XIII. Mercury

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

XIII.

Who shall declare Thy righteousness?
For Thou hast compassed the firmament of the moon with a second sphere
Without deviation or infraction,
And within it is a star called Mercury,
And its measure to the earth is like one to twenty-two thousand.
And it completeth its turbulent course in ten months
And is the stirrer up in the world of strifes and contentions
And enmities and cries of complaint, p. 92
And it giveth the force to obtain power and to heap up wealth,
To gather riches and to lay up abundance,
According to the command of Him who created it to be His minister
As a servant before a master.
And it is the star of prudence and wisdom,
"Giving subtlety to the simple
And to the young man knowledge and discretion."