Ode XLVII

When I came to thy city, thou chosest a corner apart from me;
When I went from thy city, thou didst not look upon me to say ‘Farewell.’
Whether thou choosest to be kind or inclinest to rancour,
Thou art all the comfort of the soul, thou art all the adornment of the feast.
The cause of. thy jealousy is that thou art hidden or, otherwise,
While thou art revealed by every atom, thou art hidden like the sun.
If thou dwell’st in seclusion, art not thou the darling of the Prince?
And if thou rendest the veil, thou hast rent the veils of all.
By thee the heart of infidelity is confounded, by thy wine the head of faith is intoxicated;
Thou dost rob all of sense, thou dost draw all towards thee.
All roses are a prey to December, all heads a prey to wine:
Both these and those thou redeemest from the hand of death.
Since in the rose there is no constancy, why do you approach every rose?
On thee alone is reliance: thou art the stay and support.
If a few cut their hands on account of Joseph’s face,
Thou hast bereft of soul and reason two hundred spiritual Josephs.
Thou mouldest of foul and fair the form of a man,
That he may flee two leagues from the odour of foulness.
Thou mak’st him a morsel of dust that he may become pure herbage;
He is free from filth when thou hast breathed into him a soul.
Come, O heart, fare heavenward, fare to the divine pasture.
Since thou hast grazed awhile in the pasture of cattle.
Set thy whole desire on that whereof thou hast no hope,
For thou hast come thus far from original hopelessness.
Be silent that the lord who gave thee language may speak,
For as he fashioned a door and lock, he has also made a key.