He Comes
A poem by Yehudah ha-Levi
He comes, O bliss!
Fly swiftly, you winds,
You odorous breezes,
And tell him how long
I've waited for this!
O happy that night,
When sunk on your breast,
Your kisses fast falling,
And drunken with love,
My troth I did plight.
Again my sweet friend
Embrace me close.
Yes, heaven does bless us,
And now you have won
My love without end.
Based on the translation by Emma Lazarus that's reproduced on page 45 of A Treasury of Jewish Poetry: From Biblical Times to the Present, edited by Nathan and Marynn Ausubel (Crown Publishers, 1957).
"He Comes" was made into a song by composer David Rubenstein and recorded at a concert performed by Ensemble a la Carte.
