To the Reader xxi
Acknowledgments xxiii
Introduction 1
PART ONE: Muslim Spain (c. 950-c. 1140)
DUNASH BEN LABRAT 23
Fragment 24
Blessing for a Wedding 24
Drink, He Said 24
THE WIFE OF DUNASH 27
Will Her Love Remember? 27
YITZHAQ IBN MAR SHA'UL 28
A Fawn Sought in Spain 28
YOSEF IBN AVITOR 30
Lament for the Jews of Zion 31
A Curse 32
A Plea 33
Hymn for the New Year 33
YITZHAQ IBN KHALFOUN 35
Love in Me Stirs 35
A Gift of Cheese 36
SHMU'EL HANAGID 37
On Fleeing His City 38
The Miracle at Sea 40
The Apple 44
The Gazelle 45
Jasmine 45
In Fact I Love That Fawn 45
Mixed in Spain 46
Your Years Are Sleep 46
The House of Prayer 47
The Critique 48
On Lifting the Siege 49
The War with Yaddayir 50
On the Death of Isaac, His Brother 53
First War 58
I'd Suck Bitter Poison 59
Delay Your Speech 59
The Rich 59
People Welcome the Rich 60
If You Leave a Long-Loved Friend 60
You Who'd Be Wise 60
When You're Desperate 61
It's Heart That Discerns 61
He'll Bring You Trouble 61
Could Kings Right a People Gone Bad 61
What's Familiar Is Sometimes Distanced 62
One Who Works and Buys Himself Books 62
Three Things 62
Soar, Don't Settle 62
Man's Wisdom Is in What He Writes 63
Be Glad, She Said 63
The Multiple Troubles of Man 63
Gazing through the Night 64
Earth to Man 65
The Child at One or Two 65
I Quartered the Troops for the Night 66
Luxuries Ease 66
Why Repeat the Sins 67
At the Treasury 67
Know of the Limbs 67
You Mock Me Now 68
Time Defies and Betrays 68
The Market 68
YOSEF IBN HASDAI 70
The Qasida 71
SHELOMO IBN GABIROL 74
Truth Seekers Turn 75
I'm Prince to the Poem 76
Prologue to The Book of Grammar 76
They Asked Me as though They Were Mystified 77
See the Sun 78
On Leaving Saragossa 78
My Heart Thinks as the Sun Comes Up 81
Now the Thrushes 81
Winter with Its Ink 82
The Garden 82
The Field 83
The Bee 83
I'd Give Up My Soul Itself 84
Be Smart with Your Love 84
All in Red 85
You've Stolen My Words 85
The Altar of Song 85
The Pen 86
If You'd Live among Men 86
I Am the Man 86
Heart's Hollow 88
I Love You 89
Before My Being 90
Three Things 90
I Look for You 91
Open the Gate 91
The Hour of Song 92
Send Your Spirit 92
Angels Amassing 93
And So It Came to Nothing 94
He Dwells Forever 95
Haven't I Hidden Your Name 97
Lord Who Listens 98
I've Made You My Refuge 98
You Lie in My Palace 99
From Kingdom's Crown 99
YITZHAQ IBN GHIYYAT 111
My Wandering 112
YOSEF IBN SAHL 114
The Fleas 114
Your Poem, My Friend 115
A Complaint about the Rich 115
LEVI IBN ALTABBAAN 117
Utter His Oneness 117
Exposed 118
BAHYA IBN PAQUDA 119
Duties of the Heart 119
MOSHE IBN EZRA 121
Weak with Wine 122
The Garden 123
Bring Me My Cup 123
A Shadow 123
The Fawn 124
The Garden, the Miser 124
The Pen 125
Heart's Desire 125
That Bitter Day 127
Let Man Remember 127
The Dove 127
Why Does Time Hound Me So 128
Ancient Graves 128
If You See Me 129
Ivory Palaces 129
The World 130
My Heart's Secret 130
I Roused My Thoughts from Slumber 130
Let Man Wail 132
On the Death of His Son 132
The Blind 133
The Gazelle's Sigh 133
Gold 134
The Day to Come 134
At the Hour of Closing 135
YOSEF IBN TZADDIQ 137
A Wedding Night's Consolation 137
Lady of Grace 139
SHELOMO IBN TZAQBEL 141
Lines Inscribed on an Apple 142
Note to a Suitor Now Perplexed 142
A Fawn with Her Lashes 142
YEHUDA HALEVI 143
That Night a Gazelle 145
A Doe Washes 146
If Only Dawn 146
That Day while I Had Him 146
Another Apple 146
To Ibn al-Mu'allim 147
If Only I Could Give 147
Epithalamium 149
When a Lone Silver Hair 149
If Time 150
Inscriptions on Bowls 150
Four Riddles 150
Departure 151
On Friendship and Time 152
Slaves of Time 154
Heal Me, Lord 154
True Life 154
The Morning Stars 155
His Thresholds 155
Where Will I Find You 155
You Knew Me 156
A Doe Far from Home 156
A Dove in the Distance 157
You Slept, Then Trembling Rose 158
Love's Dwelling 158
Lord, 159
If Only I Could Be 160
Won't You Ask, Zion 162
My Heart Is in the East 164
How Long Will You Lie 164
Heart at Sea 165
My Soul Longed 167
Has a Flood Washed the World 167
In the Heart 168
Above the Abyss 168
Time Has Tossed Me 168
Be with Me 169
Along the Nile 169
This Breeze 170
PART TWO: Christian Spain and Provence (c. 1140-1492)
AVRAHAM IBN EZRA 173
Fortune's Stars 174
How It Is 175
A Cloak 175
The Flies 176
World Poetry 176
All the Rest Is Commentary 177
I. The Flood 177
II. Reading Exodus 177
III. The Miracle (at Lehi) 177
Pleasure 177
In Place 177
The Wedding Night, Continued 178
An Ancient Battle 179
Lament for Andalusian Jewry 181
Elegy for a Son 182
My Hunger 184
Sent Out from the Glory 184
Lord, I Have Heard 184
My God, 185
To the Soul 185
Blessèd Is He Who Fears 186
I Bow Down 188
Children of Exile 189
I Call to Him 189
You Whose Hearts Are Asleep 190
YITZHAQ IBN EZRA 192
On the Death of Yehuda HaLevi 193
Over His Boy 194
Conversion 195
YOSEF QIMHI 196
Love for the World 197
Always Be Vigilant 197
Consider This 197
Suffer Your Sorrow 197
On Wisdom 198
If You Hear Someone Insult You 198
Wait and Be Saved 198
Wealth 199
Silence and Speech 199
YOSEF IBN ZABARA 200
Sweet and Sour 201
My Ex 201
Look at These People 202
The Physician 202
ANATOLI BAR YOSEF 203
The Test of Poetry 203
Motto 204
YEHUDA IBN SHABBETAI 205
From The Offering of Yehuda the Misogynist 206
I. Pharaoh's Wisdom 206
II. The Misogynist in Love 206
III. A Raised Offering 207
IV. Two Things 207
V. The Sage Lies 207
YEHUDA ALHARIZI 208
Born to Baseness 209
The Hypocrite 210
The Jerk 210
A Miser in Mosul 210
The Miser 211
On Zion's Holy Hill 211
Boys: Two Poems 212
I. If Amram's Son 212
II. An Answer 212
Masters of Song 212
Measure for Measure 212
A Lover Wandered 213
How Long, My Fawn 213
Curses' Composition 213
A Flashing Sword 214
Palindrome for a Patron 214
A Poem No Patron Has Ever Heard 215
Admiration for the Patron Again I'll Prove 215
Two Poems on Karaism 215
I. For 215
II. Against 216
Virtue 216
I'll Set Out a Verse and Lay the Foundation . . . 216
YA'AQOV BEN ELAZAR 218
The Hypocrite's Beard 219
Four Poems on Subtle Love 220
I. The Doe 220
II. A Kiss 220
III. A Lover's Transgression 220
IV. Spats and Squabbles 220
AVRAHAM IBN HASDAI 221
Watch Out 222
ProPortion 222
Age as Author 222
Which Is More Bitter 223
The Lying Word 223
The Monk's Advice 223
Advice for a Future King 223
I. Wisdom's Mantle 223
II. Don't Believe 224
III. The Hyssop and the Cedar 224
MEIR HALEVI ABULAFIA 225
Plea for a Tax Break 226
(L)attitude 226
Fighting Time 226
YITZHAQ HASNIRI 227
On the Worship of Wood and a Fool 228
MESHULLAM DEPIERA 229
The Poet 230
On a New Book by Maimonides 230
Before You Take Up Your Pen 230
How Could You Press for Song 231
As One with the Morning Stars 232
MOSHE BEN NAHMAN (NAHMANIDES) 233
Before the World Ever Was 234
From "One Hundred Verses" 237
SHEM TOV IBN FALAQERA 240
Career Counseling 241
A Mystery 241
On Poets and Poetry 241
Why God Made You 242
The Fool Thinks 242
Poverty's War 242
YITZHAQ IBN SAHULA 243
The Cynic Speaks 244
On Humility 244
AVRAHAM ABULAFIA 245
From The Book of the Letter 247
AVRAHAM BEN SHMU'EL 252
To Whom among the Avengers of Blood 253
YOSEF GIQATILLA 254
The Nut Garden 255
TODROS ABULAFIA 256
I've Labored in Love 258
She Said She Wanted 258
The Day You Left 258
That Fine Gazelle 259
They Fight with Me over Desire 259
That Girl Emerged 259
May My Tongue 259
There's Nothing Wrong in Wanting a Woman 260
Strong Poet, Weak Poet 260
Plaster and Pearls 261
Nothing Left to Say 261
Teachers and Writers 261
Before the King 262
My King 262
Poems from Prison 262
I. As Love Lives 262
II. Treacherous Time 263
III. The Filthy Lay in Darkness with Me 263
IV. My Rings Have Fallen 263
V. Is It the Lord 264
Time Tries as I Drift 264
The Sea Casts Up Mire and Mud 264
On a Bible Written by Shmu'el HaNagid 265
Time Spreads Its Nets 265
Old Age Is Double-Edged 266
Perversion's Pigeons 266
My Thinking Wove 266
The Lord Is Good and So I'm Tormented 267
Defiled and Pure Are One 267
On Hearing Church Bells 267
I Take Delight in My Cup and Wine 268
NAHUM 270
Winter Has Waned 270
AVRAHAM HABEDERSHI 272
Why the Poet Refuses to Fight 273
Your Muse 273
Lament for a Foe 274
The Poet's Distress 274
YITZHAQ HAGORNI 275
Would You Tell Me 276
HaGorni's Lament 276
YEDAYA HAPENINI 278
The World Is a Raging Sea 279
AVNER [OF BURGOS?] 281
The Last Words of My Desire 282
QALONYMOS BEN QALONYMOS 284
On Becoming a Woman 285
YITZHAK POLGAR 287
Faith's Philosophy, Philosophy's Faith 288
SHEM TOV ARDUTIEL (SANTOB DE CARRIÓN) 289
From The Battles of the Pen and the Scissors 290
I. Writer, You Hold 290
II. To Praise the Pen 291
III. Tomorrow I'll Write 291
IV. Enter the Scissors 291
V. Work I Was Cut Out to Do 291
VI. The Pen Fights Back 292
VII. The Scissors Longed 292
SHMU'EL IBN SASSON 293
Man's Peril 294
Why Most Poets Are Poor 294
They Will Be Tried 296
MOSHE NATAN 297
Prison 297
From "The Ten Commandments" 298
Clothes Make the Man 298
SHELOMO DEPIERA 299
Thinkers with Thinking 301
The Bee and the Grumbler 301
Medieval Arthritis 301
Winter in Monzón 302
After Conversion 303
Tabernacles: A Prayer 303
A Prayer for Rain and Sustenance 303
This Year's Wine: 1417 304
VIDAL BENVENISTE 305
Advice from Wives 306
What Girls Want 306
To a Poet-Friend Too Much in Need 307
Poems for a Doe in a Garden 307
A Thank You Note 308
Think about This 308
Beyond Words 308
My Son, before You Were Born 309
To One Who Said His Heart for Verse Was Adamant 309
Clarity 309
What Goes Around Comes . . . 309
The Tongue Speaks and the Hand Records 310
SHELOMO HALEVI (PABLO DE SANTA MARIA) 312
Memory's Wine 313
SHELOMO BONAFED 314
World Gone Wrong 315
A Vision of Ibn Gabirol 317
Wherever You Go 318
YITZHAQ ALAHDAB 320
Inflation 320
Another Flea 321
Security 321
The Elderly Asked if the Doctors 321
As Sorcerers Spread 321
Being Poor 322
State of the Art; or, Poetry Wails 322
Renaissance Man 323
MOSHE REMOS 326
Last Words 327
'ELI BEN YOSEF [HAVILLIO?] 330
Who Soars 330
MOSHE IBN HABIB 331
Account 332
You Come to the House of God 332
SA'ADIA IBN DANAAN 333
Enmity Smolders 334
Hordes of Readers 334
Mixed Messenger 334
She Trapped Me 334
Chiasmus for a Doe 335
Notes 337
Glossary 527

Hebrew culture experienced a renewal in medieval Spain that produced what is arguably the most powerful body of Jewish poetry written since the Bible. Fusing elements of East and West, Arabic and Hebrew, and the particular and the universal, this verse embodies an extraordinary sensuality and intense faith that transcend the limits of language, place, and time.
Peter Cole's translations reveal this remarkable poetic world to English readers in all of its richness, humor, grace, gravity, and wisdom. The Dream of the Poem traces the arc of the entire period, presenting some four hundred poems by fifty-four poets, and including a panoramic historical introduction, short biographies of each poet, and extensive notes. (The original Hebrew texts are available on the Princeton University Press Web site.) By far the most potent and comprehensive gathering of medieval Hebrew poems ever assembled in English, Cole's anthology builds on what poet and translator Richard Howard has described as "the finest labor of poetic translation that I have seen in many years" and "an entire revelation: a body of lyric and didactic verse so intense, so intelligent, and so vivid that it appears to identify a whole dimension of historical consciousness previously unavailable to us." The Dream of the Poem is, Howard says, "a crowning achievement."

Peter Cole is a poet and translator of Hebrew and Arabic poetry. He has received numerous awards for his work, including prizes from the Times Literary Supplement and the Modern Language Association, and a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. Winner of the 2004 PEN-America Translation Award, he lives in Jerusalem, where he coedits Ibis Editions. He was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow in 2007.