I yearn that my soul be poured forth in the place where God’s spirit was poured out on thy chosen ones. Thou art a royal house, thou art the throne of God, how then can bondmen sit upon the thrones of thy princes? Would that I were roaming about in the places where God appeared unto thy seers and messengers! Who would make me wings, that I may fly away? I would cause my broken heart to move amidst thy mounts of Bether! On thy ground fain would I lie prostrate; I would take pleasure in thy stones, and would love thy dust! Then standing by the sepulchres of my fathers, I would gaze with rapture on thy choicest graves in Hebron. I would pass through thy forest and Carmel, and stand in Gilead, and gaze with rapture on mount Abarim;—mount Abarim and mount Hor, where are thy two great luminaries, thy teachers who gave thee light. Thine air is life for the souls, like myrrh are the grains of thy dust, and thy streams are like the honeycomb. It would be pleasant for me to walk naked and barefoot among thy desolate ruins, where once thy temples stood; where thy ark was hidden, and where thy Cherubim dwelled in thy innermost shrines. I will pluck and cast away the beauty of my locks, and curse fate which denied thy Nazirites in an unclean land. How can it be pleasant unto me to eat and drink, when I see that the curs drag thy young lions? or how can the light of the day be sweet to my sight, when I see the flesh of thine eagles in the mouth of ravens? O cup of sorrow, gently! desist for a while! for my reins and soul are already filled with thy bitterness. When I remember Oholah, I drink thy poison; and when I remember Oholibah, I drain thy dregs. O Zion, perfect of beauty, thou hast of yore combined love and grace, and the souls of thy companions are bound up with thee; they that rejoice in thy bliss, are grieved at thy desolation, and bewail thy misfortunes. From the pit of captivity they pant toward thee, and prostrate themselves, each from his place, toward thy gates; the flocks of thy multitude, that are exiled and scattered over mountain and hill, yet do not forget thy folds; that cling to thy skirts, and strive to go up and seize the boughs of thy palm-trees. Can Shinar and Pathros in their greatness be likened to thee? can they compare their vanity to thy Truthfulness and Light?[114] Unto whom can they compare thy anointed and thy seers, unto whom thy Levites and thy singers? The crown of all vain kingdoms shall change and pass away, but thy strength is for ever, thy crowns are for all generations. Thy God desired thee for His dwelling, and happy is the man whom He chooses and draws near to dwell in thy courts. Happy is he who waits, and will yet live to see the rising of thy light, when upon him shall thy dawns break forth, to behold the bliss of thy chosen ones, and to exult in thy joy, when the pristine glory of thy youth is restored to thee. 2. Meditations in Mid-Ocean[115]