The Vow

David Onkinerah

16th Century

I saw your figure in my dream, gazelle, flashing like lightning. It gave light to my darkened eyes, and I saw that your face was a model of the heavens. The sun and moon are set in it, the stars and planets are fixed there. And it holds sharp arrows and spears, burnished to pierce all hearts. It lit up my pitch-black night and pulled the stoppers…

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While the translation is formatted as prose, the original is a poem of thirty-four lines.

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Related Guide

Early Modern Jewish Languages

1500–1750

As Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews migrated eastward, Yiddish and Ladino emerged as distinct languages. Both languages developed literary traditions, as print became more widespread.

Print of seated person in large hat and robes facing to the left smoking a very long pipe.
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Related Guide

Early Modern Literature and the Arts

1500–1750

Jewish literary creativity flourished in the early modern period, dominated by Hebrew poetry that blended religious themes with Renaissance forms.

Creator Bio

David Onkinerah

16th Century

Little is known about the poet David Onkinerah. He may have been born in Istanbul, and he certainly resided in Salonika. He was a gifted poet and the youngest member of the Salonika circle of poets. Five of Onkinerah’s Hebrew sonnets have survived, one of which was composed in Damascus.

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