Awake, my heart, from your slumber!

Sa‘adia Longo

End of the 16th Century

A poem that I, Sa‘adia Longo, wrote to an important and wealthy man from Nicopolis, who came here to Salonika to marry a woman. I was not able to participate in his celebration because I was seriously ill. From my bed, I sent him these lines out of courtesy. I said:

Awake, my heart, from your slumber!
   How long will you go on sleeping in your chamber?
How long will you go daydreaming and scorn the sight
   Of verse, not raising your voice in song?
Arise, shake yourself off, and rouse your ringing
   Song as in your early days.
Grasp in your hand the fragments of your harp,
   Broken, like the shards from jugs.
Go and greet the nobleman, a man
   Distinguished by his generosity, as I will show you.
Go and say to him: Come in peace,
   Peace to you, and peace upon the daughter of your joy.
Abraham’s daughter she, Bakol her name:
   It means, “In her is everything,” for every good resides in her.
She suits you well because of your great worth.
   Her lineage, too, is worthy of you, and you are nonpareil.
Live long days with her, days of joy and happiness,
   With children crowned with splendor round your table.
May Time fulfill all your desires,
   And God bestow upon you wealth and dignities.
Go, delightful bridegroom, to your lovely home.
   Go forth and take possession of your bride.

Translated by
Raymond P.
Scheindlin
.

Credits

Saadia Longo, “Awake my heart from your slumber! (Hebrew)” (Poem, Salonika, end of the 16th century). Published in: Dov Jarden, “A Collection of Poems by R. Seadya Longo (Hebrew),” Sefunot: Studies and Sources on the History of the Jewish Communities in the East vol. 12 (1971): 81–122:114–115.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.

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Creator Bio

Sa‘adia Longo

b. ca. 1520

Sa‘adia Longo was probably born in Istanbul. He served as a cantor in the Castilian congregation of Salonika. As he testifies in his own writings, Longo engaged in writing poetry from a young age. A collection of his eulogies and poems, Seder zemanim (Order of Times), was published in 1594. Hundreds of his poems and letters remain in manuscript.

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