits for all who live.
Call us in mercy unto Thee
Again Thy witnesses to be,
O Thou, who openest graciously
Thy hand to all that live.
Low to the earth my head I bow,
With hands outspread, repeating now,
“Blessed, O Lord our God, be Thou
By every soul that lives!”
Translated by Alice Lucas
from Alice Lucas, The Jewish Year
(New York: Bloch, 1926).
Copyright © Alice Lucas, 1926.
۞
Can my soul ever cool its passion
To adhere to the life—giving Rock?
With Him Wisdom’s fountain abides
Watering her grain and displaying her
fruit.
The stately shape of the soul in her glory
Resembles a bride bedecked with jewels.
Every age retells God’s praises,
And the reborn
nation will thank Him.
Translated
by Leon J. Weinberger
from Leon J. Weinberger,
Twilight of a Golden Age: Selected
Poems of Abraham Ibn Ezra
(Tuscaloosa and London: The University of Alabama Press, 1997).
Copyright © 1997 The University of
Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
THE
SOUL
Lord, my soul, athirst for Thee,
Liveth but Thy light to see,
Though consumed with longing, lives,
For new life that longing gives.
Made in God’s similitude,
And with heavenly powers
endued.
In His steps she followeth,
Seeking Him with every breath,
Passing free through boundless space,
All untouched by time, or place,
Executing her intent
Without tool or
instrument.
When the body’s frame decay’d
In the gloomy grave is laid,
Then the soul with joyful might
Heavenward takes her radiant flight,
Serving God her sole
delight.
Earthly treasures she forsakes,
And a bond of union makes
With the angels of the Lord,
One with them in sweet
accord.
Endless is the good she sees,
All celestial harmonies,
Joy and everlasting pleasure,
More and more beyond all
measure.
Translated by Alice Lucas
from Alice Lucas, The Jewish Year
(New York: Bloch, 1926).
Copyright © Alice Lucas, 1926.
PUT
AWAY TIME’S DELICACIES
O soul, emanated from the luminous fount
of life,
You are hewn from the pure and holy place,
A unique creation without form,
Your worth surpasses wisdom and honor.
Do you not know why you were sent down to earth,
And why you are confined in the body’s
dark recess?
Why do you persist in childish play
And chase the folly of the accursed earth?
Your sleep may be sweet at the outset,
Awakened, you will be bitter with regret.
Put away Time’s delicacies. Why
Would you be a vagabond and outcast when
you leave the body?
Consider well the honor that is yours; it
is the source of your [pride];
You are blessed to be a fearful servant of
the living God.
Be well-advised in this World, so that
In the World—To—Come you may be bound up
with the Lord.
Translated
by Leon J. Weinberger
from Leon J. Weinberger,
Twilight of a Golden Age: Selected
Poems of Abraham Ibn Ezra
(Tuscaloosa and London: The University of Alabama Press, 1997).
Copyright © 1997 The University of
Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
۞
ABRAHAM IBN EZRA AND THE
METAPHORS OF IMAGINATION
by Henry Rasof
Abraham Ibn Ezra was born
in
Ibn Ezra was a polymath who
according to Leon Weinberger wrote “over one hundred books on medicine,
astronomy, mathematics, philosophy, poetry, Bible, Talmud, and linguistics” and
“was the model itinerant sage.” He also “was one of the best known and admired
Jewish figures in the West. His Pisan Tables in astronomy were the
authoritative guides for Roger Bacon…, Nicolas of Cusa…, and Pico della Pirandola…, and he was remembered for his pioneering efforts
in introducing the mathematics of the Arabs to the Europeans” (9). According to
David Goldstein, “he endeavored to bring the culture of the Spanish Jews to
those living in Italy, France and England, and it is primarily due to him that
schools of poetry began to flourish in Italy and Provence…” (153).
In his poem “I Have a Garment,” Abraham Ibn Ezra creates what could be
seen as an emblem of his life and work, as an emblem of the life of the poet in
general, and more broadly as an emblem of the life of the imagination. As with
much information about the medieval Hebrew poets and their work, Ibn Ezra’s
authorship of this poem is not one hundred percent certain. Regardless of
authorship, however, the poem still is emblematic of his life, since Ibn Ezra
was poor in material wealth but rich in spiritual and creative wealth.
On one level, the poem
acknowledges this duality and expresses, as David Goldstein puts it, “his
religious humility before the Creator” (153). On another level the poem
expresses profound theories of the imagination and of interpretation that, like
Ibn Ezra’s famous biblical commentary, foreshadow approaches taken many
hundreds of years later.
The author says: The
“garment…is like a sieve/Through which girls sift
barley and wheat” (this and other quotes from the poem are from Weinberger).
Like a threadbare garment the poet has little in the way of material wealth,
and this garment in particular has holes large enough through which girls can
be seen. On the other hand, the poet can see the stars through it, along with
the moon and the constellations: by day, girls sifting grain; by night, the
seven sisters of the Pleiades. Night is when the imagination blossoms a
thousandfold, when the “thousand stars pierce” the blackness of the sky as well
as the holes in the garment.
At night the simple,
threadbare cloak becomes a tent and then the sky itself. The garment of the
imagination transforms the physical garment into the sky itself. Lights—the
stars—now pierce the garment of the sky, illuminating the humdrum activities on
earth. This is what the poetic imagination (at least to many modern poets) does
via the vehicle of metaphor: It elevates, then
transforms, the ordinary. After the poet reaches the realm of the celestial
bodies, he comes back down the earth. Now the holes in the garment are like
“the teeth of many saws,” and the holes are beyond repair. And yet the thread
that might be used “to sew up all the other threads” is “superfluous.” Not only
is the cloak beyond repair, but the holes do not need
to be repaired: They surround just the right amount of thread. Thus the
imagination has a foundation that sometimes appears shoddy and other times appears exactly as it should be.
All fabric has holes, even
good physical fabric, and threadbare fabric has still larger holes. The poetic
imagination requires both fabric and holes—there needs to be something to
transform, and transformation occurs only when the material world and
descriptions can be penetrated by the starlight of imagination. One is reminded
of the line in William Blake’s “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell”: “If the doors
of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is:
infinite.” The cloak is the covering over this sort of cosmic perception, and
the holes allow us to peer through. And, like the door, which still remains
even after it is cleansed, the cloak requires a certain amount of thread in
order to remain a cloak. The light of the imagination requires a physical world
to illuminate. Without anything to transform, the imagination is of no value.
As mentioned earlier,
Abraham Ibn Ezra was, in addition to being a poet, an important biblical
commentator. Levels of hiddenness in the Hebrew Bible are also referred to as
garments of Torah, and so the poet’s garment may be seen to refer, even if
unintentionally, as well to the garments of the divine. To penetrate the
different levels of meaning of the Torah requires a great deal of light, the
light of reason and the light of the imagination. Orion the hunter seems an apt
image for the biblical commentator, who uses his interpretative “club” to fend
off the large illusions and wrong interpretations and his sword to cut through
the finer illusions, illuminated by the bright stars in his shield. Thus the
poem can be taken as an adjunct to the biblical commentary and, on another
metaphorical level, as a metaphor for the imaginative process at the heart of
his commentary.
The poet sees the moon
through the holes in his cloak. This too can be interpreted in many ways. For
example, if biblical text is like the sun, then
commentary is like the moon; the light of the latter cannot exist without the
former. Likewise, if the moon is a symbol of the imagination, what does he want
us to think by describing the moon as seen through the tattered cloak? But perhaps
this symbolism is a dangerous backward projection of the lunar literary
cosmology of the French symbolists and their spawn, and scholars will take
issue with these ruminations. Nevertheless, I like the way Ibn Ezra’s imagery,
lunar or otherwise, plays to the modern sensibility.
Ibn Ezra also wrote a book
on astrology, and his astrological beliefs and their connection to creativity
emerge in this poem as well. Could he also be implying that astrology can be
used to unravel the secrets of the Torah. Orion can be
taken as a metaphor for astrology and its “weapons” in its own search for
truth. The Pleiades can be interpreted in many ways, depending on whether the
focus is on the number of stars (seven), on the gender of the stars (feminine),
or on some other symbolic system. One wonders whether Maimonides’ sharp criticism
of astrology wasn’t in part a reaction to people like Ibn Ezra.
However Ibn Ezra means that the constellations help in the process of revealing the truth, ultimately only God can bring about the ultimate truth. We have to address God directly and ask for His help, and since God is ultimately responsible for the constituents and process of the poet’s mind, the faculty of the imagination, and the universe itself, we need in the end to transform what we see through and can learn from the cloak into praise for God. And we especially need to thank God for the beautiful and magical properties of “these poor rags.”
Works Cited
Goldstein, David, trans. The
Jewish Poets of
۞۞۞
FURTHER
Translations (all of these
books also contain commentary and biography)
Carmi, T. The
Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse.
Goldstein, David. The Jewish Poets of
Scheindlin,
Raymond P. The Gazelle: Medieval Hebrew
Poems on
Scheindlin,
Raymond P. Wine, Women, and Death:
Medieval Hebrew Poems on the Good Life.
Scholarship and Biography
Links to Other Web Sites with Information on Abraham Ibn Ezra
return to Poets and Their Poems
updated 31 January 2007
Copyright © 2006, 2007 by Henry Rasof and
medievalhebrewpoetry.org.