by Shmuel Hanagid (born 993 – died after 1056)
She said: “Be happy that God has helped you reach
The age of fifty in this world,” not knowing
That to me there is no difference between my life’s
Past and that of Noah about whom I heard.
For me there is only the hour in which I am present in this world:
It stays for a moment and then like a cloud moves on.
–
Translated by Leon J. Weinberger from Leon J. Weinberger, trans., Jewish Prince in Moslem Spain: Selected Poems of Samuel ibn Nagrela. (Tuscaloosa and London: The University of Alabama Press, 1997.)
Submitted by Jonathan Karp, American Jewish Historical Society.