39. Ask of Me

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

p. 67

39

ASK OF ME

"Ask of Me, beautiful mouth,
  What dost thou ask of Me?
For thy suppliant cry
Hath ascended on high
  Inclining My ear to thy plea."

"First with the lion we met,
  Next came the leopard’s leap,
We were fain to take flight
From our garden’s delight
  And into a hiding-place creep.

"Hardly these creatures had passed,
  Sated with Judah’s spoil,
Than the wild ass we feared
Out of midnight appeared
  To trample and dwell on our soil.

"Ishmael’s offspring command
  Back to his Arab land,
As his mother of old
To her mistress was told
  To return and submit to her hand."