XXIX. The Soul

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

XXIX.

O Lord, who can comprehend Thy power?
For Thou hast created for the splendour of Thy glory a pure radiance
"Hewn from the rock of rocks and digged from the bottom of the pit."
Thou hast imparted to it the spirit of wisdom
And called it the Soul.
And of flames of intellectual fire hast Thou wrought its form,
And like a burning fire hast Thou wafted it, p. 105
And sent it to the body to serve and guard it,
And it is as fire in the midst thereof yet doth not consume it,
For it is from the fire of the soul that the body hath been created,
And goeth from Nothingness to Being,
"Because the Lord descended on him in fire."