When we were still bound

This playful poem, combining affection and reproach, typifies the verses exchanged among leading Andalusi Jews. Hebrew poems were sometimes accompanied by a line or two, often in Arabic, describing the circumstances of their composition. The exact addressee of this text is unknown, but according to the heading, the author had asked his friend to send him some aromatic wood, but the friend had not fulfilled his promise. The poet reprimands his friend in language that repeatedly evokes the sense of smell. As the poem ends, Ibn Khalfūn warns his friend that he’d better run away, like the biblical Balaam, who was hired by the King of Moab to defeat the Israelites and who fled to his birthplace, Pethor (Numbers 22–24).