7. Open the Gate

Selected Religious Poems of Solomon ibn Gabirol, tr. by Israel Zangwill, [1923], at sacred-texts.com

p. 10

7

OPEN THE GATE

Open the gate, my love,
  Arise and open the gate,
For my soul is dismayed
And sorely afraid
  And Hagar’s brood mocks my estate.

The heart of the hand-maid’s sons
  Is hateful and haughty grown,
And all because of the cry
Of Ishmael piercing the sky,
  Ascending and reaching the Throne.

I stumble ’twixt beast and beast,
  The wild ass swift to slay
Has followed my flight
From the courts of Night
  Where crushed of the boar I lay.

Alas! for my thick-sealed fate,
  Ah woe for the days to come!
It helps but to pain me
That none can explain me,
  And I, myself, I am dumb.