A fountain surges from my verse’s house
A fountain surges from my verse’s house.
Its flowing waters quench the thirst of men—
A fountain from the rock of perfect rhyme,
With waters cold to please the yearning man—
A flow unending from the house of rhyme
Moistening the throats of longing souls.
My song mellifluous appears to flow
To mouths of thirsty, yearning, longing men.
Translated by Raymond P. Scheindlin.
Credits
Saadia Longo, “A fountain surges from my verse’s house (Hebrew)” (Poem, Salonika, end of the 16th century). Published in: Dov Jarden, “A Collection of Poems by R. Seadya Longo (Hebrew),” Sefunot: Studies and Sources on the History of the Jewish Communities in the East vol. 12 (1971): 81–122:114–115.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.
You may also like
Awake, my heart, from your slumber!
A poem that I, Sa‘adia Longo, wrote to an important and wealthy man from Nicopolis, who came here to Salonika to marry a woman. I was not able to participate in his celebration because I was…
I sinned, so Time has weighed me down with chains
I sinned, so Time has weighed me down with chains;
therefore I can’t attend you in your joy.
But though my chariots—my feet—are slow,
Do not refuse the wish of your anointed (Psalms 132:10).
According to the Torah
Judah Alkaletz’s early 17th-century Hebrew poem is a versification of the formal laws of Jewish marriage.
Silver Hanukkah Lamp
This Hanukkah lamp from Frankfurt am Main, like the earliest known silver Hanukkah lamps made in Germany, is shaped like a chest and resembles inkwells of the period. This one is relatively…
Every day, I ask
Every day, I ask all those that pass by the shepherd’s tents,
What is all this, why is all this?
Has my beloved had a change of heart, and abandoned his flock forever,
And rejected them, and…
Face to face
Face to face, the Lord spoke with your whole community, who fear his name.
Indeed, you saw his greatness at Sinai; indeed, you heard the voice of his speech.
He revealed to me the secret of the law…
Engage with this Source
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.
You may also like
Awake, my heart, from your slumber!
A poem that I, Sa‘adia Longo, wrote to an important and wealthy man from Nicopolis, who came here to Salonika to marry a woman. I was not able to participate in his celebration because I was…
I sinned, so Time has weighed me down with chains
I sinned, so Time has weighed me down with chains;
therefore I can’t attend you in your joy.
But though my chariots—my feet—are slow,
Do not refuse the wish of your anointed (Psalms 132:10).
According to the Torah
Judah Alkaletz’s early 17th-century Hebrew poem is a versification of the formal laws of Jewish marriage.
Silver Hanukkah Lamp
This Hanukkah lamp from Frankfurt am Main, like the earliest known silver Hanukkah lamps made in Germany, is shaped like a chest and resembles inkwells of the period. This one is relatively…
Every day, I ask
Every day, I ask all those that pass by the shepherd’s tents,
What is all this, why is all this?
Has my beloved had a change of heart, and abandoned his flock forever,
And rejected them, and…
Face to face
Face to face, the Lord spoke with your whole community, who fear his name.
Indeed, you saw his greatness at Sinai; indeed, you heard the voice of his speech.
He revealed to me the secret of the law…