My poor heart burns

My poor heart burns, as if it were on fre, when I look at my own abominations, done in darkness and in light—the deeds of a boldfaced whore!

Lures lie in wait in my mouth, on my tongue; on my lips is spiders’ poison; my lords and elders, all the honoured and important men cling to deceit, refusing to repent.

From morning to evening my aged…

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This is a tokheḥah (rebuke) poem that survives in Karaite prayer books. Each line of this poem, formatted by the translator as prose paragraphs, contains four words; each of the four stanzas closes with a biblical verse.

This poem encourages readers to look inward at their appetites, personifed here as men who pursue worldly pleasures.

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