The Lord desires thee for his dwelling-place
Eternally, and bless'd
Is he whom God has chosen for the grace
Within thy courts to rest.
Happy is he that watches, drawing near,
Until he sees thy glorious lights arise,
And over whom thy dawn breaks full and clear
Set in the orient skies.
But happiest he, who, with exultant eyes,
The bliss of thy redeemed ones shall behold,
And see thy youth renewed as in the days of old.

Soon after writing this Jehuda arrived near the Holy City. He was by her
side at last, by the side of his beloved. Then, legend tells us, through
a gate an Arab horseman dashed forth: he raised his spear, and slew the
poet, who fell at the threshold of his dear Jerusalem, with a song of
Zion on his lips.

The new-Hebrew poetry did not survive him. Persecution froze the current
of the Jewish soul. Poets, indeed, arose after Jehuda Halevi in Germany
as in Spain. Sometimes, as in the hymns of the "German" Meir of
Rothenburg, a high level of passionate piety is reached. But it has well
been said that "the hymns of the Spanish writers link man's soul to his
Maker: the hymns of the Germans link Israel to his God." Only in Spain
Hebrew poetry was universal, in the sense in which the Psalms are
universal. Even in Spain itself, the death of Jehuda Halevi marked the
close of this higher inspiration. The later Spanish poets, Charizi and
Zabara (middle and end of the twelfth century), were satirists rather
than poets, witty, sparkling, ready with quaint quips, but local and
imitative in manner and subject. Zabara must receive some further notice
in a later chapter because of his connection with medieval folk-lore. Of
Charizi's chief work, the _Tachkemoni_, it may be said that it is
excellent of its type. The stories which it tells in unmetrical rhyme
are told in racy style, and its criticisms on men and things are clever
and striking. As a literary critic also Charizi ranks high, and there is
much skill in the manner in which he links together, round the person of
his hero, the various narratives which compose the _Tachkemoni_. The
experiences he relates are full of humor and surprises. As a
phrase-maker, Charizi was peculiarly happy, his command of Hebrew being
masterly. But his most conspicuous claim to high rank lies in his
origination of that blending of grim irony with bright wit which became
characteristic of all Jewish humorists, and reached its climax in Heine.