Judgment Poem by Shlomo ibn Gabirol

My breast I am smiting,
My own sins indicting.
How then canst Thou draw me
To strife and thus awe me,
And bring Me to judgment?

My branch hangeth ailing,
My eyelid is failing,
My aims to derision
Are turned by the vision
Of Thee bringing judgment.

The creditor calleth,
The dread decree falleth,
The awful day breaking
God's creatures sets quaking
In fear of His judgment.

Through Thy attributes preaching,
Almighty, and teaching,
O weigh aberration
In the scale of salvation,
Nor bring us to judgment.

In Thy merciful fashion
Award us compassion,
That man who but dust is
May handle with justice
The haters of judgment.

Like a vapour evanished,
Man is melted and banished,
His birth is coeval
With a harvest of evil,
'Tis Thou must bring judgment.

We await--O behold us--
Thy love to enfold us.
Did Thy warning not hasten
Our impulse to chasten?
For the Lord loveth judgment.


Translated by Israel Zangwill