33. Lord, What Is Man?

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

p. 52

33

LORD, WHAT IS MAN?

Lord, what is man but flesh and blood? O weep!
His days unconscious stray, like shadows sweep,
His stroke comes sudden and he falls on sleep.

Lord, what is man? A carcase fouled and trodden,
  A noxious creature brimming with deceit,
  A fading flow’r that shrivels in the heat.
Wert Thou as stern as he with sin is sodden,
  How could he face Thy wrath? Ah, see him creep:
  His stroke comes sudden and he falls on sleep.

Lord, what is man? He rolls in mud and lies,
  Insanely fouls the clean and spoils the fine.
  Did but Thy justice follow his design,
Mown like the grass were he, or herb that dies.
  In doom’s dark hour be then Thy pity deep,
  His stroke comes sudden and he falls on sleep.

p. 53

Lord, what is man? Proud, born in sin, defiant,
  His drink is violence and on wrong he feeds.
  Sea-tossed and furnace-fierce, if judged by deeds
He would be crushed like weakling fighting giant.
  Thy mercy therefore let his prayer reap,
  His stroke comes sudden and he falls on sleep.

Lord, what is man? A trickster vile, abhorred.
  If Thou shouldst deal with him in equity,
  A mouldered robe, a scattered cloud were he.
Therefore forgiveness is his best award.
  His base is dust, his form a clayey heap,
  His stroke comes sudden and he falls on sleep.

Lord, what is man? A tree despoiled, mere stubble
  Its only fruit. Didst Thou his sin repay,
  He like a snail or wax would melt away.
Therefore forgive, nor press him in his trouble.
  Moth-like he rots, old joys he can but weep,
  His stroke comes sudden and he falls on sleep.

p. 54

Lord, what is man? A lonely creature driven
  Like fallen leaf, bemocked by empty words,
  As full of guile as basket is of birds.
His rottenness would swift as smoke be riven,
  Didst Thou his measure, not Thy measure keep.
  His stroke comes sudden and he falls on sleep.