Judah Halevi – My Heart is in the East

MY HEART IS IN THE EAST

My heart is in the east, and I in the uttermost west—

How can I find savour in food? How shall it be sweet to me?

How shall I render my vows and my bonds, while yet

Zion lieth beneath the fetter of Edom, and I in Arab chains?

A light thing would it seem to me to leave all the good things of Spain—

Seeing how precious in mine eyes to behold the dust of the desolate sanctuary.

Translated by Nina Salaman

from Heinrich Brody, ed., Selected Poems of Jehudah Halevi

(Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1924, 1952).

Copyright © 1952 by The Jewish Publication Society of America.

Read about Judah Halevi: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judah_Halevi