On Leaving Zaragoza

Solomon Ibn Gabirol's masterpiece seemed somehow appropriate

In about 5 minutes, Daniel Clarke-Serret will be (permanently) leaving Zaragoza —just like Solomon Ibn Gabirol did almost exactly 1000 years ago. So reproducing (a lengthy extract from) his poetic masterpiece “On Leaving Zaragoza” seemed somewhat appropriate. Enjoy.

[Note: It isn’t the most cheery of poems; indeed it’s the Jewish answer to “To be or not to be”. However, in the traditional prophetic style, the last two verses end with hope.]

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I’m buried, but not in a graveyard,

in the coffin of my own home.

I suffer with neither father nor mother,

indigent, young, and alone—

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On my own without even a brother,

not a friend apart from my mind:

I mix my blood with my tears,

and my tears into my wine.

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I’ll be consumed in my thirst

before my thirst for friendship is quenched,

as though the sky and its hosts were arrayed

between me and all that I crave.

I’m treated here as a stranger, despised—

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As though I were living with ostriches,

caught between crooks and the fools

who think their hearts have grown wise.

.....

Have compassion for wisdom,

compassion for me, surrounded by neighbors like these—

people for whom the knowledge of God

is a matter of spirits and ghosts.

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Therefore I mourn and wail,

and make my bed in ashes,

and bow my head like a reed and fast on

Monday and Thursday and Monday.

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Why should I wait any longer

with nothing like hope in sight?

Let my eyes in the world wander,

they’ll never glimpse what I want:

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Death grows daily sweeter to me,

the world’s gossip means less and less;

if my heart returns to that path,

thinking its intrigue might offer success,

whatever I do will come round,

my scheming against me revolve.

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So my soul refuses its glory

for its glory brings only disgrace.

I’ll never rejoice again in the world,

my pride will find there no pleasure,

though the stars of Orion call me to come

and take up my station among them.

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For the world has always been

like a yoke around my neck—

and what good does it do me to linger

by blindness and grief beset?

---

My soul in my death will delight

if it leads to the Lord and his rest—

I’d put an end to my life,

an end to this dwelling in flesh.

---

My delight’s in the day of my downfall,

my downfall the day of my greatest delight,

and I long for heart’s understanding—

the exhaustion of sinew and strength.

---

For a sigh settles into repose,

and my leanness leads to my meat,

and as long as I live I’ll seek out in search

of all that the elder Solomon preached:

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Perhaps the revealer of depths, the Lord,

will show me where wisdom lurks—

for it alone is my reward,

my portion and the worth of my work.

---

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Rabbi Eli Kavon on Daniel Clarke-Serret’ PAX ARABICA (exclusively for paid subscribers):

Daniel Clarke-Serret’s ‘Pax Arabica’ deserves to be required reading in the Middle East Studies Departments in all universities. The author’s knowledge and his power of original thought emerge in each page of this study of “Arab Colonialism.” From Isaiah to Abu Bakr to Kant to Washington to Sayyid Qutb--this book is thoughtful and panoramic, ripping away the lie that all Arabs are victims of “European Colonialism.” Instead, the author makes clear that “Arab Imperialism” has been a “Babel” that demands totalitarian and religious uniformity, negating the rights of minorities and demanding conformity. Kudos to Daniel Clarke-Serret on a serious investigation of a topic that can no longer be neglected.

CONTENTS:

Acknowledgements: With Thanks

FOREWORD by Nachum Kaplan

Introduction: The time to change the narrative is now!

PART 1: BABEL

Chapter 1: On Arab Imperialism // Chapter 2: On the Vanguard //Chapter 3: On Dictatorial Oppression // Chapter 4: On Islamist “Freedom” // Chapter 5: On Islamist Misery // Chapter 6: On Arab Apartheid // Chapter 7: On Middle Eastern Minorities // Chapter 8: On the Masters of Ethnic Cleansing // Chapter 9: On Genocide, Slavery and Racist Indifference //Chapter 10: On Unjust “Justice” and the Inversion of Language // Chapter 11: On Appeasement // Chapter 12: On the Man who stood against Pax Arabica

PART 2: EDEN

Chapter 13: On Nations, States and the Nation State // Chapter 14: On Sykes-Picot // Chapter 15: On Zionism and the duty to protect // Chapter 16: On the New Regional Sheriff // Chapter 17: On the Psychology of Strength // Chapter 18: On the Paradigm Shift // Chapter 19: On the Post-Imperial Two State Solution // Chapter 20: On the End of the Great Game

AFTERWORD by Khaled Salih: A Song of the Oppressor and the Parody of the Oppressed.