XV. Sun

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

p. 93

XV.

Who shall understand Thy secret?
For Thou hast encompassed the sphere of this shining one
With a fourth sphere, wherein is the Sun
That completeth his circuit in a perfect year.
And his body is one hundred and seventy times
greater than that of the earth,
According to indications and devisings of intellect.
And he is the apportioner of light to all the stars of the heavens,
And giveth to kings salvation
And majesty, dominion and awe,
And reneweth marvels on the earth,
Whether for war or for peace,
And rooteth up kingdoms,
And establisheth and exalteth others in their stead
And hath power to abase and uplift with a high hand,
But all according to the will of the Creator who created him in wisdom.
Every day he prostrateth himself before the King,
And taketh his stand in the house of his course,
And at dawn he raiseth his head
And boweth towards the west in the evening.
"In the evening he goeth down and in the morning he returneth."