Episode #037 Tis A Fearful Thing - Yehuda Halevi

Connor and Jack talk about a poem that was likely written hundreds of years ago (more on this in the podcast) by Jewish poet and philosopher Yehuda Halevi. More recently, it was featured in the Netflix original series, Godless. This episode contains a wide-ranging discussion of poetic translation, religion, and universality in poetry.

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'Tis a Fearful Thing

Yehuda Halevi

‘Tis a fearful thing

to love what death can touch.

A fearful thing

to love, to hope, to dream, to be –

to be,

And oh, to lose.

A thing for fools, this,

And a holy thing,

a holy thing

to love.

For your life has lived in me,

your laugh once lifted me,

your word was gift to me.

To remember this brings painful joy.

‘Tis a human thing, love,

a holy thing, to love

what death has touched.