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Selected Religious Poems of Solomon ibn Gabirol, tr. by Israel Zangwill, [1923], at sacred-texts.com
Thou art wise. And wisdom is the fount of life and from Thee it welleth,
And by the side of Thy wisdom all human knowledge turneth to folly.
Thou art wise, more ancient than all primal things,
And wisdom was the nursling at Thy side.
Thou art wise, and Thou hast not learnt from any beside Thee,
Nor acquired wisdom from any save Thyself. p. 88
Thou art wise, and from Thy wisdom Thou hast set apart Thy appointed purpose,
Like a craftsman and an artist
To draw up the films of Being from Nothingness
As light is drawn that darteth from the eye:
Without bucket from the fountain of light hath
Thy workman drawn it up,
And without tool hath he wrought,
Hewing, graving, cleansing, refining,
Calling unto the void and it was cleft,
And unto existence and it was urged,
And to the universe and it was spread out;
Establishing the clouds of the heavens
And with his hand joining together the pavilions of the spheres,
And fastening with the loops of power the tent-folds of creation,
For the might of his hand extendeth to the uttermost borders,
"Linking the uttermost ends."