The following poem of deep longing was written by the medieval Sephardic Jew Solomon or Shelomo Ibn Gabirol for the first day of Sukkot, one of the Jewish festivals of pilgrimage, also linked to the harvest. The reference in the second stanza to the dreamer may seem unclear until we consider the surely universal experience of trying to confide the subtlties of a dream which is difficult to express. For more about this author, see this earlier post.

Lord Who Listens

Lord who listens and attends to the poor,
how long will you distance yourself from my soul and hide?
I’m weary from calling all night with a faithful heart,
grateful always for your gracious mercy, which abides.

For you I hope, my king; in you I trust—
like a dreamer trusting a reader with a dream that’s obscure.
This is my prayer, hear my petition:
I ask of you nothing less, and nothing more.

Tr. Peter Cole