One of the greatest of the medieval poets of Spain, Solomon b. Judah Ibn Gabirol of Cordova (c1021-1058) produced religious hymns, meditations and prayers, as well as secular secular poetry on the subjects of wine, friendship, life, love, and loneliness.

Ibn Gabirol wrote several poems describing the fine beauty of an apple and the sensual experience of biting into one. "Apple" (tufaahah) in Arabic is feminine, and the erotic associations are clear. As in many of Ibn Gabirol's apple poems, the bite into the apple is associated with a kiss, as the two words involved in the association — nashakh (bit) and nashaq (kissed) — differ in one letter only, which also look like one another. As it says in Midrash Rabbah 78:9: "'And Esau ran forth toward Jacob and kissed him'; He (Esau) didn't come to kiss him (lenashqo), but to bite him (lenashkho)."

AN APPLE FOR ISAAC (APPLE I)

Take, my lord, this sweetness in hand,
and forget about all of your longing —
it's blushing like a bride on both sides as her breasts
are first caressed by her husband.
She's an orphan, and has neither father nor sister,
and she's far from her home and kin.
Her friends envied her going the day she was stripped
from her branch and cried: "Bring
greetings to Isaac, your lord . . . Bless you —
soon you'll be kissing his lips . . . ."

Alternative translation:

My lord, take this delicacy in your hand.
Perceive its scent. Forget your longing.
On both sides it blushes, like a young girl
At the first touch of my hand on her breast.
An orphan it is without father or sister,
And far away from its leafy home.
When it was plucked, its companions were jealous,
Envied its journey, and cried aloud:
'Bear greetings to your master, Isaac.
How lucky you are to be kissed by his lips!'

- The feminine gender of the Arabic word for "apple" is strengthened in the following poem, with another feminine word — gizrah (figure). The apple moves and flashes enticingly on its branch in the sunlight.

- The third apple poem is a riddle with its own answer.

THE APPLE: II

Take a bite from that
shimmering figure,
like emerald here,
and there like beryl,
or ruby-like now,
and now like crystal,[1]
its aspect changing -
as though it were ill
at first with a flush [2]
and then with a pallor,
as though it were really
a scroll of silver [3]
encased in gold, [4]
a virgin who'd never

known a lover,
and yet whose breasts
were ready to suckle.[5]

When men arrive
with their swords and desire
to strike at its cord,
it falls to the grass
and lands at their feet:
they bend to a knee
and take it in hand,
then raise it
to their lips and eat.

THE APPLE: III

Is there anything like it on earth,
gold without and silver within?
When we looked, its flesh went pale,
as though we'd filled it with sin -

like a girl fleeing a circle of men
as a blush came over her skin.[6]

[1] The colors and gems are drawn from numerous sources, including Exodus 28:17 and Leviticus 13:49: "If the plague be greenish or reddish in the garment . . ." [back]
[2] Deuteronomy 28:22: "The Lord will smite thee with consumption, and with fever, and with inflammation, and with fiery heat .... and with mildew"; [back]
[3] Esther 1:6: "upon silver rods [rolls, or rolled silver]"; [back]
[4] Song of Songs 5:14: "His hands are as rods of gold"; Exodus 27:17: "All the pillars of the court round about shall be filleted with silver." [back]
[5] Judges 21:12. [Back]
[6] Psalms 71:13: "Let them be ashamed and consumed . . . Let them be covered with reproach." [Back]

From: Selected Poems of Solomon Ibn Gabirol. Translated from Hebrew by: Peter Cole (Princeton University Press, 2000).

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