Thursday, June 04, 2009

A Poem From The Ramban


The Descent of the Soul

From the very beginning,
before times long past,
I was stored among His hidden treasures.
He had brought me forth from Nothing, but at the end of time
I shall be summoned back before the King.

My life flowed
out of the depth of the spheres
which gave me form and order.
Divine forces shaped me
to be treasured in the chambers of the King.

Then He shined his light
to bring me forth
in hidden well-springs, on the left and on the right.
He made me descend the steps leading down from
the Pool of Shelah to the garden of the King.

4 Comments:

At June 4, 2009 at 11:29:00 AM EDT, Anonymous Bob Miller said...

1. Whose translation is this?

2. As I recall, there were other stanzas, too. If so, can you post these or link to the full poem?

 
At June 4, 2009 at 11:33:00 AM EDT, Blogger A Simple Jew said...

This is T. Carmi's translation from the book, "The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse".

 
At June 4, 2009 at 6:11:00 PM EDT, Anonymous aarondavidson said...

thank you for posting this-it has stayed in my thoughts throughout the day-

 
At June 5, 2009 at 9:14:00 AM EDT, Anonymous Bob Miller said...

As I recall---correct me if I'm wrong---the whole poem was published in the R' Chavel editions of Kisvei Ramban (original Hebrew, Mossad haRav Kook, and English translation, Ktav). The Ktav edition may be out of print but could be available used.

 

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