The secret of love

Isaac Ibn Ezra

Before 1140

The secret of love, how can it be contained?
The heart and the tear are talebearers.1
The heart is restrained from what it seeks,
Shut up and by passion of him besieged,
Unable to obtain its desire.
If it presumes to attain to the stars,
Its pride is brought down, laid low.2
Beloved like a hart,3 with heart of a panther,4
If you desire to slay,
My…
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This Hebrew love poem plays with tropes common to the genre in both Arabic and Hebrew, such as the pangs of unfulfilled love and the yearning of a spurned yet persistent lover. The poem evokes the heart (often used to indicate the mind in medieval Hebrew) which, when prevented from attaining what it desires, is humbled before the beloved. The poet asks that the beloved not send his heart away, for it bears the beloved’s name within it.

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Related Guide

Early Medieval Poetry

7th to 12th Century

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