Selected Poems of Solomon Ibn Gabirol

Peter Cole, Winner of a 2010 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters Winner of the 2001 T.L.S-Porjes Prize for Translation, Jewish Book Council Peter Cole is the recipient of a 2007 MacArthur Fellowship "Taut, light-footed translations ... remarkable in the degree to which they carry over the distinct poetic complexities of the original while retaining a crisp, contemporary sense of American poetics ... the quality of motion and emotion comes through directly."--Publisher's Weekly "Cole's translations of Ibn Gabirol's poetry shimmer: they convey the power and mystique of the original in warm and wonderful phrases. Immediately accessible to the reader seeking beautiful locutions about love, longing, and desire... Cole's introduction is a gem, delineating what little is known about Ibn Gabirol the man and describing his world, his work, and his thought in ways that will delight."--Choice "Being medieval, these poems inevitably demonstrate the scope of religious language in their explorations of nature, drink, love, sex, boasting, friendship and loneliness. They are by turns, witty, satirical, elegiac--and always allusive."--Jane Liddell-King, Jewish Chronicle

Peter Cole has published two volumes of poems and six volumes of translation from medieval and contemporary Hebrew and Arabic. He has received numerous awards for his work, including fellowships from the NEA and the NEH, and for his Selected Poems of Shmuel HaNagid the MLA-Scaglione Prize for Translation. He lives in Jerusalem.

Solomon Ibn Gabirol: An Andalusian Alphabet 3 FROM THE DIWAN OF SOLOMON IBN GABIROL Truth Seekers Turn 41 PERSONAL POEMS AND POEMS OF COURT I'm Prince to the Poem 45 My Words Are Driven 46 Forget About "If" and "Maybe" 47 Prologue to the Book of Grammar 49 My Condition Worsened 51 All My Desire 52 The Apple: I 53 The Rose 54 See the Sun 55 They Asked Me As Though They Were Mystified 56 On Leaving Saragossa 57 The Moon Was Cut 61 My Heart Thinks As the Sun Comes Up 62 The Palace Garden 63 Winter with Its Ink 66 The Garden 67 The Field 68 The Bee 69 Isn't the Sky 70 The Lily 71 Now the Thrushes 72 The Apple: II 73 The Lightning 74 The Lip of the Cup 75 I'd Give Up My Soul Itself 76 Tell the Boy 77 Be Smart with Your Love 78 All in Red 79 Shards 80 The Apple: III 81 You've Stolen My Words 82 The Altar of Song 83 Tell the Prince 84 What's Troubling You, My Soul 85 The Pen 88 What's With You 89 God-Fearing Men 90 Your Soul Strains and You Sigh 91 Don't Look Back 94 If This Life's Joy 95 When You Find Yourself Angry 96 I Am the Man 97 And Don't Be Astonished 99 The Tree 100 If You'd Live Among Men 104 Why Are You Frightened 105 A Kite 106 And Heart's Hollow 107 I Love You 108 POEMS OF DEVOTION Before My Being 111 Three Things 112 I Look for You 113 Forget Your Grief 114 The Hour of Song 117 Two Things Meet in Me 118 Small in My Awe 119 Open the Gate 120 My Thoughts Asked Me 121 Angels Amassing 122 All the Creatures of Earth and Heaven 124 He Dwells Forever 126 And So It Came to Nothing 129 Haven't I Hidden Your Name 130 Lord Who Listens 131 I've Made You My Refuge 132 Lips for Bullocks 133 I Take Great Pleasure 134 Send Your Spirit 135 You Lie in My Palace on Couches of Gold 136 KINGDOM'S CROWN 137 Notes 197 Bibliography 317