A Jewish Prayer

If my lips could sing as many songs
as there are waves of the sea:
if my tongue could sing as many hymns
as there are ocean billows;
if my mouth filled the whole firmament with praise;
if my face
shone like the sun and moon together;
if my hands
were to hover in the sky like powerful eagles
and my feet
ran across mountains as swiftly as the deer;
all that would not be enough
to pay you fitting tribute, 
O Lord my God.

—Hymn probably composed in the
Talmudic period, 3rd-5th century A.D., in
Praying with the Jewish Tradition (comp. Elias Kopciowski)