The night is (when the sun descends on the degrees, and out comes the heavenly host with its captain) like a Cushite woman whose clothing is inwrought with gold, wrapt up in a diamond-spangled cloak of blue. The stars are perplexed in mid-ocean, like strangers driven out from their dwelling-places; they reflect their light, in their likeness and their image, in the midst of the sea, like flames and fires. The waters and the sky are like brilliant and bright ornaments on the night. The sea is like the heaven in appearance, they are thus two encompassing seas; and between them is my heart a third sea, when the billows of my new hymns arise. 3. Letter Addressed to Nathan b. Samuel[117] To the store-house of understanding and stronghold of faith, the crown of the scholars and chief of the speakers, the pride of the Torah and the bowl of the candlestick, our master and teacher Rabbi Nathan the scholar, son of the glory of the greatness of the holiness of our master and teacher Rabbi Samuel the scholar, of blessed memory, from one who bows himself down before him and longs to behold his countenance, Judah the Levite, son of Rabbi Samuel (may his soul be in paradise!). Stones of the crown lifted on high, glorying in the crown of our generation, deriving their genealogy from the Foundation Stone, and mocking every other precious stone! Thou art the crown that is set upon the stone of salvation; all thy border is of desirable stones: the chief stone is above thee, graceful stones are at thy right and at thy left, and thou hast rays coming forth from thy hand. I shall divide the seas, and stir up the shades, for I shall arouse myself to sing, when Nathan the prophet comes to me. The meditations of my heart are in commotion, and my thoughts impel me to write. Thou didst humble me, yet didst thou delight me, for thou didst lead me with honor, though with heaviness, and put upon me the crown and the testimony. Thou didst robe me with thy raiment, attire me with thy mitres, and strengthen me with thy power. But who can don thy crowns, and who can put on thy wreaths? Gates of justice are thy gates, lofty mountains are thy mountains, and twilights of desire are thy dawns. When thou devisest a law, thou causest the advice of others to fail; when thou counsellest, thou breakest every rod; every mouth becomes dumb, even the eloquent feels ashamed, and they who compose songs have mouths, but speak not: their fountains are stopped up, and they themselves are still as a stone in the presence of a fountain whose waters fail not. Thy heavens do not become black, and thy rains are not withheld. Thy store-houses are filled, and thy spices send forth their fragrance. The manna descends upon him that hearkens to thy words. Wonderful are thy words, and thy compositions are awe-inspiring; they fly to the west and to the south, and speak from on high. Shall Egypt detain such a man, while Jerusalem, as well as the