Night-Thoughts. (Translations From The Hebrew Poets Of Medaeval Spain.)

Will night already spread her wings and weave     Her dusky robe about the day's bright form,     Boldly the sun's fair countenance displacing,     And swathe it with her shadow in broad day?     So a green wreath of mist enrings the moon,     Till envious clouds do quite encompass her.     No wind! and yet the slender stem is stirred,     With faint, slight motion as from inward tremor.     Mine eyes are full of grief - who sees me, asks,     "Oh wherefore dost thou cling unto the ground?"     My friends discourse with sweet and soothing words;     They all are vain, they glide above my head.     I fain would check my tears; would fain enlarge     Unto infinity, my heart - in vain!     Grief presses hard my breast, therefore my tears     Have scarcely dried, ere they again spring forth.     For these are streams no furnace heat may quench,     Nebuchadnezzar's flames may dry them not.     What is the pleasure of the day for me,     If, in its crucible, I must renew     Incessantly the pangs of purifying?     Up, challenge, wrestle, and o'ercome! Be strong!     The late grapes cover all the vine with fruit.     I am not glad, though even the lion's pride     Content itself upon the field's poor grass.     My spirit sinks beneath the tide, soars not     With fluttering seamews on the moist, soft strand.     I follow Fortune not, where'er she lead.     Lord o'er myself, I banish her, compel,     And though her clouds should rain no blessed dew,     Though she withhold the crown, the heart's desire,     Though all deceive, though honey change to gall,     Still am I lord, and will in freedom strive. Solomon Ben Judah Gabirol (Died Between 1070-80.)