He says, Sleep not!

Dunash ben Labraṭ

Mid-10th Century

Illustration of two men in robes and turbans sitting behind railing, under a decorated covering, drinking from goblets and talking.

He says: “Sleep not!

Drink aged wine,

with henna and roses,

and myrrh and aloes,

in an orchard of pomegranates,

and date-palms and grapes,

and lovely saplings,

and species of trees,

and the sound of pipes,

and the humming of lyres,

with the mouths of the singers,

and instruments and psaltery.

There wave all the trees,

beautiful in their fruit and branches,

and birds of every feather

sing amid the leaves!

The pigeons chant,

like people chanting melodies,

and the turtledoves respond,

and coo like flutes.

We’ll drink among the flowerbeds,

fenced in by roses,

and we’ll chase away worries

with songs of praise!

And we’ll eat sweets,

and drink bowls of wine,

and behaving like giants,

we’ll drink out of basins.

I’ll be up in the morning,

to slaughter oxen,

fat, choice ones,

and rams and calves.

And we’ll anoint ourselves in good oil,

and burn supple wood.

We’ll finish before the day comes

that hews us down.”

I rebuked him: “Hush, hush!

How can you go ahead with such plans,

while God’s house, his footstool,

is in the hands of the uncircumcised?

You speak foolishly.

You choose indolence.

You are saying vain words,

like scoffers and fools.

You have abandoned the study

of the Torah of God most high.

You celebrate, while foxes

prowl around Zion.

So how can we drink wine,

or raise up our eyes,

while we are nothing,

scorned and rejected?”

Translated by Gabriel Wasserman.

Credits

Arabic manuscript, 13th century. Paris BnF MS Arabe 5847, fol. 33r.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 3: Encountering Christianity and Islam.

This Hebrew poem illuminates some of the tensions between traditional religious piety and the secular ideals associated with courtly life, which were popular in elite Jewish and Muslim circles. The poet presents a dialogue in which the first speaker invites his companion to drink wine and delight in the splendors of a beautiful garden. His pious companion, seemingly the poet himself, refuses, rebuking the carouser for disregarding the destruction of the Temple and the fact that the Jewish people are in exile.

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He says, Sleep not!

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