Oh! be Thy mercy in the balance laid, To hold Thy servant's sins more lightly weighed, When, my confession penitently made, I answer for my guilt before the King. Thine is the love, O God, and Thine the grace, Unheeding all my sins, I cling to Thee! O Thou who makest guilt to disappear, MOSES BEN NACHMAN 125 SANCTIFICATION The sixfold wingèd angels cry To Him, who hates iniquity: Holy art Thou, O Lord! Holy art Thou! The mighty ones of earth do call Blessed art Thou! They who in radiance shine, proclaim Those doubly tried by blood and fire United chant in frequent choir: Blessed art Thou, O Lord! Pure spheres celestial echoing round, All those redeemèd not by gold, They who pass swiftly to and fro Who seek His law, and testify That there is none beside Him, cry: Blessed art Thou, O Lord! Holy and blest! The hosts of radiant seraphs call To Him, most glorious of them all: The sons of mighty men declare All they who glorify His name, Israel, His people, ceaselessly Cry as they bend and bow the knee: Those shining as a crystal spring The stranger's children evermore Blessed art Thou, O Lord! Blessed art Thou! JOSEPH IBN ABITUR Translation from the Hebrew by Mrs. Henry Lucas 126 WHERE IS GOD? Where is He? Ask His emblem, The glorious, glorious sun, Who glads the round earth with his beams Where is He? Ask the stars that keep Where is He? Ask the secret founts Where is He? Ask the storm of fire That bursts from Etna's womb, And ask the glowing lava-flood That makes the land a tomb. Where is He? Ask the maelstrom's whirl, Where is He? Ask the behemoth, Who drinketh rivers dry; The ocean-king leviathan, Or scarce-seen atom fly. Where is He? Ask the awful calm Ask the wide-wasting hurricane, The thunder crash, the lightning blaze, Where is He? Ask the crystal isles Or ask from lands of balm and spice, Where on the universe is found ANONYMOUS 127 GOD, WHOM SHALL I COMPARE TO THEE? God! whom shall I compare to Thee, |