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NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

PURCHASED FROM THE

Jacob H, Schiff Fund

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THE NEW YORK

PUBLIC LIBRARY

A8T0R, LENOX AND
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Page from a Persian tnanuscript of the Seven-
teenth Century containing Quatrains of Omar
Khayyam in the possession of the Translator

The Quatrains are in the fnargin of the
page, and (beginning at the top are as follows:
Numbers 422, 512, the first bait of 868; 369,
1st, 2nd and 4th lines of 739, and 3d line of
740; and 163 of this translation

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The QUATRAINS

OMAR KHAYYAM

of Nishapur

TRANSLATED FROM THE PERSIAN INTO ENGLISH

VERSE, INCLUDING QUATRAINS NOW FOR

THE FIRST TIME SO RENDERED

EBEN FRANCIS THOMPSON

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY

NATHAN HASKELL DOLE

PRIVATELY PRINTED
MCMVI

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3935U5

TlLt E.N.P0UNLATl»^ii4.

By Eb£n Francis Thompson

j4n rights reserved

(published decbmbbr, 1906)

Tki Comhonwbalth pRa
WofciMer, Mass.

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Introduction

Since most foreign words, especially those expressing
abstract qualities, cannot be adequately represented each by
any one exact equivalent, it is evident that no translation of
a masterpiece can be perfectly satisfactory. That is why so
many are stimulated to keep trying to make an advance in
accuracy, in felicity of phrase, in form, over the translations
that have already been offered to the public. Thus in
Homer we find the version in rimed couplets, in blank
verse, in ballad form, in hexameters, in rhythmic prose, in
Spenserian stanzas, and the student will find in each succes-
sive attempt to represent the original, something to praise
and something to blame. The ideal can never be attained,
because one language can never be another language. A
hundred persons may try to put into English verse an ode
of Horace or such a lyrical gem as Heine's "Du bist wie
eine Blume," but in each case the crux will arise in such a
phrase as simplex mundinis or in such a word as Wehmut^
which do not mean quite what the lexicon attempts to give
as the definition.

This may be said, with even more emphasis, of Oriental
works, where a far more subtle connotation is inherent in
word and combination of words. It has been unfor-
tunate that the ntajority of those who have attempted
to translate Arabian and Persian poetry have not been
poets; they have labored to show the Western world what

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INTRODUCTION

treasures were stored away in the Haft Kulzum and other
marvellous compilations, in divans made up of vividly col-
ored ruba'iyat, in ghazals and epilogues, but as soon as they
laid hand on the gorgeous colored fabric the magic vanished,
just as in dichromic minerals where there is beautiful trans-
lucency or exquisite color viewed in one direction but muddy
opacity viewed in another. Those bald and frigid transla-
tions have their value, but they merely prepare the way for
the true poet-interpreter to come.

Until FitzGerald gave us his immortal paraphrase no
one would have suspected from the dull and lifeless speci-
mens of Omar's verse that may be found scattered here and
there through the misrepresented literature of the Orient,
that the Astronomer-poet was worthy of a moment's atten-
tion. FitzGerald's eyes were opened, and although his
knowledge of Persian was neither very wide nor very deep,
he had the genius to detect the marvellous poetry concealed
in the crabbed manuscripts of the Bodleian and Calcutta
libraries. He can be hardly said to have translated Omar's
quatrains, so much of himself and his own thought he infused
into his work, but nevertheless one cannot doubt that if the
Tent-maker were to return to earth and become cognizant of
what had been done he would have marked it with the seal
of his approval; he would have said, "This is an interpre-
tation; it is I."

Of course the nearer a translation approaches the form
or gives the impression of the melody of the original, the
more satisfactory it is, and John Payne's attempt to render
the quatrains in the lilting measure and with the wealth of
complicated rimes, characteristic of the original, would have
been in the right direction, had the English language been
adapted for such a tour deforce.

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INTRODUCTION

Unfortunately, in order to accomplish this the translator
was obliged to resort to grotesque transpositions and com-
binations of words, and the first requisite of a translation
was largely sacrificed; English words took the place of "the
high-sounding Pahlevi," but the compound was not English,
and the attempt was valuable, if for nothing else, to show
how impossible the task. Many translations of Omar have
been put forth since FitzGerald's Paraphrase was launched
on the sea of popularity, and most of them have followed
his modest course in copying simply the arrangement of
rime and using the plain Iambic pentameter, and this una-
nimity of procedure is based on sound common sense. It
gives ample scope for felicity of phrase and is in exact
accord with the genius of the English language.

Mr. Eben Francis Thompson, the latest adventurer
on this wide sea of exploration, has come back with a richer
cargo than any who have preceded him; unless — and this
is quite improbable — some new manuscript source should
be discovered, he has swept in the whole range of poems
attributed to Omar Khayyam. No one knows better than
Mr. Thompson how considerable a proportion of this
material is imitation and not original. There is no known
test, no known touchstone of style or content, or chirog-
raphy, or tradition, or anything to which a ruba'i attributed
to this poet may be applied and labeled. It is almost wholly
guess-work, and unfortunately, just as the English version
of FitzGerald lends itself most readily to parody, so the
original is verse so admirably adapted to expression of
thought and feeling that its form is typical. It is therefore
probable that there are numerous serious parodies in Per-
sian which might well have been written by Omar and yet

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INTRODUCTION

which arose centuries after his body had crumbled to dust
under the yellow roses of Meshed.

Mr. Thompson has put into English verse this whole
body of Persian poetry. It is a marvel of close translation,
accurate and satisfactory. He has succeeded in doing
exactly what he set out to do, — to add nothing and to take
nothing away, but to put into the typical quatrain, as deter-
mined by FitzGerald and others, exactly what Omar and
his unknown imitators said. He has taken infinite time,
patience and pains to do this work, and it was well worth
doing. The manifold repetitions and replicas, differing
from one another only by a few words or a line, found in
variant manuscripts, he has relegated to the foot-notes, but
the body of the book contains all the Omaresque literature.
It has been a labor of love, absorbing and fascinating and
yet endlessly trying, and at last it is accomplished and is
given to the large body of Omar-lovers, — not in any way
to compete with or rival FitzGerald's unique masterpiece,
but to interpret that, and to show what Omar was beyond
and beside that. FitzGerald's version is no more definitely
Omar than any other divan of verses attributed to him.
Some of them may be, most of them probably were not,
but they are all penetrated by the spirit and philosophy of
the Tent-maker; witty, cynical, occasionally pessimistic, im-
bued with true Oriental fatalism, but brave and wholesome
if properly understood.

Mr. Thompson has given us the chance to read what
Omar and his school really thought and said, and he has
put this into a satisfactory form also, with much aptness
of phrase and beauty of expression. As such it is worthy
of commendation to all lovers of Omar.

NATHAN HASKELL DOLE.

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Preface

Omar Khayyam* was born in the first half of the
eleventh century A. D., at or near Nishapur, in the prov-
ince of Khorasan, Persia, and died 1 123 A. D. (517 A, H.).
The precise date of his birth is a matter of conjecture, but
it probably occurred in the period from 1030 to 1040 A, D.,
although some accounts make him a schoolfellow of Hasan
Ibn Ali (better known as Nizam ul Mulk), born, it is
believed, in 1017 A. D., and of Hasan i Sabbah, who died
1 1 24 A. D. If these accounts be correct, Omar lived to
the age of one hundred and six years, and Hasan i Sabbah
died at one hundred and sqven, a circumstance so remark-
able that it stands not within the prospect of belief We
are compelled at the same time to dismiss the tale of the
schoolboy compact told in FitzGerald's Introduction, how-
ever reluctantly, since it seems that the fVasaya or testament
giving the account was not written by Nizam ul Mulk but
by a descendant some twelve generations after. But what-
ever the doubts as to the exact date of Omar's birth, he
probably reached old age, though the verse in quatrain
467, "A hundred years Thy grace hath fostered me," must
be taken rather as the exaggeration of poetry than as a sober
statement of fact.

In quatrain 20 he says " Seventy-two years I 've pon-

^Omar's full name was Ghi&s tiddin Abul Path Omar bin Ibrahim Al
Khayydm.

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PREFACE

dered day and night," and in quatrain 771 "My life's
reached seventy years, if I do not Rejoice this moment, ah,
when shall I, pray?" and elsewhere makes allusions to his
age, so that, if the quatrains have weight in determining the
question, Omar outlived the Psalmist's span.

It is reasonable to suppose that he had passed the age
of thirty when, in 1074 A. D. (467 A. H.), according to
two authorities, Ibn ul Athir and Abu-1 Feda, Omar was
appointed upon a Royal Commission of eight persons by
Malik Shah, to reform the old Persian calendar. During
this term of office, which continued until the death of the
latter, in 1092 A. D., he compiled the astronomical tables
known as Zij i Malikshahi.

Omar's reform of the calendar consisted in ascertaining
more exactly the length of the solar year and an improved
system of intercalation. If the statement of mathematicians
be correct, it is a strange commentary upon the era in which
we live, the age of precision, that the calendar which con-
tents us, should be less accurate than that of the old
astronomer of Khorasan, eight centuries ago.

The province of Khorasan, situated in northeastern
Persia, and which has been characterized with more flippancy
than truth as being in Omar's day " a half barbarous prov-
ince," was one of the richest divisions of the kingdom at
that time and formed the nucleus of the expanding empire
conquered by the Seljuk Turks, Togrul Beg and his brother
and Lieutenant Chakir, from the Ghaznavides, about the
middle of the eleventh century of our era. Chakir died in
1060 A. D., and Togrul three years later, and was succeeded
by Alp Arslan, his nephew, under whom and his successor,
Malik Shah, the empire attained the highest degree of pros-
perity and splendor. Khorasan, aptly called " The Land of

VIII

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PREFACE

the Sun " by reason of its mild climate and generally fertile
and productive soil, was the very heart of this material and
intellectual uprising, and Nishapur, its largest city, the
birthplace of the poet, was one of the great cities of the
Orient, the centre of a prosperous activity, well named
** The Gateway of the East," lying as it did directly upon
the caravan route from India. The city, one of the oldest
of Persia, was a centre of learning as well as of trade, having
no less than eight colleges, while its population was vari-
ously estimated as from 200,000 to 400,000 inhabitants.

Alas ! to-day the mountain-girt plain, where once stood
the magnificent city, is covered by stretches of ruins, amid
which cluster the meagre dwellings of less than 10,000 souls.
It is, perhaps, not wholly a matter of surprise that Persian
civilization of Omar's time should be misunderstood to-day,
for too frequently we forget that then, when Europe was
but just emerging from her long night of intellectual dark-
ness, Persia was the very focus of a civilization equaling any
that the world had then known.

Omar's poetical works were probably joccasional rather
than formal, and most of his known writings treated of
scientific subjects. They are as follows :

1. Ruba'yat* (quatrains).

2. Demonstrations of the Problems of Algebra.

3. Some Difliculties of Euclid's Definitions.

4. Zij i Malikshahi (astronomical tables).

5. Handbook of Natural Science (title not known).

6. El-Kawn wal-Taklif (metaphysics).

*The above form of transliteration of this word into English seems
preferable, since the original is written without tashdid.

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PREFACE

7. El-Wajud (metaphysics).

8. Mizan ul-Hukm (scientific).

9. Lawazim ul-Amkina (natural science).

10. Demonstrations of the Exactitude of the Indian
Methods of Extracting Square and Cube Roots.

11. Arabic Poems.

The first three of the above we have, the others are
only known to us by name. Much of his philosophy was
of a nature to challenge the hostility of the orthodox Mus-
sulman and his manuscripts were doubtless the object of
the destructive zeal of the pious. It is small wonder, then,
that the reputation of the poet was obscured by that of the
astronomer and mathematician, and that the seeds of his
poetry and philosophy should have lain dormant in the
dust of eight centuries, hidden save to the few, only to
germinate and spring up in renewed vigor and grace of
flower, fragrance and fruitage under western skies, sweet in
the main, but with an occasional bitterness and pungency
most stimulating.

Edward FitzGerald's brilliant paraphrase of less than
one-tenth of Omar's quatrains was the first work which
gave to English readers some knowledge of and aroused an
interest in^ him as a poet and philosopher. FitzGerald's
wide departure from the text of his Persian original, while
amply justified by the splendor of the result, had, never-
theless, an influence upon subsequent translators, so that
with the exception of Mr. Edward Heron-Allen's prose
literal translation of the Bodleian and other FitzGerald
originals (some two hundred quatrains in all), no version
of any considerable number of the quatrains hitherto pub-
lished has been uniformly literal or close.

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PREFACE

The translations of Mr. Whinfield, Mr. Garner and
Mrs. Cadell, which deal with a portion of the quatrains,
are highly poetic but free versions. In characterizing them
as " free," I do not desire to be regarded as implying that
they do not interpret the spirit of the original, or that in
many instances they do not render with fidelity its letter,
but rather that reverence for the Persian text has been
often made secondary to the poetical beauty of the English
version.

Mr. John Payne has made a version containing a
larger number of the quatrains than the others. Mr. Payne
has necessarily subordinated other considerations in attempt-
ing to reproduce the metrical scheme of the original, and,
as far as the nature of the case admits, he has succeeded in
doing this in a manner impossible to a less accomplished
Persian-Arabic scholar than he.

A strictly literal translation of Khayyam is hardly pos-
sible, for the reason that there is no received text, and the
verbal variations are so numerous. A metrical version
seems to be essential. I have attempted to make a trans-
lation, which, while not literal at every point, may be said
to be rather along the lines of close than of free translation.
I have followed, save in a few instances, the Iambic penta-
meter used and made popular by FitzGerald. The length
of this line corresponds more closely to the Persian Ruba'i
line than perhaps any other.

The Ruba'i, quatrain, or four line stanza, has from
ten to thirteen syllables in a line and rimes in the first,
second and fourth lines, and occasionally in all four. Each
Ruba'i constitutes a complete and distinct poem in itself,
and in this form is purely a Persian invention,

I have in all cases endeavored to give the essential

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PREFACE

meaning of the original, but where metrical considerations
have compelled paraphrase or departure from its letter, I
have generally given a literal translation in the correspond-
ing foot-note.

No complete version has hitherto appeared. I have
included all the quatrains in the various manuscripts and
published texts cited elsewhere, so that this translation
comprises a large number of quatrains not hitherto trans-
lated into English. In the case of variant readings I have
adopted that which seemed to me best, giving in the foot-
notes all important variations, and since the translation is
not accompanied by a Persian text, no necessity exists for
following the arbitrary Diwan order or alphabetical sequence
of rime endings, and as each quatrain is a separate poem,
I have not grouped them in accordance with the subject-
matter, but have rather striven to emphasize their individu-
ality as in the original. The minor and obscure quatrains,
some of which have been given merely for completeness, I
have placed in an appendix. In translating them I have
dealt with them somewhat more freely than with the others,
as one source of their obscurity or triviality is the delight
of the Oriental mind, in subtleties which we of the West
may not always appreciate. I have in some instances en-
deavored to indicate the word-play of the original, but
most of it is utterly untranslatable, and the instances given
are merely by way of illustration of an interesting feature
of Persian poetry.

The quatrains may be classified in relation to their
subject-matter as follows : The Bahariyah, poems, in praise
of Spring or Nature ; the Firaqiyah, where the poet com-
plains of separation from the beloved ; the Hajw, or satires ;
the Halyah or Shikayat i Ruzgar, complaints against Fate

XII

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PREFACE

for the wretched condition of the poet ; Kufriyah, when the
poet slanders the prophet, praises wine, or uses expressions
hostile to the law; Shahrashob, an invective against the
inhabitants of a town ; Munajat, addresses to Deity.

Any attempt to epitomize the character of Khayyam
as shown in his writings would be a difficult task, so varied
and contradictory are the quatrains. Written at different
periods covering a long life, they doubtless often express
his passing mood. Possessing that quality of universality
which is characteristic of the highest genius he has been
claimed by all the sects. Nicolas hails him as a Mystic,
and places upon his eternal hymning of the Grape a mys-
tic interpretation, claiming that Omar sang of Wine as
typifying Divine Love, rather than the cup. The truth,
which loves a golden mean, doubtless lies between these
two extremes, for while Omar often used the word in its most
literal sense, many of the quatrains can be most justly inter-
preted mystically. The fact is that Omar was the laureate
of good fellowship, and sings ofttimes what less gifted mor-
tals feel but do not seem to have the power to express, and
one of his great fascinations lies in the fact that from across
eight centuries we seem to hear in him a voice which sounds
the protest of to-day ; and that is one of the reasons for the
high popularity which his writings have attained. His
strong human sympathy and audacity in dealing with theo-
logical dogma, no less than the keenness of his wit and the
bitterness of his mockery, also tended to his popularity.

He who attempts to make a complete translation ot
the poems must necessarily include many that are inferior
and it would be strange if, in dealing as this work does
with more than eleven hundred different quatrains, a con-
siderable number, trivial and obscure, were not included,
xni

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PREFACE

It should be said that Omar followed but the custom of
his age and that Wine was as much an accepted theme for
Oriental poets as Spring or Love, and that very likely the
preponderance of such quatrains is in a measure due to the
additions of later scribes and imitators. So too, of Omar's
invectives, it should be borne in mind that he lived at a
time of bitter religious controversy and that his attacks
were not so much directed at religion itself as at the hypoc-
risy of the Mollahs and at formalism in religion.

In addition to the obligation which every student of
Persian is under to those who have preceded him, my
especial thanks are due to Mr. Nathan Haskell Dole for
his generous interest in and examination of my manuscript,
to Professor William E. Story, of Clark University, to
Mr. Charles D. Burrage, who has placed at my disposal
certain texts and authorities, and to Dr. Louis N. Wilson,
librarian of Clark University, who has generously loaned
^\ to me copies of otherwise inaccessible texts.

After my translation had been completed, I availed
myself of the services of Mirza Ali Kuli Khan, who assisted
me in the matter of variant and preferred readings, and I
desire to express my obligations to him. I am also indebted
to the work of Dr. Arthur Christensen, of the University
of Copenhagen, for some of my references.

Worcester, Massachusetts,
September i6, 1906.

XIV

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rhe QUATRAINS of
OMAR KHAYYAM

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Abbreviations

B. The Ouseley MS. No. 140, Bodleian Library, Oxford, dated A. H.
865 (A. D. 1460), containing 158 quatrains, fac simile Persian text edited
by Edward Heron- Allen, London, 1898.

C. A copy made from the Calcutta MS. (now lost) No. 1548 of the
Bengal Asiatic Society of Calcutta. The numbering will very likely only
approximate references in some other works for the marginal quatrains
are here noted as such. The Calcutta printed edition of 1836 was evi-
dently taken from this MS. omitting the repeated quatrains and placing
the marginal quatrains in a supplement. The number references to C.
are therefore to be treated as approximate, but as covering both the MS.
and the printed edition.

N. Persian text edited by J. B. Nicolas, Paris, L'Imprimerie Impdriale
1867, containing 464 quatrains. These were taken principally from the
Teheran lithographed edition of 1861.

L. The Lucknow lithograph, A. H. 1312 (A. D. 1894), containing
770 quatrains (also A. H. 1320, A. D. 1902). This edition may be said to
cover the Bombay and Stamboul editions.

W. Persian text of editions of E. H. Whlnfield, London, 1883, 500
quatrains ; and 1901, of 508 quatrains.

P. Persian text lithographed at St. Petersburg, A. H. 1306 (A. D.
1888), containing 453 quatrains nearly identical with N. Taken from the
Tabriz edition of 1868. The lithographed editions are not numbered ;
I have referred to copies numbered by me.

P. Edward FitzGerald's poem or version called ''The Rub&iy^ of
Omar Khayydm.** (Fourth edition, unless otherwise noted.) The refer-
ences to FitzGerald are not confined to texts which he used but include
many parallel references.

NoTB. I have omitted marking alif and ya in Persian and Arabic
words, for while this is essential in the correct transliteration of sentences,
it is not so important in the case of isolated words, and as the marks convey
no meaning to the English reader, or are mistaken for stress marj^s, I have
omitted their use. I have followed, too, in many instances, the popular
spelling as Omar for 'Umar, etc.

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The Quatrains of Omar Khayyam

Let not your soul in Sorrow's clasp be prest,
Nor let your days be filled with vain unrest ;
The book, the loved one's lips and marge
of mead
Forsake not ere Earth fold you in her breast.

I'll counsel give, if you will list to me,
Don not the garment of Hypocrisy,

This life is but a breath, the next all time.
For that one breath sell not Eternity.

1. B. 76. C. 150. L. 315. F. 24. L., in line 1, varies, "Let not
sorrow seize on thy stronghold. * * C . and L. vary in line 3 and read ' ' Drink
wine on the green by the flowing stream ere,*' etc.

2. B. 101. C.251. N. 240. L. 468. P. 239. W. 280. "Time.'' line
3 lit, "hours," L. reads "days." "Breath" syn. "an instant."

Line 2, lit. "For God's sake, don not," etc.

Line 4, "Eternity," lit. "The Kingdom of Eternity."

Above letters refer to various Persian texts as B, Bodleian, L, Lucknow, etc.
(See table of abbreviations.)

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THE QUATRAINS OF

3
Drink wine! for when to dust your body turns,
Your clay becomes thereafter cups and urns,

Of Hell or Heaven reck not, for pray why should
A wise man be deceived in such concerns?

4
No night my cry doth not reach Gemini,
That my tears' current flows not to the sea;

"After to-morrow" say'st "Til drink with thee?"
Life e'en that morrow may not reach for me!

5
This vase like me a hapless lover pined
In snares of beauty's tresses once confined ;

This handle on its neck you see was once
An arm oft round the loved one's neck entwined.

«MJ*,

3. B. 79. C. 131. L. 293. "Concerns,** lit. '*news;** L. reads
•life.** C. line 3, reads **Hear not talk of,** etc., for **reck not,'* and

line 4 "by such talk.'*

4. C. 206. L. 289. This quatrain is a good illustration of the Per-
sian use of the verb in varying senses in the different lines; "rasidan,"
to reach, to arrive, to attain, etc. It also illustrates a certain extravagance
of expression, quite Oriental.

5. B. 9. C. 40. (Repeated margin of C. page 92.) N. 28. L. 81.
P. 28. W. 32. F. 36. B. varies in line 2, "And was in pursuit of a fair
face.** C. marginal quatrain varies in line 2, "lip to the lovely sweet-
heart *s lip,** and rimes in "budah** instead of "budast.**

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OMAR KHAYYAM

On that Day when the good rewards receive,
May I, a suppliant sot, a share derive!

Let the Fates count me with the good, if good,
Or with the bad, if bad, may They forgive!

7
So go about that men salute thee ne'er;
With folk live that from comment they forbear;

So enter mosques that they ne'er summon thee
In front, nor thee appoint to lead in prayer!

Whose heart so ever love lights, whether he
The mosque attend or church frequenter be.

Hath his name written in the book of Love
From thought of Paradise or Hell set free.

6. C. 146. L. 364. W. 238. Lit. **To-morrow when the lot of the
good They (the Fates) g^ive, To me, a suppliant sot a share may They
give.*'

7. C. 138. L. 299. C. transposes predicates in ffies 1 and 2.

8. C. 36. N. 60. L. 44. P. 60. W. 63. **Church," line 2, **kin-
isht/' a term applied to churches or synagogues, apparently any place of
religious worship but a mosque.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

9
The idol spoke thus to the devotee,
"Dost thou know how thou cam'st to worship me?'*
"Through me His beauty hath He caused to
shine,
Who, oh my witness, vision gives to thee."

Where in yon palace Bahram wine-cup prest.
The roe bears young, the lion oft takes rest.

King Bahram who in noose oft caught the Gur^
See how the Gur hath Bahram caught at last!

1 1

Since long in earth you '11 sleep, the goblet drain.
For far from friend, mate, consort, you *11 remain.

Take care this secret you do not reveal,
"No withered tulip ever blooms again."

9. L. 7. W. 14. "Witness,** "shahid** syn. "loved one.**

10. C. 90. N. 69. L. 210. P. 69. W. 72. F. 18. See q. 572.
Bahram Gur, Bahram of the wild ass, a celebrated hunter king, was so
called on account of his fondness for hunting the g^r, onager or wild ass,
a very alert and nimble prey. The word-play which I have purposely
shown is upon the word "Gur,** which also means "grave.** C. reads,
line 2, "Foxes bear young," and line 3 "Ever caught the *Gur,* ** and
line 4 "To-day see.** etc., and L., "All his life caught the *Gur.***

11. C. 73. B. 35. L. 188. W. 107. F. 63. Also ascribed to Hafiz .

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OMAR KHAYYAM

O, thou! whose cheeks surpass the eglantine!
Whose lovely face outvies the maids of Chin !

Thy one glance giv'n my fond king yestere'en
Moved knight and bishop, castle, pawns and queen!

13
Life's caravan moves on in mystery.
Seize then the joyous moments as they fly.

Why fret, boy, o'er the morrow of thy friends?
Bring forth the cup, for night is hast'ning by !

H
To him who o'er his sins doth easy seem.
Let pious people make this point their theme;

"To say * God's wisdom is the cause of sin,'
To men of sense seems ignorance extreme."

12. B. 46. L. 228. W. 135. A chess quatrain addressed to the
beloved. Lines 1 and 2, lit. *'0 thy cheeks are placed above the fashion
of the eglantine, Thy face throws down the idols of China!** The word
play is untranslatable and is upon the various meanings of the word
**tarh,*' mode, fashion, a move in chess, etc. **Chin,*' China. The
Chinese type of beauty was much esteemed by the Persians. ''Fond,*'
Une 3, B. reads *'Babil,** '*the king of Babylon.**

13. B. 60. C. 117. N. 106. L. 245. P. 106. W. 136. F. 48. The
texts vary slightly but are substantially synonymous.

14. N. 116. W. 144. P. 116. Also ascribed to Nasir uddin Tusi.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

15
Zealots know not as we Thy clemency;
The stranger as the friend cannot know Thee;

Thou say'st, "If thou sin I *11 cast thee to Hell."
Tell that to him who knows not Thee as we.

Though creeds some two and seventy there be,
The first of creeds I hold is love of Thee;
What of obedience, Islam, unfaith, sin ?
Thou 'rt all my aim, the rest be far from me!

17
Last night, wine flown, the tavern passing, I
A graybeard, drunk and jar on back, did spy,

I said, **01d man, 'fore God, have you no shame?''
"From God comes mercy, drink!" was his reply.

15. N. 190. W. 204.

16. N. 248. W. 287. P. 247.

17. C. 254. N. 244. L. 462. P. 243. W. 284.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

The Sun flings morning's noose o'er dome and tower,
Day's king Khosrau, wine in the bowl doth pour;

Drink ! For the rising Herald of the Morn
Greeting the days proclaims the dawning hour.

19
Arise and come, for my heart's solace, pray
This state of doubt with thy charm take away.
And bring a jug of wine that we may drink
Ere potters fashion wine-jars from our clay!

Destiny's curtain none can penetrate.
Nor learn the hidden mysteries of Fate,

Seventy- two years I 've pondered day and night.
Nor solve aught — long the tale were to relate!

18. C. 116. L. 235. W. 233. F. 1. Kai Khosrau. King Cyrus. C.
reads line 2 for ''wine,'* ''a stone," and line 4 **crie8 out *Drink ye!* "

19. C. 8. N. 6. L. 12. W. 5. P. 6. N., line 2, reads **Solve one
problem.*'

20. C. 168. N. 177. L. 345. P. 177. W. 192. L. varies in line 3,
"Every one speaks from conjecture,** and C. ** Every one talks wisely.**

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THE QUATRAINS OF

I drink my wine, for men like me of sense
In God's sight 't is of little consequence;
He knew it at the first, if I drink not
Sheer ignorance would be God's prescience!

O, Kh'aja! grant us one wish, only one.

Be still ! with our affairs with God have done !

We walk aright, 't is you who see awry.
Go you and cure your sight, leave us alone!

23
Heaven whispered to my spirit secretly,
"The fixed decrees of Fate learn thou from me.

If I in my own turnings had a hand.
Myself from dizziness I 'd have set free!"

21. B. 75. C. 177. N. 182. L. 356. W. 197. P. 182. F. 61. Also
ascribed to Talib Amuli and Siraj uddin Qumri.

22. N. 5. L. 18. P. 5. W. 4. C. 11. Kh'aja, a rich or learned
person.

23. B. 154. W. 507. Line 1, lit. **In my heart's ear Heav'n said
secretly/' P, 72.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

A cup ! for He who did this clay combine,
Of love and drink on our heads wrote the line;

With beauties and with wine the world is filled,
But only promised are Heaven's maids and wine !

25
Wash me with grape juice when life ebbs away,
And "parting words'' with wine and wine-cup say;

If me ye 'd find on Resurrection Morn,
In dust of tavern thresholds seek my clay.

Since no one can the" morrow guarantee.
To-day this woeful heart make glad in thee;

Drink wine in moonlight, O Moon, for the moon
Will shine full often nor find thee nor me.

24. L. 130. An allusion to the Oriental belief that man's fate is
¥nritten in the markings of the sutures of his skull. The quatrain begins,
"Saki. a cup!*'

25. C. 9. N. 7. L. 13. W. 6. P. 7. F. 91. "Parting words,"
line 2, * 'talking' last monitions to the dead before burial. N. reads line
3 for **find," **seek."

26. B. 5. N. 8. L. 5. W. 7. P. 8. C. 5. F. 100. Addressed to
the beloved. Moon, a face rounded like the moon is a Persian type of
beauty. Line 1 N, P. and W. read "become surety for." Line 2,
"woeful," L. reads "passionate," and B. "distraught." Ascribed also
to Attar.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

Love, though a curse, is made so by God's sway.
Then why should God His blight upon us lay?

Since Good and Bad are creatures of His will
Why for His slaves hath He a Reckoning Day?

Cupbearer, bowl and wine by marge of dell
Are Heaven enough for me and thee as well;

Hear not from any talk of Hell or Heaven,
For whoe'er came from Heaven or went to Hell?

Who brings thee to me rapt at close of day.
Who leads thee from the harem on thy way?

To him who in thine absence burns as fire.
When leaps the wind, who brings thee to me, pray?

27. L. 107.

28. L. 37. (B. 45, variant. See 666.)

29. C. 10. N. 3. L. 24. W. 2. P. 3. Also ascribed to Attar.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

30
I know not of the Heavens' turning, aught,
Nor save by spite of Fortune am I taught;
And when I ponder on my own affairs,
A lifetime passeth and yet I know naught.

31
Do thou charm every heart with wooing art,
And gain at court a friend to take thy part;
A hundred Ka'bahs equal not one heart,
Why seek the Ka'bah? rather gain a heart.

32
Though hue and fragrance their delights bestow,
My form as cypress, cheeks as tulips show,

I know not wherefore my Artificer
Arrays me thus in Earth's abode of woe.

30. L. 113.

31. N. 15. L. 36. P. 15. W. 18. C. 12. Ka'bah, chief building
of the temple at Mecca, held in especial reverence by devout Moslems.
Line 3, lit. **A hundred Ka'bahs (mere water and clay), equal not one
heart." ''With wooing art,** line 1, lit., **In the quarter of wooing,**
W. reads ** In the way of wooing.**

32. N. 13. C. p. 3 margin. L. 16. P. 13. W. 12. Line 4, ''abode
of woe,** **tarab,** generally meaning *' mirth, joy,** in some connec-
tions, * 'sorrow.** I think the true sense here is the latter.

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THE aUATRAINS OF

33
Love is chief volume of the world of thought ;
The burden of youth's song with Love is fraught ;

Learn then this point that Life, in truth, is Love
Oh, thou, who of the world of Love know'st naught!

34
Whene'er the cup of wine in hand I drain,
And lost in drink to ecstasy attain,

I do a hundred wonders of all sorts.
Verse flows like water from my fiery brain.

35
To-day is but a breath, so drink pure wine.
Once gone, thou 'It never find this life of thine.

Be lost in drink both day and night, since thou
Know'st well the world to ruin doth incline.

33. L. 143. Line 2, lit. '*The chief bait (distich) of youth's ode is
Love.'' I have transposed lines 3 and 4.

34. N. 16. L. 27. W. 19. P. 16.

35. N. 17. L. 34. P. 17. W. 20. Lines 3 and 4 are transposed.
Unmixed, *'nab," pure in the sense of undiluted. L. reads for '*Be lost
in drink," ** Drink only wine."

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OMAR KHAYYAM

36
The rose said "Nothing with my face can vie.'*
" Yet as rose-water crushed at last am I ! "

"Count every day you laugh as 'twere a year!"
The nightingale did fittingly reply.

37
What time of halting here falls to our share
Yields nothing save anxiety and care ;

Alas ! that not one problem solved, we go
And that a thousand griefs at heart we bear !

From wine-house haunt came voice ere rise of sun,
" Ho ! Tavern lounger ! Mad, besotted one !

Up! That the measure we may fill with wine,"
" Or e'er for us the measure Fate o'errun ! "

36. L. 170. Line 4, ''Fittingly/' "Bi-zaban-i-hal," lit. "In the
tongue of the case." See note to quatrain 554.

37. N. 4. W. 3. P. 4.

38. N. 1. L. 1. W. 1. P. 1. C.3. F. 2. First edition. Addressed
to the cupbearer. Also ascribed to Hafiz and Sulman Sawagi.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

39
Prosper, 'tis not because by thee 'twas planned;
Fail, it is not thy lacking, understand ;

Bow thee to Fate, submit and live content.
The world 's nor good nor ill at thy command !

Be lovers aye enrapt, in fantasy.

Distraught, dishonored, touched with lunacy ;

Sober, we fret and frime o'er everything.
But drunk, say, "Let whatever will be, be!"

41
For God's sake in this house of vanities
With what hope sets his heart on wealth the wise ?

Whene'er he wishes to sit down to rest.
Death grasps him by the hand and bids him rise.

39. L. 71. C. 35.

40. N. 9. L. 19. P. 9. W. 8. Line 3, lit. **Sober, in anger all
things we consume." Also ascribed to Jalal uddin Rumi.

41. N. 10. L. 17. P. 10. W. 9. C. margin Page 4. N. and P.
lines 3 and 4 vary and are almost identical with same lines in quatrain
46, apparently a blunder of the scribe. Also ascribed to Nagm uddin
Razi.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

42
That fair for whom my heart hath longing vain,
Herself forlorn, some other doth enchain ;

Where shall I seek a balm to ease my pain ?
Since my physician sick herself is ta'en ?

43
The Koran though as "Word sublime" read o'er,
Men sometimes on its page, but not long, pore ;
' There is a bright verse in the cup's lines, for
Within men everywhere read, evermore.

44
If you drink not, at sots take no offence.
Did God give grace, I would show penitence;

"You drink not?" You commit a hundred deeds
That make my tippling boyish innocence !

42. L. 43. C. p. 7 margin.

43. B. 6. N. 11. L. 22. W. 10. P. 11. C. 4. B. line 3 for "a
bright verse" reads "a text engraved," and N. and P. *'a precept." B.
and C, line 1, read '* greatest word*' for lit. **best word."

44. N. 12. L. 2. P. 12. W. 11. C. margin p. 3. Lines 3 and 4,
lit. "You boasting say 'I drink not wine!' a hundred deeds you commit
to which wine is a mere boy (servant)!"

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THE QUATRAINS OF

45
O, you, come hot from that soul world below,
Amazed amid what Five, Four, Six, Sev'n show.
Drink wine, for whence you come you do not
know.
Rejoice ! you know not whither you will go.

Where is the smoke of our fire here, O, pray ?
Where profit of our stock-in-trade's array ?

To him who "Tavern-haunter" me doth call,
O, where in truth here is the tavern, say?

47
One wine draught to earth's kingdom doth compare
And to a thousand lives, the lid of jar!

The cloth with which one wipes wine from the
lips
Is worth the scarfs a thousand preachers wear !

45. L. 66. The five senses. The four elements. The six sides and
the seven planets. C. 67 varies in lines 3 and 4 and reads freely "Drink
wine! for knowledge of the soul ne'er whispers from the clay; Fret less
o'er worldly things, for when once gone, you 've gone for aye.'*

46. L. 11. W. 13. C. 7. A mystical quatrain. Doctrine of Maya
or world illusion.

47. C. 189. N. 191. L. 390. P. 190. *'Scarfs," line 4, **teilsan,"
a hooded scarf or vestment worn by preachers.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

Why grieve so much at worldly envy, pray ?
Have you e'er seen the man who lives for aye?

This one breath in your body is a loan,
With which you should live ready to repay.

49
So far as lies in you cause no one pain.
Lest any you inflame, your wrath restrain ;

If you desire to have eternal peace,
Though vexed, from wronging any man refrain.

- 50

O Thou, whose love and wrath made all that be.
And Heaven and Hell through all eternity.

Thou hast Thy court in Heaven and I have naught.
Why then in Heaven is there no way for me?

48. L. 69. C.43.

49. B. 4. W. 15. Line 2, lit. "Nor on your anger's fire set any one.'*

50. L. 6. W. 16. L. Bombay and Tabriz read lines 3 and 4 ''Thou
hast Thy court in Heaven and I have naught save wine; 'tis well that in
Heaven there is no way for me."

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THE QUATRAINS OF

I '11 drink so much wine that its sweet bouquet,
Shall when 'neath earth I go, rise from the clay
That when some reveller passes o'er my dust.
Drunk from my wine frimes he shall reel away.

The fish to duck in droughty season said,

"What if this stream should run back in its bed?"

"When you and I are roasted," quoth the duck,
"What matters stream, what mirage once we're dead?"

53
To this lost haunt with wine and love we fare.
And pledge for drink, soul, heart, cup, raiment there.

And quit of mercy's hope and fear of law.
We 're freed from earth and water, fire and air !

51. N. 14, L. 28. P. 14. W. 17. F. 92. C. 13.

52. L. 31. W. 23. Line 4, mirage, "sarab/* variant **sharab,*' wine.

53. C. 14. N. 19. L. 29. P. 19. W. 22. (B. 7. variant.) See
quatrain 709. C. W. & N. read line 1 *'with wine and minstrel.** C. also
gives variant in margin, "we and wine and love in some ruin comer," and
C, line 2, **Soul, heart, cup and raiment filled with wine dregs.'* The
introduction in a quatrain of reference to the four elements is considered
an elegance in Persian. It is called ''Mutazadd.**

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OMAR KHAYYAM

54
Since All is unsubstantial as the air
And naught save loss and ruin ; whatsoe'er

Exists in this world, think doth not exist,
And what on earth is not, imagine there.

SS
From doubt to certainty is but a breath,
A breath from unfaith's halting place to faith.

This precious breath then do you cherish, for
Life's sum is but a breath from birth to death.

O Heaven's wheel ! Ruin is thine ill behest,
Thine ancient custom ever has opprest;

O Earth ! If e'er thy%osom they should bare.
Full many a valued gem would deck thy breast !

54. L. 33. C. page 21 margin. The Vedantic doctrine of Maya or
the illnsory nature of the universe. Lit. "Since naught of all that is in
hand is but air, and since of whatsoever is there is naught but loss and
ruin, think whatever is in this world is not, and imagine whatever is not
in this world, is."

55. C. 16. N. 20. L. 131. W. 24. P. 20. F. 49. F. 50. Line 4.
lit. **The sum of our life is but a breath."

56. N.21. L. 42. W. 25. P. 21. C. 17.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

SI
O thou, for me of all earth set apart !
More sweet to me than eye-sight, soul and heart !

There 's naught more dear than life, O Idol ! yet
A hundred times more dear to me thou art !

This two or three days' lifetime passeth on.
Like mountain stream or desert blast 'tis flown;

Still there are two days that I reckon not.
The day to come and that already gone !

59
That precious ruby 's from another mine.
That single pearl doth bear another sign.

The thought of this ailfl that is vain conceit,
Love's tale hath other tongue than mine or thine.

57. N. 2. L. 23. P. 2. N. and P., line 2, **Sweeter to me than my
two eyes and sonl.''

58. N. 22. P. 22. W. 26. Line 1, lit. One, two, three days, i. ^.,
a few days, a day or so. See quatrain 653. C. 18, line 3, reads * 'while
I live I fret not over two days." F. 57.

59. N. 23. L. 132. W. 27. P. 23. A mystical quatrain.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

When showers of Spring the tulips' cheeks o'erflow
Arise and to the wine-cup haste to go,

For this green where thou sport'st to-day, per-
chance
On some near morrow from thy dust may grow.

Now 't is young manhood's season, I design.
Since it makes glad my heart, to quaff my wine.

Chide not the grape, though bitter yet 't is sweet,
*T is bitter since it is this life of mine.

O Heart! since 'tis your fate that blood must flow.
Your state each moment change must undergo ;

What brought you. Soul, into my body, since
The end of all your strife, is forth to go !

60. L. 104. C. 47. Line 4, lit. * 'To-morrow from thy dust will
grow.**

61. C. 23. B. 11. N. 24. L. 133. W. 28. P. 24. B., line 3,
reads for **the grape,** **me,** and L. ''because it bitter is, *tis sweet.**
Also ascribed to Talib Amuli.

62. N. 25. L. 98. W. 29. P. 25. C. 33.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

To-day is thine, the morrow 's not for thee,
Thy care for morrows naught but grief will be ;

Nor waste this breath if thy soul *s not distraught.
For what remains of life will quickly flee.

To wine submissive we the head incline.
And pledge our souls its laughing lip to join ;

So our cup-bearer turns the flagon^s throat;
So sparkles from cup*s lip the soul of wine.

Knock not in vain at each door in your way,
With worldly good and ill contented stay.

Whatever the number on the dice of Fate
From the Sphere's cup that falls, you needs must play.

63. C. 83. B. 12. N. 26. L. 41. W. 30. P. 26. C, line 3, ends
"for the soul abides not." Line 4» lit. "For this life's remnant appears
not to be permanent." L. and B. read "has no price."

64. N. 18. L. 35. W. 21. P. 18. Ascribed also to Kamal Ismail.
"Sparkles," lit. "comes up."

65. C. 63. N. 27. L. 87. W. 31. P. 27.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

From zephyrs when my heart thy fragrance takes,
It seeks and grasps thy nature, me forsakes.

And now there comes no thought to it of me,
For thy scent ta*en, its own thy nature makes !

The day and night were long ere thou or I,
Or on its wheeling course revolved the sky ;

Ah, softly set thy foot upon this dust,
*T was once the apple of some beauty's eye !

The idol house is as the mosque, a shrine.
And chime of striking bells service divine ;

Gueber's belt, church and rosary and cross.
Each is in truth of worshiping a sign.

66. C. 89. L. 209. W. 118. Addressed to the beloved. My nature
partakes of that of the loved one and like her becomes inconstant. Also
ascribed to Abu Sa*id. This quatrain may also be interpreted mystically
as addressed to deity, the absorption of the soul in the divine essence.

67. C. 41. N. 29. L. 114. W. 33. P. 29. F. 20.

68. C. 31. N. 30. L. 124. W. 34. P. 30.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

Fate's marks upon the tablet still remain
As first, the Pen unmoved by bliss or bane ;

In fate whatever must be it did ordain,
To grieve or to resist is all in vain.

Delights of both worlds revellers' bowls confine.
The sun etern in moonlit cups doth shine;

The secret hidden in creation's soul.
If it you 'd know, bides in a glass of wine.

71
I cannot to both good and bad unfold
My secret, nor may long tales soon be told ;

I am unable to explain my state
Or to reveal the secret that I hold.

69. B. 31. C. 79. N. 31. L. 195. W. 35. P. 31. F. 71. B. for
*'upon the Tablet'* reads *'from the first,** and for **As first,** **continu-
ally,*' and for **In fate,** reads *'On the first day.**

70. L. 161.

71. C. 80. N. 32. L. 197. W. 36. P. 32. L. varies slightly.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

With us base coins we no more current keep,
A broom our pleasure house of such doth sweep.

A sage forth from the Tavern comes, and cries,
" Drink wine, since for long ages ye must sleep/'

73
To change the written scroll there is no power.
And grieving only makes your heart bleed sore.

Though anguish all your life consume your blood,
You cannot add to it one drop the more.

74
Naught save submission to God's will below,
Naught with mankind except pretense and show
Avails. Yea, every ruse that wit could find
I vainly tried, but Fate could ne'er o'erthrow.

72. N. 33. L. 99. W. 37. P. 33.

73. B. 54. Lit. "from the pen gone no other color comes.** F. 107,
second edition.

74.^ N. 34. L. 211. W. 38. P. 34.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

IS
My kin 's my foe if he against me sin;
The stranger proving faith becomes my kin ;

If poison help me, *t is my antidote,
My poison then is baneful medicine,

No heart but bleeds at severance from Thee,
For Thee distraught are all who clearly see;

And though Thou heed^st not any man's desire,
There 's none that longeth not with Thee to be !

Seek aye the kalenders' mad tavern train.
Nor aught but wine, loved one and music's strain.
Nor cup from hand nor jar from shoulder set ;
Drink wine, O sweetheart ! nor hold discourse vain !

75. N. 35. L. 225. W. 39. N. reads ** regard as my foe.*'

76. N. 36. C. 106. L. 223. W. 40. P. 36. Line 2. Ut. **There'a
none who is clear sighted who is not distraught for Thee."

77. N. 421. L. 754. P. 416.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

78
When God of clay and water us did knead,
At Fate's blows suppliants He made us indeed ;

Still why forbid us wine? an empty hand
Is all the prohibition that we need.

79
Those who the head did in Death's slumber lay
Question and answer 'scape till Judgment Day.

How long say " None bring back news from the
dead?"
What news should they give back since naught know
they?

From mirth while I am sober, I am freed,
When I am drunk good sense I sadly need ;

There is a state 'twixt drunk and sober quite,
I am its slave since 't is my life indeed.

78. L. 4.

79. C. 165. L. 342. C. for **slumber'» reads ''strife.'

80. N. 37. L. 52. W. 41. P. 36. C. 26.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

The framework of the cup He did unite,
To break in rage how should God deem it right?
So many comely heads, feet, hands and arms !
Shaped by what love, and broke in what despite?

Upon a roof I saw a man alone

Trampling some clay in scorn ; in mystic tone

The clod besought the man, " Be gentle, pray.
For thou like me wilt be much trampled on."

As tulip in the Spring her cup lifts, so

With tulip-cheeked fair, if chance serve, do you.

And drink in gladness ere yon azure sphere
Like whirlwind suddenly doth lay you low.

81. B. 19. C. 57. N. 38. L. 40. W. 42. P. 37. F. 85. B. reads
'*The framework of the cup made for wine a drinker will not allow to be
broken/' B. and L. read for * 'hands and arms'* '*with finger tip.*'
Also ascribed to Nasir eddin Tusi.

82. B. 66.

83. C.29. N.40. L. 136. W. 44. P. 39. F. 40. Spring, "Nooruz,"
lit. **New Year's day," The new year of the old Persian calendar, about
March 20, the time of the vernal equinox.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

I will arise intent pure wine to sip,
My cheek's hue make red as the loved one's lip ;
This busy mind — a fist well filled with wine
Into its face TU throw to make it sleep !

Death's fear and mortal thoughts give life to thee,
And if not thence grows Life's eternal tree.

Since Jesus breathed new life into my soul
Eternal Death hath washed his hands of me !

Since Life's affairs move not to our desire.
Of what avail our efforts, pray inquire.

Here sit we haunted by regret for this.
We came so late, and must so soon expire.

84. B. 110. **Unnab,'* the lip of a mistress, also the jujube fruit.

85. N. 39. L. 196. W. 43. P. 38. ''Life,*' line 1, **hasty/' the
reading of L., which I prefer to "masty,** of the other texts. The latter
means intoxication, frenzy, lust. The fear of death and thought of mor-
tality tend to perpetuate life. The Moslems believe in the healing power
of the breath of the Messiah.

86. C. 30. N. 41. L. 251. W. 45. P. 40.

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THE aUATRAINS OF

87
Khayyam, O why for sin this grief and shame ?
What gain in mourning thus yourself to blame ?
He knows not gracious mercy who sins not.
Why grieve? It was for sin that mercy came.

A cloud veil shadows still the face of rose,
Desire for wine my heart and nature knows.

Give wine O sweetheart, for the sun yet shines.
Go not to sleep, what time is 't for repose ?

For none is there a way behind the veil.
Who tries to pierce its secrets but doth fail?

The only place of rest is earth's dark breast,
Alas, that far from short should be the tale !

87. B. 23. C. page 24 margin. N. 43. L. 82. W. 46. P. 42.

88. B. 96. N. 224. L. 439. P. 223. L. and N, read, line 2; **In the
nature of my heart," and "Drink** for ''give,** line 3. B. reads, line 4,
* 'place** instead of "time.** I have transposed lines 3 and 4. Also attrib-
uted to Attar.

89. B. 29. C. 49. N. 44. L. 61. B. and C, line 4, read "Drink
wine! for far,** etc., for "Alas,** etc. W. 47. P. 43.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

In this vain world, our place of brief sojourn,
Much have I searched, but this is all I learn :

No cypress e'er can match thy form, no moon
As radiant as thy face do I discern.

91
In convent, school, cell, church, w^hate'er the creed
Are those in fear of Hell, and Heaven in need :

But he who knows the mysteries of God,
Within his heart sows not this fruitless seed.

The world thou see'st, all 's naught that thou dost see, >

And everything that 's said or heard by thee ;

Thou coursest Heaven from pole to pole, 'tis
naught.
Naught all thou hast in thy home's treasury !

90. N. 45. L. 178. W. 48. P. 44. "Vain," literally ** faithless.'*
The cypress is a Persian standard for elegance of figure. See note to Q.
26. Addressed to the beloved. Lines 3 and 4 transposed.

91. C.68. B.24. N. 46. L. 181. W.49. P. 45. Line 1, '* church/'
etc., **kinisht** is a term applied indiflEerently to churches or sjmagogues.
C. N. P. and W., line 4, * 'Within himself."

92. N. 47. L. 185. W. 50. P. 46. Ascribed also to Aubadi Ker-
tnani and to Attar.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

93
I dreamt that Wisdom came to me and said,
" In sleep for none joy's roses petals spread,

In life why dost thou mimic death ? Arise !
For sleep thou must when 'neath earth is thy bed."

94
If as it is, the heart life's secrets knew.
In death, 't would know the Heav'nly secrets too ;
But now that with yourself you nothing know,
To-morrow, from self parted, what know you ?

95
Upon that day when sundered is the sky.
And darkened is the stars' bright galaxy.

Upon the plain I'll seize Thy skirt and cry,
"For what sin. Idol, doom'st Thou me to die?"

93. C. 72. B. 27. N. 48. L. 200. W. 51. P. 47. B., line 4, **thou
must sleep for ages.** L., line 4, begins "Awake I'* the others **Drink
wine!**

94. C. 19. N. 49. L. 78. W. 52. P. 49. F. 53. Also ascribed to
Hafiz. Line 3, lit. **Why do a thing that is akin to death.** L., slightly
variant.

95. C. 34. N. 50. L. 70. W. 53. P. SO. ''Plain,** the Judgment
plain. N. reads ** Upon Thy skirt hem I * 11 seize.'* See Koran, beginning
of chapter 82.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

Your secrets from all knaves you should conceal ;
Nor should you mysteries to fools reveal ;

Your hopes you should keep close from all man-
kind;
See you be careful how with men you deal.

97
Sakiy since Time would shatter me and thee.
The world*s no resting place for thee and me ;

Yet so the wine cup stands between us, know
We have the Truth at hand for certainty.

We *ve spent life pleasure bent mid flowers and wine,
Yet Fortune ne'er supplied one need of mine ;

Though drink hath not accomplished my desire.
Ne'er doth the traveller to turn back incline.

96. C. page 26 margin. N. 51. L. 49. B. 30. W. 54. P. 51. See
q. 712. N. and P. vary in line 2 * 'nightingales" for ''fools."

97. C.21. N. 52. L. 46. W. 55. P. 52. "Saki," a cup bearer.

98. N. 53. L. 56. C. 27. W. 56. P. 53.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

99
Set wine in my hand for my heart 's alight,
For swift as quicksilver this life takes flight;
Know that youth's fire as water is, arise !
For Fortune's waking is a dream of night !

ICO

Of this wine, drink, for it is life etern ;

The source of youthftil pleasure, it doth burn

Like fire, yet drink, for to the Well of Life
The briny tears of Sorrow it doth turn !

lOI

Unfit to mosque or synagogue to go,

God only of what clay I *m mixed can know ;

Like sceptic dervish or like ugly bawd.
No hope have I above, no faith below.

99. C. 32. N. 54. L. 63. W. 57. P. 54. Lines 3 and 4 transposed.
N. reads **Ri8e'* for **Know.*' Also ascribed to Atraf uddin Hassan! .

100. B. 90. N. 196. L. 472. Lit. Grief is turned to the water of
Life. P. 195. N. and P. vary slightly.

101. C. 22. N. 57. L. 109. W. 60. P. 57. N. and P., line 1, **Unfit
for Hell or Heaven.''

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OMAR KHAYYAM

I02

My wont is to drink wine, live joyously,
My creed, from doubt and dogma to be free;

I asked the world-bride " Tell me what 's thy
dower?*'
** My dowry is thy happy heart,** said she.

103

Thy spirit to a house-dog*s well compares,
*T is empty clamor that for naught else cares ;

It has the tiger's rage and wolfish craft,
*T is fox-like and it gives the sleep of hares.

104

Each tuft of green the river brims display.
As down on angel's lip doth grow, you 'd say ;
Ah, trample not this turf! for every blade
Springs from some lovely tulip-cheeked one's clay!

102. N. 56. C. 20. L. 48. W. 59. P. 56. Who so weds the world
its greed and ambition, gives up happiness.

103. C. 104. N. 58. L. 222. W. 61. P. 58. ''Sleep of hares,"
false security. A bit of choice invective apparently directed at one of
Khayyam's Orthodox enemies.

104. C. 37. N. 59. L. 62. P. 59. W. 62. P. 20. L. varies word
sequence slightly. Also ascribed to Nagm uddin Razi.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

105
One wine draught *s better than the realm of Kaius
Throne of Kobad or heritage of Tus,

More worth each sigh the lover breathes at morn
Than hypocritic zealots' shouts profuse.

106

Though for my sin I bad and luckless prove,
I '11 not despair as heathen who do rove

From shrine, but on the morn I die from drink
Be't Heaven or Hell I '11 wish wine and my love!

107

A corner and two loaves our choice make we,
We 've put aside earth's pomp and vanity ;

We have bought poverty with heart and soul.
In poverty great riches do we see !

105. C. SO. N. 61. L. 122. W. 64. P. 61. Kaius, second of the
Kayanian dynasty and son of Kobad. Tus, a prince of the Peshdadian
dynasty.

106. N. 62. L. 67. W. 65. P. 62.

107. B. 119.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

io8

If to your tress tip I do violence,

(To speak the truth and in no mystic sense.)

Caught in your curl I see my heart distraught
To play with my own heart is no offense.

109

When comes the final day for me and thee
And pure from out the body then pass we,

When we *re no more, from yon blue dome frill
oft
The moon will shine on dust of thee and me !

All that 's not grape juice better to eschew.
Better one old wine draught than empire new ;

Cups hundred times than realms of Feridun,
The wine-jar lid than crown of Kai Khosrau !

108. L. 569.

109. L. 631. P. 100. C. 350, variant.

110. B. 139. N. 382. L. 650. P. 378. Kai Khosran, Cyrus. Peri-
dun , sixth king of the Peshdadian dynasty. I have transposed lines 1 and
2. Line 1, lit. ''Prom ail that 's not wine the way out is best."

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THE QUATRAINS OF

III

My drinking wine is not for pleasure's sake,
Nor sin, nor law of God or man to break.

An instant ecstasy to gain doth cause
My revelling and me enrapt doth make.

112

With us the moments drag, thy lovers we,
Beside themselves, thy mourners pine for thee ;
When to our window shall thy sun return?
For more numerous than motes thy longers be.

"3
He 's doomed to Hell, they say, who drinketh wine,
A saying 't is the heart cannot divine.

For if all sots and lovers go to Hell,
Heaven will be empty as this palm of mine !

111. C. 51. N. 63. L. 92. W. 66. P. 63. Also ascribed to Rida
uddin.

112. L. 111. Addressed to the Beloved.

113. C. S3. N. 64. L. 158. W. 67. P. 64. Line 4, lit. *' To-morrow.
Heaven/' etc. P. 65. Second edition. Line 1, word sequence varies.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

114

O Sweetheart! Heaven or Hell none e'er did see,
The man returned from that world, where is he?

Our hopes and fears, O Heart, arise from what
Nowise save name or trace appears to be.

"5
Wrong in Shaban, they say, 't is to drink wine,
Likewise in Rajab, *t is a month divine.

Since Allah and His Prophet claim these months.
Through Ramazan I '11 drink, for it is mine !

116

From far came one with body foul to see.

The shirt he wore of Hell's smoke seemed to be ;

He broke my flask (may his life lack!), and then
"As this fine wine, so boasting man! '* said he.

114. L. 495.

115. C. 56. N. 65. L. 51. W. 68. P. 65. Ramazan is the fasUng
month, the Mahometan Lent.

116. N. 385. L. 743. P. 381. L. 1883. begins** Prom a monastery,"
N. and P. conclude **He broke and spilt (that one who was neither man
or woman) one flask of my ruby wine, a l)oasting man was he." The
texts are somewhat obscure. The last line may be rendered also **It was
the fine wine of a man like me." Apparently directed at the Mollahs and
those who made a pretense of enforcing the law against the use of intoxi-
cants, and who were generally corrupt. Boastful man's mortal frame
compared to brittle glass, his life to wine soon spilt or quickly consumed.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

117

Many *s the garb of being Heaven doth sew
Each night, and then its breast doth rend in two;

Many 's the joy and sorrow Time each day
Brings from the waters, bears to earth below.

118

Within the cup that flowing gem of thine,
As liquid rubies, Saki, cause to shine.

Place, boy, within my hand, a stoup well filled.
That thus I may revive this soul of mine.

119

Dawn beareth night's dark curtain from the skies ;
The Magian wine bring quickly, Saki, rise!

Then up ! for thy sleep will be long enough ;
Yea, open those sleep-stained narcissus eyes !

117. L. 477. C. page 67 margin. Saki, the cup bearer.

118. N. 429. P. 424. Line 3 ''well filled/' lit. heavy.

119. L. 383.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

1 20

The world 't is called, this ancient hostelry,
The piebald resting place of Night and Day,
The banquet by a hundred Jamsheds left,
The tomb wherein a hundred Bahrams lay,

121

Now that Joy's roses fairest bloom attain,
Why from the cup your idle hand restrain ?

Drink wine, since Time is a perfidious foe.
It were hard finding such a day again.

122

Again the clouds come and the meads revive —
Without red wine I 'd not an instant live —

This turf that now is my delight until
The grass from my dust joy to whom shall give?

120. C.87. N. 67. L. 203. W. 70. P. 67. P. 17. C. and L., line
4, read "palace" for ''tomb.'* Jamshed and Bahram, ancient Persian
Kings. The former said to have founded Persepolis, the latter the famous
hunter King. See note to quatrain 248.

121. C. 92. N. 68. L. 206. W. 71. P. 68.

122. C. 75. N. 70. L. 191. W. 73. P. 70. F. 23. Also ascribed
to Hafiz.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

123

To-day 's Adina called in common phrase,

Drink wine from bowls then, in the wine-cup's place;

And if you drink on week days but one bowl.
To-day drink two, for 't is the chief of days.

124

That wine that 's apt in transformation,
That 's plant form now and animal anon,

Deem not its essence ever suffers change.
Itself abides, although its forms be gone.

125

My soul the past regretting dwells in woe;
The morrow's fears do cleave my heart in two;

But once this my existence be set free,
Fear, anguish and regret together go.

123. C. 69. N. 71. L. 182. W. 74. P. 71. Adina, or Friday,
is the Moslem Sunday. The word is derived apparentiy from the Arabic
"Adin," "most religious.** Line 1, lit. "To-day is *Adina,* as it is called."

124. C. 65. N. 73. L. 179. W. 75. P. 73. F. 51. C. reads "that
moon*' for "that wine.** Mistake of scribe, possibly, writing "mah" for
"badah.**

125. L. 540.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

126

That one on whom you do so much rely,
You '11 find a foe if you ope wisdom's eye.

It were good in this age to choose few friends.
Holding aloof from people's company.

127

O, fool! Naught is this image that man wears,
And naught yon vault of nine parti-hued spheres;

Be glad that in this house of life and death
A breath we hang on, which as naught appears!

128

If there be minstrel, Houri, wine for thee.
And purling steam beside the flowery lea.

Desire not better, nor fire burnt out Hell,
There is no Heaven beside, if Heaven there be.

126. C. page 25 margin. B. 8. N. 75. L. 65. W. 77. P. 75. The
baits in B. C. and L. reverse above order.

127. N. 76. L. 186. W. 78. P. 76. Also ascribed to Nasir uddin
Ttisi. L. varies "Alas that this embodied form is naught, And yon circuit
and roof together brought, Know that in this tangle of life and death, We
hang upon a breath and that is naught.''

128. C. 71. N. 77. L. 184. W. 79. P. 77.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

129

A graybeard, drunk, forth from the inn did fare
Wine cup in hand, bearing a mat for prayer

On shoulder. ** Shaikh!'* I cried, "How comes
this state?'*
" Drink wine ! " quoth he, **for worldly things are air ! '*

130

When rapt, the bulbul to the garden flew.
Rose faces, smiling wine cups met his view;

Then sang he in mine ear in ecstasy,
"Know, life once flown, can ne'er be found by you!"

Khayyam, a tent thy body typifies,

Where its Sultan, the soul, a brief time lies.

And Death's ferrash for its next halting-place
Doth strike this tent when its Sultan doth rise.

129. N. 78. W. 80. P. 78. P. 58. As if the sage recommended
the ecstasy of the Bowl as a means of escaping worldly cares.

130. N. 79. W. 81. P. 79. Also ascribed to Kamal Ismail.

131. C. 97. N. 80. L. 100. W. 82. P. 80. P. 45. Word play on
Kha3ryam and Khaimah, tent. Perrash, attendant, carpet spreader or
footman. Line 4, L. variant but Sjmonymous.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

132

Khayyam, who stitched tents of philosophy.
In Grief's fire fallen, was burnt suddenly.

Death's shears cut his life's tent rope; he was sold
For nothing by the broker. Destiny.

133
In Spring-time if with one as Houri fair.
To verdant bank with wine-jar I repair.

Though bad some think it, I were worse than dog
If thought of Paradise e'er enter there.

134
In Joy's cup sweet is wine of rosy ray.
And sweet the sound of lute and tuneful lay ;

The bigot lacking knowledge of the bowl, —
'T is sweet when he 's a thousand leagues away !

132. B. 22. C. 52. N. 81. L. 74. W. 83. P. 81. P. Introduction.
Word play on Khayyam and khaimaha, tents. Line 4 B. reads ''Desire's
broker." N. reads "The broker in haste." I follow L. I use passive
form in last sentence.

133. C. 60. N. 82. W. 84. P. 82. See quatrain 648, variant.

134. N. 83. W. 85. P. 83.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

Life far from wine and saki lacketh zest,
And wanting Irac's flute notes 't is unblest ;
I find howe'er the world's state I survey
The sum of all is pleasure, naught the rest.

136

Since from your soul you separate, then know
Behind God's secret veil you will go, too ;

Drink wine! for you know not whence you have
come;
Be jocund ! for you know not where you go !

137
Since go we must, of what avail to be ?
To plod the path of vain expectancy?

Since Fate no pause for counsel gives, to rest
What boots it from that journey's thought care free?

135. N. 84. L. 190. W. 86. P. 84. L. reads throughout ''is naught/'
the others, ''is not pleasant.''

136. B. 26. C. 76. N. 85. L. 192. W. 87. P. 85. B. begins line
3 ••Rejoice!" line 4 ''Drink wine!*'

137. N. 86. W. 88. P. 86.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

138

My life-long practice is to praise the Vine
And round me have the instruments of wine ;

Zealot ! if Reason guide thee here, be glad
Thy master is a pupil apt of mine !

139
If you will tread in Passion's steps, know you
From me that thence you will go helpless too ;

Remember who you are and whence you came.
Consider where you go and what you do.

140

The sky, a vault, spans our worn lives below;
Jihun a course from our strained eyes aflow ;

Hell is a spark struck by our vain distress ;
Heaven but an instant when content we know.

138. C. 66. N. 87. L. 180. W. 89. P. 87.

139. C. page 11 margin. N. 89. L. 79. W. 91. P. 89. Also ascribed
to Abdullah Ansari and to Rumi.

140. B. 33. C. 82. N. 90. L. 199. W. 92. P. 90. F. 67. Jihun
is the river Oxus. ** Vault,'* line 1, syn. **zone." B. reads line 1 for
**lives," **body,** and line 2 **is a trace of our strained tears.*' L., line
1, "Heaven's sphere is but the image of our waning lives.*' N. and P.
read "stained tears."

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THE QUATRAINS OF

141

I 'm a rebellious slave, Thy mercy show !

Make my dark soul all Thy pure light to know !

If Heaven Thou giv'st us for obedience,
A wage 't is, where *s the bounty Thou 'd bestow ?

142

I know not whether Allah fashioned me
For Heaven or in a horrid Hell to be;

Cup, lute and loved one by the garden side.
All three my cash, Heaven's credit then for thee !

H3
I quaff wine and from right and left come those
Who say, " Drink not wine which doth Faith oppose/*

By Allah ! since I know Faith's foe is wine,
'T is right that I should drink the blood of foes !

141. C.102. N.91. L.217. W.93. P. 91. Also ascribed to Abdullah
Ansari. Literally **I *m a rebellious slave, Where is Thy mercy? My soul
is dark, where is Thy light and purity? If Heaven Thou giv*st us for
obedience, It is a wage, where is Thy grace and bounty?''

142. B. 40. C. 96. N. 92. L. 89. W. 94. P. 92. B., slightiy
variant, reads line 3 **Food, wine," etc. C, W., N. and P. read * 'agree-
able Heaven,'' line 2.

143. B. 38. C. 74. N. 93. L. 189. W. 95. P. 93.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

144

The good and evil in man's mortal mould,
The joy and grief that Fate and Fortune hold.
Impute not to the skies, for reasoned well.
More helpless they than thou a thousand fold!

145
Shields naught avail when by Death's arrows prest,
And honors naught, silver and gold possest;

As far as I view worldly things, I see
Goodness alone is good and naught the rest.

146

The heart on little set save worldly gain.
For life to be Regret's weak mate is fain;

Besides the mind serene and free from care,
All others only hold the seeds of pain.

144. C. 55. B. 41. N. 95. L. 80. W. 96. P. 95. F. 72. N. and P.
begin **A11 good," etc., and line 3 for ''reasoned well," lit. **in reason's
way," read **in love's way."

145. N. 96. W. 97. P. 96. C. 64 begins ''When the sword of Death
is drawn." Also ascribed to Kamal Ismail and to Hafiz.

146. N. 97. L. 219 W. 98. P. 97. 'Tor life," line 2. N. and P.
read "all his days.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

147
No single day lost from his life hath flown,
Within whose heart the seed of cheer is sown ;
Whether he seeks obedience to God's will,
Or cup in hand in ease doth choose his own.

148

When God of our existence shaped the clay,
He knew our actions would be as His sway;

Without His mandate was no sin of mine.
Then why doom me to burn on Judgment Day?

149

A week thou hast drunk wine continually.
Do not on Friday, then, put it from thee.
In our creed Friday, Saturday, are one,
God worship, from day worshiping be free.

147. B. 42. C. 101. N. 98. L. 215. W. 99. P. 98. Lit. ''seed of
Wisdom's cheer." B. reads for **seed of cheer," **leaf of love engfrafts."
C. and L. read *'seed of the study of wisdom." Line 4, lit. **Or chooses
his own ease and raises the cup." B. reads "bodily ease." L. reads
**easeof life."

148. C. 78. N. 99. L. 194. W. 100. P. 99. P. 78.

149. N. 100. L. 76. W. 101. P. 100. Friday, **Adina," the Moslem
Sabbath.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

Lord, Thou art gracious, grace 't is to be kind.
The sinner forth from Iram why consigned?

To pardon for obedience is not grace;
In pardon for rebellion grace I find.

See that the felse world doth not thee ensnare.
Sit not secure ! Fate's sword is sharp, take care !

If Fortune drop a sweetmeat in thy mouth.
Swallow it not, 't is poison mixed, beware !

152

Where'er there is a rose or tulip bed.

From some King's blood it takes its hue of red ;

Each violet leaf that springs from earth was once
A mole that decked the cheek of some fair maid.

150. N. 101. W. 102. p. 101.

151. B. 44. L. 83. W. 103. C. page 26 margin.

152. B. 43. C. 39 varies slightly. L. 110. W. 104. F. 19. The
mole is esteemed by the Persian a mark of beauty. C. and L. read *'ln
every desert where there is a tulip bed those tulips spring from the blood
of a king." **Leaf,'* line 3, B. reads "shoot."

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THE QUATRAINS OF

Drink wine, for it is life etern, in sooth.
The fruitage of the season of thy youth ;

*T is time of roses, wine and mellow friends,
Rejoice the while, for this is life, in truth.

154
In our heart, Saki, is sown love of thee
Which would keep hidden to eternity.

Spread not from pride thy skirt 'gainst worthy
prayers
For from it our hand ne'er will loosened be.

When they say Houris' nuptials pleasant are,
" The juice of grapes is pleasant ! '' I aver ;

Take this cash then and let that credit go.
For pleasant is the drum beat, — heard afar !

153. B. 36. L. 97. W. 106. Line 2 "fruitage," lit. ''profit." Line
3 varies slightly but is substantially synonymous.

154. L. 150.

155. B. 34. C. 44. L. 95. W. 108. P. 13. B. reads ''The paradise
of Eden is pleasant with Houris," and in line 4 for ''heard" reads
"brother." C. reads "They say Heaven will be sweet with Houris and
that world will be pleasant with joy and light."

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OMAR KHAYYAM

156

My spirit whispered, ** I crave Heavenly lore ;
Instruct me then I beg if thou hast power."

Quoth I, "Alif will do, to him who knows
One letter is enough, seek thou no more! "

Since coming at the first was naught of mine,
And I unwilling go by fixed design.

Cupbearer, rise ! and quickly gird thy loins !
For worldly sorrows I '11 wash down in wine !

158

How long shall I make bricks upon the sea ?
Idolater and temple weary me;

Who says Khayyam in Hell is sure to be ?
Sometimes to Hell, sometimes to Heaven goes he.

156. B. 28. W. 109. F. SO. Alif. the first letter of the Arabic and
Persian alphabets. He who truly knows the Alif knows all. A mystical
quatrain, the Alif perhaps standing for Deity. In arithmetic the letter
stands for one. Lines 3 and 4, literally '*! said 'The Alif will suffice, say
no more! If any is at home (i, e, familiar) one letter is enough.' ''

157. B. 21. L. 94. W. 110. C. 42. P. 30.

158. B. 18. C. 100. W. 111. See quatrain 657. How long shall I
weary myself with idle ceremony? Build on nothing?

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THE QUATRAINS OF

159
Spring's breath the rose's face doth sweetly woo,
A charmer's face makes sweet the garden too ;

To talk of yesterday were sad. Rejoice !
To-day is sweet ! of past days speak not you !

1 60

What place is this for talk ? Arise, pour wine !
To-night thy pouting lips are food for mine.

Pour wine rose-colored as thy cheeks ! For this
My vow 's disturbed as is that curl of thine.

161

Beyond the skies from all eternity.

My soul sought Tablet, Pen, Heaven, Hell to see ;

At length the master wisely said to me,
'' Pen, Tablet, Heaven and Hell are all in thee ! "

159. B. 17. C. 77. L. 193. W. 112. F. 37. First edition. ''Gar.
den, "B. reads **nnder the garden," i. e., **in the garden shade." Lit
erally "Spring's breath upon the rose's face is sweet. In the garden plot a
heart-enkindling face is sweet. Of yesterday that is past whatever yon
may say is not sweet. Rejoice! nor speak of yesterday for to-day is sweet! ' '

160. B. 16. W. 113. Line 4 ''disturbed," lit. "fnll of wrinkles."
Apparently meaning that the good resolutions of the poet are as disturbed
as the hair of the beloved.

161. B. 15. L. 59. W. 114. P. 66.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

162

Now o'er the earth that joyonsness prevails,
Each living heart the fields with yearning hails;
On each branch is the show of Moses' hand,
And every zephyr Jesus' sigh exhales.

163

The Khan's crown let ns sell and crest of Kai,
Turban and muslin for the pipe's soft lay ;

Then for one wine-draught let us sell at once
The chaplet, courier of deceit's array.

164

Out on that heart wherein love hath no sway
Nor love-mad to the witching one a prey ;

The day that thou dost pass devoid of love,
For thee is none more wasted than that day.

162. B. 13. W. 116. P. 4. The show of Moses' hand "white as
snow" is referred to in the Koran, chapter VII, Al Araf , in chapter XXVII,
and elsewhere. The reference also occnrs in Exodus IV, 6. A comparison
of the bursting into bloom of the trees and the miraculous change in the
appearance of Moses' hand on Mount Sinai, to dassling whiteness.

163. L. 536. C.291.

164. B. 10. L. 216. W. 117. Line 3 L. i^ads "without wine,"
"witching," lit. "heart-kindling."

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THE QUATRAINS OF

1 6s

Rejoice with wine for 't is as Mahmud's reign,
List to the lute that sounds as David's strain ;

Be glad to-day, for 't is to be desired,
Of past or future think thou not again.

1 66

Ten Powers and Nine Spheres, Eight Heavens

enrolled,
And Planets Seven of Six Sides He enscrolled ;

From Senses Five, Four Elements, Three Souls,

God
In Two Worlds, man! like thee but ONE did mould!

167

Though silver store the wise doth not avail,
And moneyless, earth's garden 's but a jail.

With purse of gold the haughty rose doth smile.
While empty-handed droops the violet frail.

165. L. 196. C. 81. Mahmud of Ghaznah, conqueror of India. W.
119. P. 60.

166. L. 160. W. 120. The ten intellectual powers. Three souls,
i, e,t human, animal, and vegetable.

167. L. 142. W. 122. Gold, line 3, the yeUow stamens of the rose.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

i68

As I the potters' quarter pass some day,
I *11 think myself a pot 'mid pots' array;

They yet may make a wine-jar I may drain
Before to potters I present my clay.

169

Before the grave doth take its fill of me,
Or e'er all my parts prostrate scattered be,

O, wine, from flagon's tomb uplift thy head.
My dead soul may become alive to thee !

170

Stern Fate hath blood of many a mortal shed.

And leaves of many a new-blown rose wide spread ;

Of youth and beauty be not proud, O boy !
For many a bud 's strewn o'er the garden bed !

168. L. 573. C. 320.

160. L. 377.

170. L. 138. W. 123.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

171

Save Truth, no law is fit to rule the wise
No life is fit that His command defies;

Whatever is, is as it had to be.
And naught exists that should be otherwise.

172

This golden bowl, and vault of azure hue.
Full oft have rolled and will the ages through ;

And likewise, we, impelled by turns of Fate,
Like others come, and go like others, too.

173
Since God 4id set in order Nature's frame,
Why should He cast it down in scorn and shame?

If good, how comes it He doth break His work ?
And if not good, why are these shapes to blame ?

171. C. 25. L. 135. W. 124. "Hakk/' truth, the Deity of the
Mystics.

172. L. 120. W. 125.

173. C. 62. L. 103. W. 126. P. 88. "Scorn and 8hame,'» Ut.
"defect and diminution,'* **Kam u Kast."

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OMAR KHAYYAM

174
Kindness to friend and foe, 't is well to show,
Then how will he whose nature *s good, ill do ?

The friend whom you ill-treat your foe becomes.
But kindness changes to a friend, your foe.

To Wisdom*s eye what matters foul or fair.
Or if the lovelorn silk or sackcloth wear ?

What brick or pillow under lovers' heads?
To Heaven or Hell bound what do lovers care?

176

Drink wine, for e'en in winter you may see
Theworld'swits' wine sweat down their necks roll free.
How say " Broken 's your vow " ? A hundred vows
Than one wine flask far better broken be !

174. L. 88. W. 127.

175. L. 55. W. 128.

176. N. 451. L. 753. P. 445.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

177

The flowers blossom, Vintner, wine bring me !
Your hand withhold from acts of piety ;

These few days ere Doom trap us, we '11 enjoy
The red wine and the loved one's company.

178

We Ve traversed many a vale and desert plain,
And did all quarters of the world attain ;

But heard of none who came this road, the way
The traveller goes, he comes not back again.

179

The Tavern prospers from our drinking wine.
Blood of remorse be on thy head and mine.

If I ne'er sinned, what then would Mercy do ?
For Mercy but awaits my sin and thine.

177. N. 405. L. 684. P. 400. C. 385.

178. L. 57. W. 129. C. 28.

179. L. 108. W. 130. C. 58. C. and L., line 4. **The grace of
mercy," etc.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

i8o

Lo, from the world what vantage have I gained?

Naught.
What profit of my life in hand retained ? Naught.
I 'm Jamshed's bowl, but what when 't is crushed?

Naught.
Joy's torch am I, what when its light has waned?

Naught.

i8i

When at life's brink, what's Balkh, what's Nishapur?
What sweet or bitter when the cup brims o'er?

Drink wine for many a moon will wax and wane
Through changing months when we are here no more.

182

A cup of rubies pure give, Saki, pray !
That my heart's fire its liquid may allay.

While Reason, boy, shall grasp my spirit's rein.
Still on the skirt of wine my hand shall stay !

180. N. 103. L. 230. W. 133. P. 103. Jamshed's bowl, see q. 248.

181. B. 47. C. 109, variant. N. 105. L. 229. W. 134. P. 105. F.
8. See q. 663. N. reads **since life passes what matters sweet or sour?
And when expiring (lit. 'when the soul is at the lip*), what Balkh, what
Nishapur."

182. L. 683. C. 383.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

183
Devotion profits not the devotee,
For practice, Saki, proves it certainly;

The flowing beaker fill, boy, quickly, for
Whatever is, is from eternity.

184

He who earth, sky and heaven did array.
Full many a scar on grieving hearts doth lay,

And many a ruby lip and musky tress
Hath buried in earth's treasure chest of clay.

i8s

Oh, fools, the world's allurements do not buy
Since ye know her conditions certainly ;

Your precious lifetime give not to the winds,
Haste to drink wine and to the loved one fly !

183. L. 681. C. 381.

184. C. lis. N. 107. L. 234. W. 137. P. 107. Line 4, lit. ** In the
drum of earth and the casket of clay hath laid.*'

185. N. 108. W. 138. P. 108.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

i86

O, my companions, nourish me with wine!
This amber-hued face make like rubies shine;

When I am dead, wash me with wine, and shape
My coffin planks from timber of the vine !

187

The Day They girthed the coursers of the sky,
The Pleiads decked and Jupiter on high,

This lot of ours was writ in Fate's divan.
Why blame us since Heaven wrought our destiny ?

188

Alas! the "raw" oft well cooked viands eat.
The "incomplete" have worldly gear complete.

And that mere boys and lackeys should possess
The smiles of charming Turkish beauties sweet !

186. B. 69. C. 135. N. 109. L. 308. W. 139. P. 109. F. 91. B.
begins '*Take care to nourish/' etc.

187. N. 110. L. 286. W. 140. P. 110. F. 75. C. 126. *'They,'»
the Fates, Fate and Fortune. Also ascribed to Afzal Kazi.

188. N. 111. W. 141. P. 111. **The raw," **khaman/' plural of
**kham," raw, green, uncooked, i. ^., vulgar, coarse, uncultivated, used
in contrast with *'pukhtah," cooked. The quatrain does not lend itself
readily to close verse translation. It runs closely: '*Alas! that the *raw'
should have baked bread, that the imperfect should have complete
worldly possessions, that the sweet glances of Turkish beauties, which are
a spectacle for the heart, should be a possession that boys and lackeys
have!"

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THE QUATRAINS OF

189

He first in weakness me to being brought,
And save amaze to life hath added aught;

Unwilling we depart, and whence is this
Our coming, being, going, we know naught.

190

When o'er my mind doth pass my sins' disgrace.
From my breast's fire, tears trickle down my face.

Yet meet 't is always when a slave repents
The master should grant pardon of his grace.

191

What time before the pride of life had flown.
It seemed to me few secrets were unknown ;

Since modest grown, I see in reason's way.
My life is spent and naught is surely known.

189. C. 199. N. 117. L. 324. W. 145. P. 117. F. 29.

190. N. 118. L. 309. W. 146. P. 118.

191. N. 113. W. 142. P. 113. See quatrain 664. Also ascribed to
to Pakhr uddin Razi.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

192

They who Ve become the flower of all mankind,
Drive to the zenith the Borac of Mind,

Yet in Thy essence' knowledge like Heaven's
wheel
Themselves, heads dazed, overturned and whirling,
find!

193
Now that of pleasures only names remain.
No old friend left, and but new wine to drain,

To-day when, save the cup, naught is at hand,
Then from the flask do not Joy's hand restrain.

194

O, long the world will last when gone are we.
Without a name or trace of thee or me ;

Before, we were not, — and there was no void, —
And after, when we 're not, the same 't will be.

192. C. 200. N. 120. L. 326. W. 147. P. 120. F. 26. Also ascribed
to Rnmi. Bor^, the steed on which Mohammed made his famous noc-
turnal ascent to Heaven. N. for '*BorAc'* has **baran,*' passing.

193. B. 53. N. 122. L. 296. W. 149. P. 122. L. transposes lines
2 and 4 and I transpose lines 3 and 4. L. reads ''Seize on the flask again."

194. N. 123. W. 150. P. 123. F. 47.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

195
Those who have worn the earth beneath their tread.
Who seeking Him o'er both the worlds have sped,

I never have been told that they this case
Have as it is, aright interpreted.

196

Since God in Paradise hath promised wine,
Why in both worlds is 't banned by law divine?

Some Arab hamstrung Hamzah's camel once.
For this our Prophet drinking did enjoin.

197

In rose-time, king, how should a man like me
Forbear from minstrel, wine and company?

The garden, wine-jar, lute-player better are
Than Houris, Heaven and Kausar's stream will be.

195. C. 175 and also C. page 30 margin. N. 124. L. 354. W. 151.
P. 124. L. reads '*I have ne'er been told night or day that," etc.

196. N. 121. L. 295. W. 148. P. 121. Hamzah, a relative of
Mohammed. N. reads line 2 *'in this world."

197. N. 437. P. 432.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

198

If thy cheek idol be, idolatry

And thy cup's drinking is more sweet to me.

Love-drunken for that reason I Vc become,
Since than a thousand lives 't will sweeter be.

199

Alas ! that riches from our hands have fled.
And blood of many a heart Death's hand hath shed.
And from that world comes none that I may ask
"How fare the travelers who have thither sped?"

200

Strange all these nobles who high honors have.
In pain and grief of their lives quittance crave,

And yet they hardly reckon as a man
Him who unlike them is not Passion's slave.

198. L. 405.

199. C. 182. N. 125. W. 152. P. 125.

200. N. 126. W. 153. P. 126. C. page 31 margin.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

20 1

Oppressive from the first this wheel on high
Will ne'er for any one his knot untie.

Where'er a wounded heart it doth espy,
To add another wound it straight doth try.

202

Would'st Life's foundations find secure to be ?
And in this world awhile the heart care free?
From drinking wine sit not apart, and so
Life's pleasures ever find vouchsafed to thee.

203

With rose-hued wine in this abode below,
O wise man, mix your earthy substance so

That each mote of your dust They give the wind.
May wine-soaked to the tavern threshold go !

201. C. 304. N. 127. L. 252. W. 154. P. 127. Lit. **the knot of
his affaifs** L. reads **his tied knot," and in line 3 "one*' for * 'heart. "

202. N.422. L.734. P. 417. C.416. C, line 3, reads •*ruby wine.*'

203. N. 369. P. 365.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

204

Whene'er the violet her robe's color shows,
And zephyr spreads the garment of the rose,

He 's wise who drinks with silver-bosomed maids
And on the stones the empty wine-cup throws.

205

To kiss thy foot, O lamp of my delight !
Than other's lip kisses is better quite !

My hand thy fancy's hem doth clasp all day.
And my foot springs to meet thee every night !

206

No room for joyance have hearts filled with woe.
Thy loss makes hearts else glad, with grief to flow ;
With thee, I this world's bitter have made sweet.
With thy loss' bitterness what shall I do ?

204. N. 189. P. 189.

205. L. 32.

206. L. 15.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

207

Since never may we grasp truth's certainty,
One must all his life long a doubter be.

Let me beware lest I set cup from hand ;
Where 's drunk or sober when in ecstasy ?

208

My food for soul and body wine will be.
The solver of each hidden mystery ;

Naught else I seek in this world or the next^
One single draught contains both worlds for me.

209

Closed is the volume of my youthful day.

And this fresh Spring-time gladness gone for aye ;

Yon bird of joy named Youth, ah! I knew not
When here you came nor when you flew away !

207. L. 38. C. 54.

208. L. 10.

209. N. 128. L. 332. W. 155. P. 128. F. 96. C. 191.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

2IO

With these few feeble folk the world who own,
Who witless, knowledge think is theirs alone.
Be calm, since those not asses such as they.
By them are damned as skeptics every one.

211

With revellers joyous be the hostelry.
And burnt the pious skirt of devotee ;

That hundred-patch coat and blue woolen robe
^ Neath feet of dreg-drainers still fallen be !

212

How long the slave of scent and hue remain ?
How long all ill or good seek to attain?

Though Zamzam's fount or from Life's well-
spring, thou
Within earth's breast at last wilt sink again.

210. N. 130. The ruling class, often the arrogant creatures of chance.
W. 156. P. 130. Also ascribed to Ibn Sina (Avicenna).

211. C. 202. L. 338. N. 131. W. 157. P. 131. Hundred-patch
coat, the tattered and patched garment of the dervish, the more patched
the more highly esteemed. Blue is the color favored by Mollahs and by
orthodox Mussulmans. Woolen, '*souf/' wool is the distinctive material
worn by the Soufis, hence the name. L., line 4, for * 'fallen*' reads
'•thrown.'*

212. C. page 47 margin. N. 132. L. 268. W. 158. P. 132. How
long be the slave of sense? Zamzam, a holy spring at Mecca.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

213

Till cheering wine the Friend before me place.
No kiss Heaven prints on either foot or face ;

They say "Repent in time! " but how repent
Till Allah of His goodness giveth grace ?

214

When I am dead my clay do ye make fine,
That my state be to men a warning sign ;

With grape juice wet my body's dust, and shape
Therefrom a cover for a jar of wine.

215
Khayyam, though of the blue that spans us o'er
The tent be pitched and closed Discussion's door.

The Everlasting Saki in Life's bowl
Thousands of bubbles like Khayyam doth pour.

213. C. 167. N. 134. L. 344. W. 159. P. 134. Line 2. lit. *'A
hundred kisses Heaven gives not," etc.

214. C. 129. N. 136. L. 278. W. 160. P. 136. L., line 3, reads
•*my dust and clay,** N. and P. '^my dust."

215. N. 137. W. 161. P. 137. F. 46. Note the word play upon
' * Khayyam , ' * tentmaker and * * Khaimah , * ' tent .

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OMAR KHAYYAM

216

Since Time will have no bounds, be of good cheer,
The stars will spangle still the Heavenly Sphere ;

With bricks that from your body they will mould
Walls of another's dwelling, men will rear.

217

In wine ablution must in taverns be.
For none a sullied name from blot can free;
Its liquor pour, for none can now repair.
So torn it is, our veil of modesty.

218

In hope a lifetime to the winds I gave.
Nor one glad day of that time did I have ;

From which I fear lest Fate give not enough
Of time to take the justice that I crave.

216. C. 184. N. 138. L. 330. W. 162. P. 138. N. and P. read for
**time,** line 1, **grie£,** which hardly makes a consistent reading, and C.
reads ''The world.''

217. C. 149. N. 142. L. 312. B. 65. W. 165; P. 142. Line 3, B.
and L. lit. read *'Be blithe! for," etc. Apparently a mocking illusion to
the provisions of the Koran, permitting sand to be used for ceremony of
ablution, before prayer, in the absence of water.

218. N. 143. L. 320. W. 166. P. 143. C. 197. Also ascribed to
Anwari.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

219

In life's affairs one should on guard remain,
And speech concerning worldly things restrain,

Be as one lacking tongue and eye and ear.
While ear and tongue and eye you still retain.

220

Whoso is now of half a loaf possest.
Himself to shelter hath a little nest.

Who slaves for none nor is by any served.
Let him be glad for he hath this world's best.

221

Naught adds my service to Thy majesty.
And my past sin abateth naught from Thee ;

Then pardon and retract not since I know
Thou 'rt slow to blame and swift in clemency.

219. N. 145. L. 257. W. 167. P. 145. I transpose lines 3 and 4.

220. N. 146. L. 273. W. 168. P. 146. C. page SO margin. Line
2 N. reads "dar bar;'' the word *'bar" has a wide range of meaning, I
translate it *' shelter." The quatrain begins **In this world whoso,** etc.
Also ascribed to Rumi and to Himmati Balkhi.

221. C. page 34 margin. N. 148. L. 238. W. 160. P. 148. N.
and P. synonymous, but slightly vary in line 2.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

222

The juice of grapes may my hand ever bear
And my heart ever long for Houri fair :

They say "God give thee penitence! '' He '11 not.
Far be't from me! Repentance I forswear!

223

Alas! that book and pulpit hands like mine
Should touch, that hold the flask and cup of wine!

Zealot! thou 'rt dry and I a lover moist,
I ne'er heard wet would catch that fire of thine!

224

None in this world attains a rose-cheeked fair
Till in his heart Fate driven the thorn he wear;

See, in this comb until a hundred teeth
Were cut, it ne'er might touch the loved one's hair !

222. B. 64. C. 205. N. 151. L. 340. W. 172. P. 151. **Heart,''
line 2, *'sar," lit. head; the Persian locates the seat of the affections vari-
onsly, the head, the heart or the liver. B. and L. transpose lines 1 and
2, and B. reads **all the year" for "ever."

223. N. 149. L. 236. W. 170. P. 149. L. varies "Alas! that what
is poorer than wine they take!"

224. C. 203. N. ISO. L. 339. W. 171. P. 150.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

225

When we depart the world is not distressed;
Nor one pierced of a hundred pearls possessed;
Alas! a hundred thousand subtle thoughts
From people's ignorance die unexpressed!

226

Nor hot nor cold, the air breathes sweet to-day,
And clouds have washed the rose cheeks' dust away;

And ever to pale rose the nightingale
"Thou must drink wine!" in ecstasy doth say.

227

Ere you the blows of darkling Fate sustain
Bid them to bring you rose-hued wine to drain;
You are not gold, O heedless dolt, that men
Hide you in earth and then dig up again!

225. C. 156. N. 152. L. 378. W. 173. P. 152. The dullness and
indifference of the world stifles the voice of wisdom. Also ascribed to
Attar.

226. B. 67. N. 153. L. 291. W. 174. P. 153. F. 6. B. reads for
"in ecstasy" "in Pehlevi'' (old Persian). "Pale/' lit. "yellow.'*

227. B. 68. C. 128. N. 156. L. 277. W. 175. P. 156. F. 15.
Line 1 B. reads "Ere on thy head Fate makes its night attack.'* The
others read "Ere grief,** etc. A reference to the practice of burying
treasure in anticipation of a "Shabikun** or night attack of robbers.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

228

My coming brought no profit to the sky,
My going adds not to its majesty

Or pomp, from none have my two ears e'er heard.
Coming or going, the true reason why.

22,9

To heavy hearts is wine both plume and wing.
Wine, beauty's mark to wisdom's cheek doth bring;

All Ramazan no drop we 've drunk ; 't is past
The Festal night comes, Shawwal ushering.

230

No night but all bewildered is my soul.

And down my breast tears big as pearls do roll ;

My head from grieving is not filled with wine.
For none when 't is upset can fill the bowl.

228. B. 51. C. 113. N. 157. L. 232. W. 176. P. 157. F. 47. N.
and P. read line 1 **My birth brought no profit to the world," and line 4
•*The reason of my birth or death.**

229. C. 144. N. 159. L. 359. W. 178. P. 159. Ramazan, the
fasting month, Shawwal, the month succeeding. **Plume and wing,**
i, e,y makes us both proud and light hearted. "Beauty*s mark,** lit. *'a
mole. ' * The mole is esteemed a mark of beauty in many parts of the East.

230. C. 178. N. 161. L. 260. W. 179. P. 161.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

231

Why will you life in self-adorement spend,
Or "Is" and "Is not" strive to comprehend?

Drink! since Death presses at Life's heels, *tis
best
In dreams or drink it pass on to the end.

232

Deluded, some fall in their vanity.
Some seeking Houris that are said to be.

But when the veil Fate lifts, it will be seen
How far they Ve falVn from thy way, far from Thee.

233
In Heaven, they say, dwell dark-eyed Houris fair.
And that pure wine and honey will be there;

If wine and woman we love here, *t is right
Since all the same 's the end of the affair.

231. C. pag:e 40 margin. N. 165. L. 292. W. 183. P. 165. Line
3, L. "Drink! For such is life that care presses/' etc. Also ascribed to
Mayud din Hamgar.

232. C. 193. N. 167. L. 279. W. 184. P. 167. Line 3, lit. They
lift.

233. C. 132. N. 168. L. 285. W. 185. P. 169. N. varies slightly
in line 4. Also ascribed to Hafiz and to Majd ud-din Hamgar.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

234
My soul in this net drawn, time and again
Shamed of her earth-mate, to be free is fain ;

Methought to break this jail, did not my foot
Law's stirrup holding, from the stones restrain.

235
Wine pour, to dance a mountain 'twould incline;
Lacking indeed is he who lacketh wine;

It is a soul to animate this frame ;
How would you bid me then the cup decline ?

236

They 've seen the moon of Ramazan, they say ;
Then for a month from drink I '11 turn away;

At next Sha'ban's end so much wine I '11 pour
That drunk they '11 find me till the Festal day !

234. N. 171. W. 187. P. 171. '* Earth-mate," i. e,, the body.

235. C. 159. N. 170. L. 380. W. 186. P. 170.

236. C. 173. N. 172. L. 352. W. 188. P. 172. Sha»ban, the
month preceding Ramazan, the fasting month. Shawwal, the month
succeeding Ramazan, was ushered in by feasting. The poet proposes to
do away with the inconvenience of abstaining throughout the Past by
remaining drunk from Sha'ban's end to the beginning of Shawwal.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

237
Life's vintage, now mere dregs, now clear doth run ;
We sackcloth wear, and silken garb anon ;

All this is of small moment to the sage.
Of slight account since Death is coming on.

238

None the eternal secrets e'er can trace,
Nor one step, foot beyond his nature place;

From pupil to the master I behold
Those born of woman, weak in every case.

239
The world crave less and live contentedly.
Of earthly good and evil cut the tie ;

Be light of heart as are these circling skies,
A little while they stay, and then pass by.

237. N. 174. W. 189. P. 174.

238. C. 153. B. 72. N. 175. L. 357. W. 190. P. 175. B. reads
line 3 •*when I look.*'

239. B. 73. C. page 40 margin. N. 176. L. 256. W. 191. P. 176.
B. at line 3 reads **Take wine in hand and the charmer's curl, for suddenly
all passeth away, and these few days last not.*' F. 41.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

240

There will be at the Rising, they pretend,
A parleying, and hasty our dear Friend;

From perfect goodness naught save good can come.
Be light of heart, *t will be well in the end.

241

A thousand devotees one cup of wine

Is worth and one wine-draught the realm of Chin,

Its bitter is a thousand sweet lives worth.
What sweeter on the face of earth hath been ?

242

O, Soul, seek not the frail ones* company.
And cease with love affairs engrossed to be.

Frequent the doorways of the Dervishes,
Then the Elect may make a choice of thee.

240. C. 136. N. 178. L. 316. W. 193. P. 178. ''Rising," i, e,,
the Restirrection. C. reads for "a parleying" '*an investigation."

241. B. 85. C. 148. N. 194. L. 310. "Devotees," literally *'men
with faith." Chin, China. B. reads as follows: ''One wine cup is worth
a hundred hearts and faiths (line 2 as above). "Save ruby wine on
earth's face is not any bitter thing worth a thousand sweet lives." P.
193. N. and P. read as B. in line 1. C. reads, lines 3 and 4, "On Earth's
face what is sweeter than wine, whose bitter is worth a thousand sweet
lives?"

242. B. 55. W. 505.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

243
From thought of wealth or want the heart to free.
And two and seventy Creeds' perplexity.

Drink wine, for take one draught, a thousand ills
It cures, forswear not then its alchemy.

244

To drink wine though forbidden, yet this ban
Is as to measure, company and man;

These three conditions being right, then say.
If wine a wise man cannot drink, who can ?

245
A one-maund cup of wine I '11 brimming make.
Yea, of two cups of rich wine I '11 partake;

First, Faith and Reason I will thrice divorce.
Then the Grape's daughter for my bride I '11 take.

243. B. 77. C. 142. N. 179. L. 305. W. 194. P. 179. F. 59. L.,
line 1, for **the heart" reads **thyself." ''Draught/' line 3. N. W. and
P. read ''measure.'' Also ascribed to Majd ud-din Hamgar.

244. B. 78. C. 151. N. 180. L. 243. W. 195. P. 180. Line 3 C,
N., P. and L. for "three" read "four" and omit "say."

245. C. 152. N. 181. L. 267. W. 196. P. 181. F. 55. A triple
divorce is irrevocable. The'Grape's daughter, "Dukhtar-i-raz," = wine.
Line 3, lit. "divorce I '11 give," C. and L. read "divorce I *11 pronounce."

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OMAR KHAYYAM

246

Cupbearer, since to Life there is no guide.
Better than wine and cup there *s naught beside.

Of old, it is our friend, for no such fire
Doth in Life's stream or Kausar's fount abide.

247

The sigh that to no friend escapes from me.
The word that to no mate could spoken be.

If I found any heard excepting Thee,
In truth, I should expire instantly.

248

Than Jamshed's bowl thy cheek, boy, is more fair ;
Than Life Etern thy way's Death better were;
To every dust mote of thy foot that lights
My face, ten myriad suns could not compare !

246. L. 164. Kausar, a river of nectar in Paradise.

247. L. 577. A mystical quatrain, addressed to Deity.

248. L. 166. The bowl or cup of Jamshed, was a vessel which re-
flected at that monarch's will all things past or to come, hence the cup of
knowledge, also applied to the wine cup.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

249

Boy, of that wine that is my faith and soul,
A cup! for *tis of my sweet life the whole;
If it is not your wont to quaff its juice,
*Tis mine with sweetheart fair to drain the bowl.

250

What time the rising dawn*s blue light doth shine.
Your hand should grasp the goblet of pure wine ;
They say the truth tastes bitter in the mouth.
It must be "Truth'' is wine then, by this sign.

'T is time when earth its tender verdure wears.
And Musa-like froth on the bough appears.

The clouds open their eyes in vernal showers.
And Jesus' breathing ones the earth uprears.

249. L. 168. Line 2, lit. **A cup Ell, for it is my sweet life."

250. C. 124, N. IBS. L. 282. W. 200. P. 185. ''Azrak." blue or
bright, shining. F. 3. L. reads lines 3 and 4 ''They say that truth is
bitter in all states, It must be in all states that truth is wine."

251. C. margin p. 46. B. 80. N. 186. L. 272. W. 201. P. 186.
P. 4. Musa, Moses. See note to quatrain 162. "Kaf," froth, also
meaning hand, here meaning white alluding to the miracle to Moses' hand
on Mount Sinai. Jesus' breathing ones, t, e,, the sweet-scented flowers
whose breath is compared to that of the Messiah, famed throughout the
East for its healing power. B. for "verdure" reads "zephyrs," line 1,
lit. "When earth is adorned by verdure." Line 2 in B. is une 4 in the
others. Line 2, lit. "And Moses like (white) as froth from the boughs
hands appear." C. "In hope of rain clouds open." Line 3, lit. "Prom
the eyes of the clouds (eyes or) fountains open." The line varies slightly
in different texts.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

252

Thy body burden not with toil and pain
White silver store or yellow gold to gain ;

The foe will feast on thee, then feast with friends
Or ever thy warm breath wax cold again.

253
Each draught the cupbearer pours on the clay
Its fire of grief in some eye doth allay ;

Praise Allah that you see wine is a juice
That takes your hundred pangs of heart away.

254
Friends, when in concord ye meet and whene'er
The cupbearer the Magian wine doth bear.

Delighting in each other's charms, O, see
A helpless one ye think on in your prayer !

252. N. 187. W. 202. P. 187. Also ascribed to Firdausi.

253. B. 81. C. 155. N. 188. L. 367. W. 203. P. 188. N..P.and
W. read for **on the clay,'* "in the cup.'' L. reads line 2 **in my eye."
P 39

254. B. 84. N. 192. L. 290. W. 205. P. 191. F. 101. ''A help-
less one," i. e., Omar, himself.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

Not once has Heaven been kind in my affairs.
Nor in my favor with sweet voice declares.

No day breathe I in joy that I 'm not given
Into the clutches of a hundred Cares.

256

If in two days a loaf of bread one gain,
And water from a broken jar can drain.

Why take commands of one less than yourself?
Or why to serve one like yourself remain ?

While Moon and Venus circle in the sky.
Better than ruby wine I naught espy;

I wonder at the wine-sellers, for they.
Better than that they sell what will they buy ?

255. C. 198. Lines 2 and 4 transposed. N. 193. L. 321. W. 206.
P. 192. Line 3, L. variant but substantially synonymous. Also ascribed
to Rumi and Kamal Ismail.

256. C. 169. N. 462. L. 346. W. 207. Line 3, C. and L., variant
but synonymous. •

257. C. 171. N. 463. L. 350. W. 208. F. 95. See quatrain 656.
C. Line 2, reads for **Better,'' **Sweeter."

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OMAR KHAYYAM

258

Those strong in virtue and of learning deep,
Whose merits joined lights for their fellows keep

Have found no way out of this darksome night.
They Ve told their tale, and then gone back to sleep.

259
The heavens above from clouds shower eglantine.
You 'd say that blossoms rained upon the green.

In lily cups I '11 turn rose-colored wine.
Since, violet-hued, the clouds pour jessamine.

260

My aged head by love of thee is caught.
Else why my hand and cup together brought?

My sweetheart broke the vows of reason born,
And Time hath torn the garment Patience wrought.

258. C. 111. N. 464. L. 261. W. 209. F. 65. L., Une 2, reads
for "Whose merits joined/* **In the revelation of whose learning."

259. B. 74. W. 211. Spring's blossoming. The Calcutta MS. has
a qtiatrain which this suggests, C. 376, and which reads: **When every
plant uprears its tender head, O Saki! As in rose-water are rose petals
spread, O Saki! When graceful jasmine blossoms on the thorn, O Saki!
How were it right that we repentance made, O Saki?"

260. B. 61. W. 212. P. 94.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

261

I *m not the man whom death doth fill with fear.
That half than this to me hath more of cheer ;

To me life is a loan that God hath made.
And I '11 repay it when the time is here.

262

The stars that are the dwellers of these skies.
Occasion much conjecture to the wise,

See you lose not the end of Wisdom's thread.
For those who rule are dizzied with surmise.

263

The stars that Heaven for a while adorn.

That come and go and back with earth are borne.

Now on Heaven's skirt, now in the pouch of earth.
While God dies not shall aye anew be born.

261. B. 59. C. pag:e 54 margin. L. 253. W. 213. Half» Une 2, <. ^.,
death. Time from birth being divided into two halves, '* Being*' and
**Non-being," or death. L. has '*bim,*' fear, instead of **nim," half.

262. B. 58. L. 270. W. 214. Line 1, lit. **The bodies that are the
dwellers of this palace.*'

263. B. 56. L. 244. W. 215. Line 2, lit. **And back with the
world come." L., line 3, for **in the pouch" reads * 'beneath." Line 4,
lit. "Are a people that while," etc. Line 4 in L. reads '*Are a people
that with the God of Time are at rest." Line 1, **The stars," lit. **Those
who."

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OMAR KHAYYAM

264

Those who are slaves of wit and subtle thought,
Fretting o'er "Is" and "Is not*' come to naught.
Go, with the wise drink grape-juice, for these
fools
From unripe grapes to raisins have been brought.

265

The sense which bids you Pleasure's path pursue.
Whispers a hundred times a day to you,

" This moment have in mind, for you 're no plant
Which when they mow it down, springs up anew! "

266

Now Ramazan is past, Shawwal is here,
The time of greeting, feasting, song is near ;

'T is time when skins on shoulders they cry out,
** Behold the porters one by one appear!"

264. B. 50. L. 262. W. 216. F. 54. Line 3 for **with the wise''
B. reads **thoti fool!"

265. B. 49. C. 121. L. 264. W. 217. P. 97. Line 3. lit. **this
moment of life" C. and L. read ''This moment of companionship."

266. B. 158. W. 218. "Khikha," skins to carry wine or water.
"Pusht, pusht," lit. "back, back," here evidently a contraction of the
phrase "Pusht ba pusht" generation to generation, one after another.
F. 90.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

267

All our dear friends have from our handclasp gone.
Beneath the foot of Death fall'n one by one ;

They drank with us two or three rounds before
At Life's feast and enrapt lie overthrown.

268

When in the mould my clay They mixed of old.
With it They mingled evils manifold;
Better than this I am I cannot be,
For as I am They poured me in the mould.

269

Those joyous ones who of old wine drink deep.
And they who in the prayer-niche vigil keep,

Not one is on dry land, but all at sea,
ONE only wakes, the others are asleep !

267. C. 160. L. 381. W. 219. F. 22. ''Enrapt," **mast," drunk,
overcome, enrapt.

268. C. 176. L. 355. W. 221. They, the Fates, or Fate and For-
tune. F. 79. **In the mould," lit. **£rom the crucible." C. reads line
2 **They mixed a hundred wonders with me."

269. B. 48. L. 287. W. 222. Variant but synonymous.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

270

My seed They Ve with Non-being's water sown,
And from the fire of grief my soul has grown,

And like the wind about the world I 'm blown.
Till They at last my scattered dust have strewn.

271

Since in this age from wisdom is no gain
And save the thoughtless none Life's wine-cup drain.
Bring forth that juice which reason doth efface.
So Fortune us to fevor will be fain.

272

When the Soul's mistress doth depart this home.
Back to its origin each part doth come;

This lute of Life's four silken strings then from
The stroke of Fortune's bow untuned become.

270. L. 341. W. 223. They, j. e,, the Fates.

271. L. 337. W. 224. C. 201.

272. L. 306. C. 143. W. 225. Line 3, "four silken strings." the
Four Elements.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

273
Of yon Sphere telling varied tales they keep,
These fools who thread the pearl of science deep,

Since ne'er expert in Heaven's mysteries.
They wag the chin and then return to sleep.

274

These folks are sorry asses all the same,
Skins full of emptiness like drums, a name

Acquire, if you would have them kiss your foot.
For they are all the very slaves of fame.

275

On that Day when reward in each degree
Will be. They as thy wisdom will rate thee;

For goodness strive, for on the Judgment Day
Thy rising will be as thy quality.

273. C. 140. L. 302. (W. 226. Variant.) See quatrain 643. F. 65.

274. L. 303. W. 227. C. 141.

275. L. 276. W. 228. C. 127.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

276

The Bowl-maker who our head-bowls hath made,
Thus doing His own qualities portrayed ;

One He inverted o'er our being's board
And to that head-bowl passion He did add.

277

My attitude toward Thee I would make plain,
And that I will abridge in verses twain :

" For love of Thee in dust I '11 lay my head,
That with Thy love I may arise again."

278

The heart a lamp is, lit at beauty's cheek.

And though by grief consumed new life doth seek.

Like flame with moth the heart is, one should say.
For thus the saw, "With burning, fire doth take."

276.

L. 269.

W. 229.

C. page 34 margin.

277.

L. 254.

W. 230.

C. page 53 margin.

278.

L. 242.

W. 231.

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THE aUATRAINS OF

279

Companions, when ye meet as ye agree,
Your friend ye needs must pledge in memory ;

And when together wholesome wine ye drink,
And my time comes, turn down a glass for me.

280

At first such grace and favor why did'st show ?
Delights and blandishments on me bestow?

And now thou strivest to afflict my heart;
What wrong I may have done I fain would know.

281

Those hither come that in ambition vie.
Distraught by drink, pleasures and luxury.

The goblet drain and silent in the earth
Wrapt in the sleep of Naught together lie.

279. B. 83. W. 234. F. 101.

280. B. 63. W. 235.

281. L. 246. W. 237. C. 118.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

282

Of Fortune's bounty thy full portion seize,
Take cup in hand, on Joy's couch sit at ease ;

God recks not of obedience or sin,
Take of the world thy fill, as thou dost please.

283

Since Heaven increases nothing but our pain.
And gives naught that it takes not back again.

The unborn ne'er would hither come if they
But knew what we at Fortune's hands sustain.

284

Why of existence have a care, O, friend ?
With idle thought thy heart and soul to rend ?
Live blithely, let the world glide merrily,
They ne'er consulted thee about the end.

282. C. 210. L. 401. N. 129. W. 239. P. 129. Line 2 N. and P.
for **in hand" read *'to the Ups."

283. N. 195. L. 398. W. 240. P. 194. C. 209.

284. C. page 55 margin. N. 197. L. 400. W. 241. P. 196.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

285

Yon dwellers in the tombs are dust and clay,
Escaped from self, of all things witless they ;

Their every atom scattered, wide, alas!
What a mirage they make till Judgment Day !

286

O, Heart, suppose all worldly goods thy dower.
Adorned with verdure be thy pleasure's bower.
Then on that verdure like the dew at night
Resting, and vanished in the morning hour !

287

Heed not Traditions nor the Law Divine,
Withhold from none the n^orsel that is thine.

None slander, nor afflict thou any heart,
I warrant thee the world beyond, — ^bring wine !

285. C. 207. N. 198. L. 412. W. 242. P. 197. C. N.. L. and P.
change above order of lines and (line 4 above) read "sharab," wine, for
"sarab/' mirage. '*Alas! what is this drink that escaped from self and
witless of all things keeps them till Judgment Day?"

286. L. 420. W. 243. P. 16. C. 223, variant. See quatrain 614.
C. reads as follows: **0, Heart, suppose all worldly goods be thine at
will. The whole world, pole to pole, as thou dost wish; And then like
snow upon the desert's face, resting some few days, and then gone,
suppose!"

287. B. 91. C. 218. N. 200. L. 410. W. 244. P. 199. Lines 2 and
4 in L. are transposed, and N. and P., line 1, read: *'Of religious observ-
ances do only those of God's commandment." L., line 3, "Plot not
against the blood or goods of any one."

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OMAR KHAYYAM

288

Through Fortune's shifts that for the vile doth care,
A hundred griefs and pains through life I bear,

Like heart-closed bud within life's rosary,
Like time-scarred tulip that doth blood spots wear.

289

Youth is the better time in which to taste

Pure wine by comely striplings' presence graced ;

As this vain world was ruined by a flood,
'T is best in it be drunk, by wine laid waste.

290

The world 's astir and mad in quest of Thee,
Bare before Thee stand wealth and poverty ;

To all Thou speakest but each ear is deaf.
With all art present but no eye can see.

228. N. 201. W. 245. P. 200.

289. N. 202. W. 246. P. 201. Also ascribed to Hafiz.

290. N. 204. W. 247. P. 203. Richard II act m, scene 2. "Stand
bare and naked, trembling at themselves?"

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THE QUATRAINS OF

291

With churl ill-bred and stupid best beware
You drink not, for he '11 bring a deal of care;

The night of joy, noise, drinking, brawl, next day
His headaches and excuses you will bear.

292

Since there 's no 'scaping what the stars decree.
Fret not so much in seeking — vanity ;

Nor on thy heart so great a burden place.
To leave it and pass on the end will be.

293
Drink pure wine. Soul, when roses scent the air.
Toasting the graceful, heart-alluring fair ;

"Wine is the Grape's blood, and 't is lawful made;
Drink my sweet vintage! " doth the Grape declare.

291. C. 212. N. 206. L. 395. W. 248. P. 205. N. and P. read
**dark night" for **night of joy."

292. C. 213. N. 207. L. 396. W. 249. P. 206.

293. C. 220. N. 208. L. 418. W. 250. P. 207. N. and P. read
line 1 '*Drink wine, O Soul, pure and clear!"

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OMAR KHAYYAM

294

Are you depressed ? Then take of bang ^ grain,
And next a pint of rose-hued grape-juice drain.
"Sufi you are? Nor eat of this nor that?"
Go ! Feast on stones, since stones your fare remain !

295

In the Bazaar I saw but yesterday

A potter pounding hard a lump of clay ;

The clay cried out to him in mystic tones,
"I once was like thee, treat me gently, pray! "

296

One wine-draught 's better than the realm of Jam,
The cup's perfume than food of Miriam,

Ah ! Sweeter toper's sighs at break of dawn
Than songs of Bu Sa'id and Bin Adham !

294. N. 210. W. 251. P. 209. Bang, hashish. **Peast on stones!"
an expression of contempt, perhaps equivalent to "Get out!" The word
''khurdan" means to consume, eat or drink.

295. B. 89. C. 219. N. 211. L. 411. W. 252. P. 210. P. 37.
"Lump," line 2, B. and C. read "the fresh clay."

296. C. 214. N. 215. L. 397. W. 253. P. 214. Jam, King Jam^
shed. Miriam, the Virgin Mary. Bu Sa'id, a Sufi poet. Bin Adham,
the minstrel king of Balkh. C. and L., line 1, read "The jar lid 's better
than the realm of Jam."

39851>5

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THE QUATRAINS OF

297

Hid in the circle of the Heavenly vast,

A cup that all must drink in turn is placed ;

Sigh not when thy time comes, but gladly drink.
For then it is thy turn the cup to taste !

298

Though thy years two, three, or ten hundred be.
From this old house They'll helpless carry thee;

Then be thou king or beggar of bazaar.
These both at the same price the end will see.

299

Abandon wife and child if Him you 'd find.
From self cut bravely bonds to self that bind ;

The things of earth but clog you on your way.
How fare with them ? Free them and leave behind !

297. C. 216. L. 408. W. 254. F. 43. The cup of Death. L.
transposes lines 2 and 4.

298. L. 419. W. 255.

299. B. 86. L. 414. W. 256. B. has line 2 ''Bravely thy doorway
move (cut off) from self and kindred.''

100

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OMAR KHAYYAM

300

O, Heart! Since carth*s truth is illusion vain,
Why so distressed in lasting grief and pain ?

Bear trouble ! Bow to Fate ! Once gone the Pen
For thee will never trace the scroll again !

301

Where *s one returned of all who went before,
To us the long road*s secret to tell o*er ?

Take care in this house ('tis but metaphor).
That naught you leave for you '11 return no more,

302

This Sphere that makes to none its secrets plain.
Hath thousands like Mahmud and Ayaz slain ;

Drink ! For the Fates to no one twice give life.
For none who leaves the world returns again.

300. B. 95. N. 216. L. 430. W. 257. P. 215. P. 73. B. reads
line 2 "pain and poverty" for "grief and pain," line 3 "Bear with the
times!"

301. C. 227. N. 217. L. 424. W. 258. P. 216. P. 64.

302. N. 219. L. 426. W. 259. P. 218. Mahmnd, King of Ghazna
and Ayaz, his favorite.

101

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THE QUATRAINS OF

303
Thou, who surpasseth all earth's kings in might!
Know'st thou when wine can make the spirit bright ?

On Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and
On Thursday, Friday, Saturday, morn and night.

304
O, ogling, sweet, inconstant and fair maid !
Be still ! a thousand troubles are allayed ;

Thou bid'st me look not on thee. This command
Is as if "Hold awry, spill not!" were said.

305
In taverns better I commune with Thee
Than far from Thee in mosques feign piety ;

O Thou of all created first and last!
If Thou wilt, burn, if Thou wilt, cherish me !

303. C. 241. N. 220. L. 447. W. 260. P. 219. To the cupbearer.
C, N. and P. read for **mom and night," ''the day throughout." So
runs the old catch, * 'Which is the properest day to drink?"

304. N. 221. W. 261. P. 220.

305. B. 2. C. 229. N. 222. L. 427. W. 262. P. 221. P. 77. Line
2, lit. ''Than without Thee at the prayer>niche I pray," and L. reads
*' Since I do not make a pretence of prayer before the prayer-niche."

102

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306

When wine thou drink'st, wit's outcast do not be.
Thy mind the dwelling of insanity.

Would'st have its ruddy juice allowed to thee ?
Restrain thy wrath, seek no man's injury!

307
With fair maid and red wine by marge of rill.
Of joy and mirth the while I take my fill;

I was not but I am, and yet will be,
I have drunk and drink now and will drink still.

308

Seek thou with wise and worthy men to be;
A thousand leagues from worthless people flee ;
Drink poison that the wise give but reftise
The antidote a fool doth oflFer thee.

306. L. 629.

307. L. 329.

C.188.

308. N. 223.

L. 440.

W. 263. P. 222.
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A bird flown from the mystic world am I,
That from below to heights above might fly,

Since here I find no worthy confidant,
I go by the same door I entered by.

310

That abstinence from her could never be,
God ordered and then bade me from her flee ;

'Twixt these commands we mortals stand per-
plexed.
As bidden "Hold awry, spill not!" were we.

3"
They 're gone and none returns to tell to thee
Of those passed on the Veil's deep mystery ;

Thy needs, not texts but true prayer will reveal.
Mere play is prayer without sincerity.

309. C. 238. N. 225. L. 429. W. 264. P. 224. P. 27. Also
ascribed to Attar, Ansari and Muhammad Hassan Khan.

310. N. 226. L. 442. W. 265. P. 225. Also ascribed to Nimat-
allah Kinnani. Hold awry and spill not, i. e,, do a thing impossible.

311. C. 234. N. 227. L. 445. W. 266. P. 226.

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312

Go ! On earth's face, in Heaven's face high in air
Fling dust, drink wine and woo the sweet-faced fair!
What time is there for worship? What for prayer?
For none of all those gone returneth e'er.

If I Thy service' pearl did never .thread,
Nor sin's dust ever wiped from off my head.
For all this of Thy mercy I have hope.
Because that "One is two" I ne'er have said.

3H
Whenever Grief thy heart's attendant be
With self-affairs in deep perplexity.

The case thou should'st seek of some other heart.
So full contentment shall result to thee.

312. B. 97. C. 228. N. 228. L. 425. W. 267. P. 227. I follow B.
Line 3, ^'worship,'* N. and P. read **favors."

313. B. 1. C. 231. N. 229. L. 423. W. 268. P. 228. F. Intro-
duction. I have never denied God's unity. N. and P., line 2, **!£ I have
never swept the dust of Thy way with my heart,** and L. and C. **from
my cheek.*' **Head,'* line 3, lit. **face.*' I follow B. above; the others,
line 3, **At Thy court of Thy mercy I have hope." Also ascribed to Hafiz.

314. L. 54. In helping others forget self.

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Our drinking habit we 've begun anew.

And to the "Five Prayers" have we said adieu;

Where'er the goblet is, our necks stretched out
Just like the necks of bottles you may view.

316

Joy seek not, for Life's sum is but a sigh ;
Each mote is from dust of a Jam or Kai.

The world's case and the root of this life is
A dream, vain phantasm in a breath passed by.

In truth and not by way of simile.

Heaven plays the game and its mere puppets we;

In sport moved on Life's chess-board, one by one
We reach the chess-box of Nonentity !

315. B. 99. C. 233. N. 230. L. 435. W. 269. P. 229. Omar here
jests at the **Takbir'* or formula of renunciation of self and worldly thing^s,
and expresses a willingness to renounce the **Panj namaz*' or Five Prayers,
appointed for daily observance. Also ascribed to Kamal Ismail.

316. C. 86. L. 202. Jam, King Jamshed. Kai, Kai Khosrau, Cyrus.

317. B. 94. C. 237. N. 231. L. 443. W. 270. P. 230. P. 69.
The above is B. and C, the other texts transpose lines 1 and 2.

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318

What is this fleeting life dost ask of me?
Were I to tell, its story long would be.

'Tis but a breath, felt, wafted from some sea,
And then blown back to depths of that same sea!

My loved one (be her life long as my pain!)
To-day began to favor me again.

She glanced at my sad eyes and passed as if
To say **Do good! and cast it on the main!"

320

I prest my lip in yearning to the urn.
Thereby the means of length of life to learn.

And lip to my lip placed it whispered low,
"Drink! For to this world you will ne'er return!"

318. C. 242. N. 232. L. 448. W. 271. P. 231.

319. N. 234. L. 437. W. 273. P. 233.

320. B. 100. C.240. L. 446. W. 274. F. 35. L., line 3, ''In mys-
tic tongue this secret it revealed," and L. and C. read, line 4« "I once
lived like thee, an instant bear with me.''

107

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321

The thorn that bends 'neath every creature's tread,
May spring from some love's curl, fair brow of maid.

And every tile on palace battlement
Some Vizier's finger be or Sultan's head !

322

Thou say'st "Rise! hold I" as in Naught's lair I lay,
"Bide in the world, from its strife far away!"

Now I 'm bewildered quite by Thy command.
As if Thou "Hold awry, spill not!" did'st say.

323
O, Thou, who all men's secret thoughts dost know.
In case of need who succor dost bestow,

O, Lord give me repentance and forgive.
Thou from whom penitence and pardon flow!

321. L. 77. C. 38, lines 1 and 3 reversed, and also C. page 25
margin. C. reads **clay" instead of thorn, '*Khaki»' for **Khari."

322. L. 428. W. 275.

323. C. 243. N. 236. L. 449. W. 276. P. 235. P. 81. Line 2.
lit. "In case of need Patron of all," and line 4 "O Thou repentance giver,
pardoner of all!" Also ascribed to Abu Sa'id and to Ansari.

108

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OMAR KHAYYAM

I saw a bird perched on the wall of Tus,
Before her lay the skull of King Kaius,

And thus she moaned, "Alas! Where sound thy
tells?
Where the alarums of thy drums profuse?"

325
Seek not the forecast of Futurity,
Nor ask of aught that comes since it must flee.

This ready-money moment count as gain,
Reck not of Past, nor ask of times to be.

326

To start yon golden bowl its course who made.
Earth's solid base, how end thus firmly laid.

By Learning's touchstone ne'er will be assayed
Nor ever in Conjecture's scales be weighed !

324. C. 244. N. 237. L. 453. W. 277. P. 236. Tus, a city of
Khorassan.

325. C. 245. N. 238. L. 451. W. 278. P. 237. Also ascribed to
Rumi.

326. L. 450. W. 279.

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327
My ignorance I expose how frequently !
My heart is saddened in perplexity.

Do you know why I wear the Magian belt?
'Tis of my Moslemism ashamed am I.

328

Khayyam, rejoice if overcome with wine
Thou with a tulip-cheeked one dost recline;

Since all things end in naught, rejoice and think
How 't would be wert thou dead, whilst life is thine.

329
Last night I went into a pottery,
Two thousand pots did silent, speaking see.

"The potter, buyer, seller, where are they?"
One of the vessels cried out suddenly.

327. C. 249. N. 241. L. 455. W. 281. P. 240. ''Magian belt/'
wine drinking bein^ contrary to the law, the ruins of the temples of the
Magi or Fire-worshippers were used for the sale of the forbidden liquor.
Hence the Persian word "kharabat,** ruin, which also signifies a tavern.
Khayyam represents himself as engaged in the ministry of the grape,
wearing, as the Brahmins, a belt or zone. I drink win« because I am
ashamed of my Mahometanism, one of whose tenets is abstinence from
wine. It may be queried whether Omar means he is ashamed of
Mahometanism or his practice of it.

328. B. 102. C. 248. N. 242. L. 454. W. 282. P. 241. F. 42.
Line 1 "overcome,*' L. "filled,** and C. for "wine** reads "love.** Line
2 L.j N. and P. read "Smooth-cheeked,** and C. "fresh-cheeked," and
C, line 3, "Since in this world you are naught you needs must go.**

329. B. 103. C. 258. N. 243. L. 470. W. 283. P. 242. P. 82 and
F. 87. I transpose lines 3 and 4. C, L., N. and P. read "Each one
cried out to me in ecstasy.**

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Wine, that blest Khizer guards securely,
Life's water is and its Elias I.

The food of heart and soul I call it, for
God says, "A boon 'tis to humanity."

331
Though 't is forbidden, yet drink wine for aye.
With lute and minstrelsy both night and day ;

And of its ruby liquor spill a drop.
And drain all that remains then, if you may.

332
By mead and stream when roses scent the air.
Be with thy friends and mate as Houri fair ;

Bring forth the cup! For those who drink at
dawn
Give mosque nor synagogue nor thought nor care.

330. C. 256. N. 246. L. 464. W. 285. P. 245. Al Koran, Chapter
II, says that in wine and gaming there is great sin '*and also some things
of use to mankind." Khizer, vizier of Kai Kobad, a prophet who is said
to have discovered and drunk of the water of life. Perhaps here confused
with Elias. Line 1 N. varies *'Wine that wise men hold in reverence.*'

331. C.253. N.247. L.461. W. 286. P. 246. L. reads "spill no drop.''

332. B. 32. L. 105. L. reads line 2 **With a few young Houri-
natured playmates." The quatrain reads literally ''On marge of stream
and mead in the sea.son of roses, With one, two or three people and a
playmate like a Houri, Bring forth the cup! For wine drinkers at dawn
Reck not of the mosque and are free of the synagogue!"

Ill

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THE QUATRAINS OF

333
Would'st thou attain the stage of mystery ?
See that to none thou doest injury;

Brood not o'er death nor fret for daily bread.
For both in their own time will come to thee.

334

My virtues singly note, by the half score
My faults forgive, past sins O God, pass o'er !

O, let not whifF and gust Thy wrath's flame fen !
By Allah's Prophet's dust I grace implore !

335
How long let ftiture ill your heart depress ?
Far-seeing people's portion is distress;

Be blithe ! Let not the world weigh down your
heart !
To fret will make your lot, nor more nor less.

333. L. 301. C. 139. Wilt thou by study, abstraction and contem-
plation become initiate of the higher mysteries of living? A mystical
quatrain. Line 1, lit. **Would'8t thou that to thee the stage of mystery
should arrive?"

334. B. 105. N. 249. L. 469. W. 288. P. 248.

335. L. 467. N. 245. W. 289. P. 244. Mat. VI, 27, ** Which of
you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?"

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OMAR KHAYYAM

There is a cup Creative Wisdom makes.
That from Love's care a hundred graces takes ;

Yet this frail urn the Potter of the world
So shapes, — then on the ground in pieces breaks !

337
Wine in the crystal is a subtle sprite,
And in the flask it is a fluid bright.

No heavy-wits are fit to be my friends
Save wine-flasks, which are heavy and yet light.

338

Thou, knowing not of bread or salt the tie
Still flay'st me like a fish, O wheel on high !

By woman's wheel since all mankind is clothed,
'T is better far than thou, wheel of the sky !

336. C. 250. L. 456. W. 290. F. 84. C. reads '* Beauty V for
'*Love'8,'» line 2. L. reads •'then*' for **so." Literally ''There is a
vessel that Creative Wisdom stamps it, A hundred kisses of Love upon its
brow are imprinted, Yet this frail cup the Potter of the world So shapes
then on the ground breaks it!*'

337. B. 106. N. 250. L. 473. W. 291. P. 249.

338. C. 264. N. 251. L. 479. W. 292. P. 250. C, L. and W. read
"By woman's wheel two bodies are clothed," i, e., man and wife.

113

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THE QUATRAINS OF

339
If roses be not ours, behold the thorn !
And darkness, if comes not the light of morn !

And if we lack the vestment, cell and shaikh.
Behold bell, church, and girdle to adorn !

340
Thou of the final fire art not afraid.
Nor cleansing in Contrition's stream hast made ;

I fear when Death's blast puts out thy life-lamp.
That Earth will spurn thee in her bosom laid!

341
Lo ! Dawn appears ! and rends Night's robe in twain :
Why grieve ? Arise ! the draught of morning drain !
O, Sweetheart, drink ! for many a breaking Dawn
Will look for us when we are dust again !

339. L. 482. N. 253. W. 293. P. 252. C. , page 6 margin (second
quatrain), W. varies slightly in line 3. See quatrain 707. If the symbols
of Islam be not for me, those of Brahminism or Christianity will serve my
turn. C, page 6 margin (first quatrain), reads ''If crust you have from
any hand, be it sol And if abused you 've riches at command, then be it
so! Beware lest you in gain become engrossed! Self freed from evil, come
adversity, then be it so!"

340. L. 481. W. 296. Possibly an interpolated quatrain written by
some pious protestant.

341. C. 261. N. 255. L. 475. W. 295. P. 254. P. 100. Line 4. lit.
"Its face turned to us and we with faces in the dust." Also ascribed to
Attar.

114

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OMAR KHAYYAM

342
How long will prate of all eternity?
'Tis past my science and my theory;

Wine has no substitute in time of joy,
*T is wine for every riddle turns the key.

343
Of God your Maker, merciful in sway.
Despair not for your sins, though great be they ;

For though to-day you die in a debauch.
He will absolve your crumbling bones, next day.

344
Thy course contents me not, O, wheel on high.
Free me, unsuited to thy destiny;

If thou dost favor fools and witless ones,
I too am such, nor worth nor wit have I.

342. B. 107. C. 268. L. 489. W. 304. ''All eternity," past and
future. B. transposes lines 2 and 3. L.» line 3, ''Drink wine for pure
wine has no substitute." C.» lines 3 and 4, reads '"Tis wine for every
riddle turns the key. Drink wine! for red wine has no substitute."

343. C. 274. N. 262. L. 498. W. 305. P. 261.

344. C. 282 (repeated C. page 81 margin). N. 263. L. 519. W. 306.
P. 262. Also ascribed to Atir uddin.

115

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345
This form of life is pictured phantasy,
Who knows this not, unknowing quite is he:

Sit, drain the wine-cup and be gay and free
From these the figments of vain imagery !

346
Love in perfection and charmer fair !
Heart full of speech though tongue be speaking ne'er!
What is more strange on earth O Lord, than this?
I thirst ; a limpid stream flows by me there !

347
At all times drain the brimming cup and free
Your mind from grieving vain ; delighted be

With the Grape's daughter sitting, though forbid
Far better than her lawful mother she.

345. N. 256. L. 485. W. 297. P. 255. Doctrine of Maya or Ulusion.

346. N. 260. W. 300. P. 259. Also ascribed to Rumi and to Ahmad
Gbazzali.

347. N. 259. W. 299. P. 258.**The grape's daughter," i, e,, wine.
**dukhtar-i-raz,** daughter of the grape.

116

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348
Some wine ! and be its trickling murmur made
To bulbul's song, nightingale's serenade!

Wine ne'er would gurgle from the flagon's throat,
If right were drinking without music's aid !

349
Questioning will not solve Truth's mystery,
No, nor will money spent nor property ;

Till rent thy soul, thou drink'st blood fifty years
The way from "words" to "states" They'll not
show thee.

Up from Earth's center e'en to Saturn's throne,
I solved all problems of the Heavenly zone ;

From bonds of fraud and artifice leaped out.
And every barrier burst save Death's alone.

348. N. 261. C. 269. L. 490. W. 301. P. 260. It begins lit. ''Set
wine in my hand."

349. L. 492. W. 302 .Unless you practice asceticism you will not
attain * 'states" of ecstetic union with **Hakk" Truth, the Deity of the
Sufis.

350. C. 270. L. 49J. W. 303. P. 31.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

'T is well with cup to fill the heart with glee,
And count as little "has been'* and "to be/'
This borrowed soul a pris'ner here below,
A while from Reason's bondage we '11 set free.

352
The moment when at Death's behest I flee.
And like a leaf I fall from Being's tree.

The world in my heart's joy I' 11 sift away
Ere dustmen in their sieves to dust turn me,

353
This wheel of Heaven which we amazed discern,
Is like a Chinese lantern, as we learn;

The Sun the lamp, the World the lantern is.
And we like figures are that on it turn.

351. C. 317. N. 265. L. 572. W. 308. P. 264. L. 759. slight
variant, second person of verb. Also ascribed to Hafiz.

352. N. 266. L. 574. W. 309. P. 265. C. 321. Ascribed to Attar.

353. B. 108. C. page 72 margin. N. 267. L. 505. W. 310. P. 266.
F. 68. Fanus-i-kheyal, a magic lantern with figures of various sorts
fastened on its translucent sides. The heat of the flame producing a
current upward through a ventilating wheel at the top, caused it to
revolve, and showed the shadows of the figures in motion. I follow B.
C, L., N. and P., line 4, for **tum** read '*are amazed."

118

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354
O, Lord ! It was Thou who my clay did'st knead.

What should I do ?
And of my silk and wool did'st spin the thread.
What should I do?
All good and bad that from my being come,
It was Thou who did'st write upon my head. What
should I do?

355
Friend, let us not the Morrow's fears forecast.
Come ! profit by this moment while it last ;

To-morrow this old Inn we '11 quit and be
The comrades of Seven Thousand Ages past !

356
No moment while you may refrise wine's aid.
For by it reason, heart and faith are stayed ;
Had Iblis drunk one drop, to Adam he
Two thousand salutations would have made.

354. C. page 71 margin. N. 268. L. 502. W. 311. P. 267. It is a
belief in parts of the East that in the markings of the sutures of the skull
is inscribed the fate of the individual. C, W., N. and P., line 1, read **0f
water and clay Thou me did'st knead.*'

355. C. 296. N. 269. L. 546. W. 312. P. 268. P. 21. Line 4 L.
reads ''Till we shall equal seven thousand years.''

356. C. 301. N. 270. L. 550. W. 313. P. 269. Iblis. Satan, who
refused to prostrate himself before Adam. L. reads "By wine the arro-
gance of all is lessened, By wine revealed is our entire strength." See
Koran, chapter 11 and chapter VII.

119

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THE QUATRAINS OF

357
The door of Hope I 've shut to self, that so
Favors I may escape from high and low ;

I 've but one Friend who takes my hand, I know
That which I am, I am, and He doth know !

358

A measure dance ! while we clap hands, arise !
Wine flown, we drink to thy Narcissus eyes.

In twenty cups is not so much delight.
But in three score amazing pleasure lies !

359
By circling Heaven I 'm saddened constantly.
And with my own base nature vexed am I ;
Wit lacking from the world to sit apart.
And wanting wisdom free froni earth to fly.

357. C. 278. N. 272. L. 508. W. 315. P. 271. L. in line 3 varies,
*I£ Sufi of mosque or convent I be.**

358. N. 271. W. 314. P. 270.

359. N. 273. L. 553. W. 316. P. 272. C. 303.

120

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OMAR KHAYYAM

360

Upon earth's carpet sleepers I espy,
And others hidden underneath descry,

And those gone or not come I see where'er
I view the desert of Nonentity.

361

Of sin I reck not, since I trust Thy grace.
Nor with Thy care, the toilsome way I trace.

And I rate not the "black book" at a grain.
So that Thy favor shall make white my face.

362

Think not a fear to leave the world have I,
Nor dying nor that thence the soul should fly ;
Since death is certain, that I do not dread,
' T is my ill living makes me fear to die.

360. N. 274. L. 556. W. 317. P. 273. C. 306. Also ascribed to
Attar. Nicolas says the sleepers are those plunged in the slumber of
ignorance or superstition.

361. C. 309. N. 275. L. 559. W. 318. P. 274. The Mohammedans
believe that the wicked will rise at the last day with faces blackened and
the just with white faces. Black book, that containing the record of each
person's sins. See P. 81. Lines 3 and 4 transposed.

362. N. 276. L. 562. W. 319. P. 275. C. 297.

121

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363
How long mere slaves of petty prudence be ?
What if we live a day or century ?

Wine bring us in the bowl, or ever we
Become but wine-jars in the pottery.

364

You and I to twin compasses compare,

O soul! one body though two heads we bear;

We circle now around a central point
Till we at last again united are.

365
How long, O stupid zealot, wilt thou chide.
That ever wine-flown we in taverns bide?

Thou sadly wear'st thy beads, pretence, deceit;
With sweetheart, song and wine we 're satisfied !

363. B. 111. C. 304. N. 277. L. 554. W. 320. P. 276. Line 1.
lit. "How long shall we be slaves of daily prudence ?" Line 2, ''century''
B. reads **one year." C. reads '*one year in the body."

364. N. 283. L. 504. W. 323. P. 282. C. page 82 margin.

365. C. 305. N. 278. L. 555. W. 321. P. 277. Line 4, C. and L..
lit. *'We have wine, singer and beloved at will!" The others read **We
are ever with wine and loved one at will !"

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366

I fight with my desires continually. What shall I do ?
And my own deeds bring constant shame to me.

What shall I do?
Suppose that of Thy kindness Thou forgive ?
For this my shame Thou did'st my actions see.

What shall I do?

367

Since in this world no resting-place have we,
Sans wine and sweetheart folly 't were to be.

How long, O wise man, prate of old or new ?
When I am dead, what 's old or new to me ?

368

Although to mosque I Ve come with humble air.
By gracious Allah ! I Ve not come for prayer ;

One day I stole a prayer-mat, which worn out
Time and again still thither I repair.

366. N. 282. L. 503. B. 109. W. 322. P. 281. C. page 72 margin.

367. B. 112. C. 292. N. 284. L. 537. W. 324. P. 283. Line 2
"wine" B. reads **cupbearer." Line 3 **wise man," C, N., P. and L.
read * 'simpleton.*'

3«8. B. 115. N. 285. L. 532. W. 325. P. 284. C. 318. Slightly
variant bnt synonymous.

123

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369
No more let Fortune's changes bring us pain,
From aught save sparkling red wine we '11 abstain ;
The world 's our murderer and wine its blood.
Why should we not that murderer's heart's blood
drain ?

370
I '11 bear a hundred scofife for thy dear sake.
Or pay the debt if I this promise break ;

Though life sujffice thy cruelties, 'twere less
Than what till Judgment I would undertake!

371
In Being's circle we have come too late.
And fallen quite from manhood's high estate.

And since life moveth not to our desire.
Would 't were at end ! for we are satiate !

369. N. 286. L. 524. W. 326. P. 285. Line 1, lit. " No more let
us consume the grief of this shifting of the sphere."

370. B. 113. C. page 81 margin. L. 514. N. 287. P. 286. W. 327.
N. and P., line 4, variant but synonymous. L. line 1, reads, ''For love
I'd bear with a hundred sorts of reproaches." The others, **Por thy
love," etc. Addressed to the beloved.

371. N. 288. L. 535. W. 328. P. 287.

124

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OMAR KHAYYAM

Since earth 's but fantasm, I '11 fantastic be,
Naught think of save bright wine and revelry.

They say "God give thee penitence! " He'll not
Give it and I w^ould not repent, did He!

373
When at the foot of Death I am laid low.
And when his hand doth my plucked plumage strew,
Naught of my clay, look ye but flasks ye make.
Perchance the wine-scent new life will bestow.

374
As in this world's aflfairs' variety
I sec haphazard placed folk seem to be;

Praise be to God! for whereso'er I look.
My own chagrin as due to that, I see!

372. B. 114. C. 315. N. 289. L. 522. W. 329. P. 288. 1 have
here suggested the word play of the original "fan," fana meaning fan-
tasy, illusion, and ''fan" meaning artifice, masquerading. L. slightly
varies line 3.

373. B. 116. C. 293. N. 290. L. 539. W. 330. P. 289. P. 89.
B. and L. read line 2 ''I am rooted up from life's hope," and line 4,
which reads lit. *'It may be that from the wine-scent an instant I may
revive," L. reads ''moist with wine" and B. "filled with wine." See
673. Also ascribed to Hafiz.

374. N. 291. L. 534. W. 331. P. 290. C. page 80 margin.

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THE aUATRAINS OF

375
Let us sip rose-hued wine, 't is break of day.
Fame's chalice on the stones we'll fling away

And cease to strive for what we long have hoped
And with long tresses and the lute's strings play.

376
Though widespread as the earth my sins should be.
That Thou wilt guide I trust Thy clemency;

Thou say'st "When thou art weak I'll take thy
hand."
One weaker now than I, look not to see.

377
If drunk with Magian wine I am, I am.
Faithless, Guebcr, idolater I am,

I am. Each sect of me conjecture holds;
I am myself and what I am, I am.

375. B. 118. N. 294. L. 571. W. 332. P. 293. P. 41. Also ascribed
to Jalal uddin Kazvini. ''Strings," line 4, lit. '*skirt." Line 2. lit.
**we *11 strike." **Long" word play.

376. C. 275. N. 296. L. 499. W. 333. P. 295. Also ascribed to
Saif uddin Bakharzi and to Abu Sa'id.

377. N. 297. L. 563. W. 334. P. 296. C. 311. Not so lago, who
says **l am not what 1 am."

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378
All my life long from drink I *d not refrain,
To-night on Kader's Feast the cup 1*11 drain

Lip to its lip and breast to breast of jar,
Hand on flask's neck until dawn breaks again.

379
What *s manifest in life and death know I,
The heart of everything both low and high;

But shame upon my knowledge if I know
A state that with wine's ecstasy can vie!

380

Dervish, the cloak of seeming cast from thee!
Give not thy being to hypocrisy.

Go! Poverty's old rug on shoulders throw.
Beneath it beat the drum of empery !

378. C. 277. N. 298. L. 510. W. 335. P. 297. Line 1. lit. ''I've
not been sober an instant since I existed." L. and C. for * 'sober" read
"without wine." ''Kader's feast," **shab-i-kadr," the night of power,
when the Koran was said to have been sent from Heaven.

379. B. 120. N. 300. L. 523. W. 336. P. 299. F. 56. '*Shame,"
line 3, L., N. and P. read *'I am weary."

380. B. 125. W. 502. Line 4, which is literal, may be interpreted
"Become the equal of a Saltan."

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THE QUATRAINS OF

381
I drink wine, but avoid debauchery.
Save with the cup, from grasping I am free;

Know'st thou why I'm a worshipper of wine?
*T is since I 'm no self-worshipper like thee.

382

To thee an adept I may briefly say

What man has always been, a shape of clay,

The clay of grief cast in the mould of toil.
Who tasting life a moment, moves away.

383

The wine-jar's lip wc 've made our place to pray.
With its red juice as men ourselves array ;
In taverns that life wc may yet regain
Which in the convents we did waste away!

381. N. 301. L. 528. W. 337. P. 300. C. 287. Also ascribed to
Anwari.

382. N. 302. L. 566. W. 338. P. 301. C. 314.

383. N. 303. W. 339. P. 302. See quatrain 810.

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384
The flower of all Creation are we,
The pearl of light as wisdom's eye doth see ;

Beyond a doubt. Life's circle is a ring.
Whose graven signet is humanity.

385

*T is we with wine who ecstasy attain
Spurning the base, the empyrean gain;

Then from this body's dross we become freed,
Wc came from dust and dust become again.

386

If I did eat ere Ramazan was past.

Think not that with intent I broke the fast.

My day, from fasting toils, became as night,
Methought 't was not dawn, when I food did taste.

384. C. page 70 margin. N. 304. L. 512. W.340. P. 303. ''Flow-
er,*' lit. "the object," **aim," the final consnmmation, **we," meaning
mankind.

385. N. 305. L. 525. W. 341. P. 304.

386. N. 306. L. 533. W. 342. P. 305. In Ramazan, the fasting
month of the Moslems, the fast is observed during the hours of light.
The principal meal was before the morning crepnscnlnm.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

387
We ne'er in joy a cup of water drain
That from Griefs hand a draught did not contain.

Nor dip our crust within another's salt.
But that we mortify our hearts in pain.

388

I go at dawn to taverns every day,
With Kalenders I riot on the way:

Since the world's end and secrets Thou dost know.
Vouchsafe me grace that I to Thee may pray !

389

The griefs of Time we reck not at a grain, we 're happy.

If breakfast comes from dinner we abstain, yes we Ve

happy.

Since cooked food from Love's kitchen comes to us.

Of none do we have expectations vain, for we 're happy !

387. C. page 83 margin. N. 310. L. 515. W. 343. P. 308. Line
4, literally **Gnaw our roast liver." The liver and the heart in literature
have equally been the seat of love and pain. The word '*jigar/' liver,
may often be properly rendered in English "heart." Theocritus speak-
ing of Hercules' lament on the loss of llylas "For in his liver Love had
fixt a wound." So Horace, Carmen XaV, Book 1, ''Cum tibi flagrans

Amor Saeviet circa JECUR ulcerosum," and elsewhere.

Ansun*eon and other classical writers thus refer to the liver. And among
English writers, Shakspeare, ''Alas their love may be called appetite, No
motion of the liver but the palate."

388. N. 312. L. 549. W. 344. P. 311. C. 300.

389. C. 294. N. 313. L. 551. W. 345. P. 312. There is a variation
in line 3. I follow the Calcutta and Lucknow. The others read "no
food from the kitchen."

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No day from earthly bonds have we been free.
No single moment glad in life to be,

To Fortune long apprenticeship I served
Nor of the other world gained mastery.

391
I am miscalled philosopher by foes,
I am not that which they aver, God knows !

I know not what I am, still less my end
Since I have come into this nest of woes.

392
The more removed from self, I live the more.
The more abased I am, the higher soar;

More strange than this, that while from Being's
wine
I grow more sober, I 'm more drunk therefor !

390. C. 322. N. 314. L. S7S. W. 346. P. 313. Line 4 N. and P.
•two worlds."

391. L. 580. C. 323. W. 350. Philosopher here means free thinker.
302. L. 570. W. 351. A mystical quatrain.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

393
Greeting from me to Mustafa convey.
And with due ceremony do ye say :

" Chief of the Hashimi ! why by the Law
Is pure wine banned and why allowed sour whey ?

394
Khayyam from me with salutations greet,
And " Thou art green, Khajryam ! ** say when ye meet.

When said I that wine is unlawful? Still
'Tis to the "green" (as thou), not the discreet.

395
"I am the garden's Joseph'' the rose said,
"A ruby dear, my mouth with gold arrayed."

"What sign of Joseph do you show?" quoth I,
And she, " 'T is that with blood my coat is red."

393. N. 316. W. 348. Mustafa, Mohammed. Hashimi, the family
name.

394. N. 317. W. 349. "Green," ''kham," raw, uncooked, a play
on Khayyam's name. This and the preceding quatrain are the only ones
that have obvious relationship. They both may be interpolations.

395. L. 568. W. 352. Gold, the yellow stamens of the rose. Joseph,
a type of beauty. The Calcutta MS. has a similar quatrain, C. 32S.
''Rose said, 'A hand, gold scattering, I bear. And in the world a smiling
face I wear, I snatch my purse's string and then am gone And all my
treasured gold I give up there.* " F. 14.

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396
Awhile the master's side we did frequent,
Awhile then with our progress were content,

Hear the discourse's end, what came to us.
From dust we came and on the wind we went!

397
Pure from the void we came, unclean we go;
Tranquil we came, depart we full of woe.

With hearts afire and watered with our tears
And giving life to wind in earth lie low.

398

The earth we traversed Jamshed's cup to see.
Nor rest by day, nor sleep by night took we;

When the sage told its attributes, I learned
That world-revealing cup myself to be !

396. B. 121. L. 544. W. 353. P. 27. F. 28. "Hoar," Une 3, B.
reads "Behold," and line 4, "We came like water and like wind we went."

397. L. 538. W. 354. C. 290 line 3 varies.

398. L. 529. W. 355. Jamshed's cnp, the bowl of king Jamshed
. which reflected the entire world. Lines 3 and 4 have the plural verb.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

399
The queen moved, I became disconsolate.
By harshness fell from knight's to pawn's estate.

Then when I tired of king and bishop's game.
Rook to thy rook I place .... and so, checkmate !

400

Since Allah's will and mine do not agree.

How then becomes that right that's willed by me?

If everything is right that He doth will.
Then all things I have willed must error be.

401

That ruby bring, in crystal pure confined.
The mate and stay of men of noble mind !

Yea, bring wine, since thou knowest that the days
Of this dust world pass swiftly as the wind !

399. L. 517. C. 284. W. 356. A chess qnatrain. Note the word-
play on ''rook/' meaning cheek, and also castle. "Cheek to thy cheek I
place."

400. C. 272. L. 497. W. 357. Line 1, lit. ''Since Allah does not
will what I have willed."

401. B. 87. L. 403. N. 203. P. 202. Line 3 L., N. and P. read
"Since thou knowest all creatures are dust," and N. and P., line 4, read
"Is a wind that passes in two days." Ascribed to Hafiz. Line 2, "men,"
etc., lit. "free men."

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402

Arise ! To this sad heart bring medicine !
Yea, that musk-scented and rose-colored wine !

Grief's antidote's ingredients would'st thou have?
With red wine bring that silk stringed lute of thine !

403
'T is time of roses, and my choice I '11 take.
For once in this affair the law I '11 break.

With tender green and tulip-cheeks awhile
With wine mid verdure tulip-beds I '11 make.

404

Think not I am of self existent, nay !

Nor of self walk this blood-devouring way ;

This being is not mine, it is of Him,
Who, where and whence am I ? Tell me I pray ?

402. B. 88.

403. N. 308. L. 579. W. 358. P. 307. Line 3 meaning. With those
whose cheeks are tender-downed and tulip-red, that is with youth and
beauty. A species of word-play on **sabza,** green, or verdure and
•*laUah,'* tulip.

404. C. page 71 margin. L. 509. W. 359. Mystical and Vedantic.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

405

You who both day and night the world pursue,
Of Judgment Day are you not mindful too?
An instant then bethink yourself and see,
Consider what Time doth to others do.

406

O thou ! the essence of all things mundane,
A moment leave the thought of loss and gain.

Take the Eternal Bearer's cup, and so
Freedom from cares of both the worlds attain !

407

Know in this endlessly revolving zone.
Two sorts of men have happiness alone.

One knowing all his good and bad and one
Neither the world's affairs nor yet his own.

405. N. 318. L. 592. W. 361. P. 315. C. page 85 margin.

406. C. 338. N. 319. L. 604. W. 362. P. 316. The cup of Death.

407. N. 320. L. 606. W. 363. P. 317. C. 340. In his ''Persian
Sentences" Sir Gore Ouseley gives the Persian text of a similar epig^ram, as
it is placed in connection with a number of others, some of which are
known to be Omar's, under a general heading of "Omar Kheiam,*' it
may be by Omar and it is given here: "Each of three classes the true
worth doth know [Of each of three things in this world below, The aged
value youth, the sickly, health. The poor, the good that riches can bestow. ' '

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OMAR KHAYYAM

408

The world's conditions to my heart make light
And hide my ill deeds from the people's sight ;

Keep me but glad to-day, to-morrow then
Treat me as to Thy mercy seemeth right !

409

-To him who doth the world's state truly know,
As one, is all its trouble, joy and woe;

Since both its good and bad will have an end.
As Thou wilt, pain or remedy bestow!

410

Arise! moan not the world's inconstancy!
Be glad an instant, seize joy ere it flee !

In the world's nature if aught constant were
The turn from others had not come to thee.

406. N. 321. L. 612. W. 364. P. 318. C. 342.

409. B. 122. C. 347. N. 322. L. 618. W. 365. P. 319. **State/'
line 1, C. and B. read ''secrets."

410. N. 325. L. 585. W. 366. P. 322. P. 23. C. 329. C. reads,
Une 2. "Sit and enjoy this fleeting worid!"

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THE QUATRAINS OF

411

O, best of old friends ! from me do you hear,
Of this unending Heaven have no fear.

But rest you sitting in Contentment's nook.
And gaze upon the playing of the Sphere.

412

While you have power with drinkers seek to be.
Break down the wall of prayer and piety.

Hear from Khajryam O friend this sage advice.
Drink wine and rob, but O, show charity!

413
The world 's a body and God is its soul.
And various angels senses that control

Its limbs, the creatures, elements and heavens.
All else illusion is and this the whole.

411. C. pages? margin. N. 326. L. 595. W. 367. P. 323. F. 45,
first edition.

412. B.123. C.346. N. 327. L. 617. W. 368. P. 324. B.,C.and
L. for **Khayyam, O friend/* read **Omar Khayyam."

413. N. 328. L. 582. W. 369. P. 325. **Hakk,»' God, primarily
**The Truth." Pantheism. Also ascribed to Sa'id nddin Hamari.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

414

My heart to gladden in serenity.
Last night my wine-house charmer brought to me
The cup to take and drink, "I will not drink!'*
Quoth I. "To gratify my heart!'' said she.

415
Would'st thou have Fortune bow the neck to thee.
Ever to feed the soul thy care must be.

And practice faith like mine, to drink thy wine.
Not drain the cup of worldly misery !

416

These potters who have ever hand in clay.
All heedless of its sense, wit, mind are they.

With cuff and kick and slap they beat as 't were
Clay of the bad that thus they pound away.

414. N. 329. L. 603. W. 370. P. 326. N., W. and P. read, line 1,
"sincerity" for * 'serenity."

415. N. 330. L. 598. W. 371. P. 327.

416. C. page 46 margin. N. 119. L. 258. P. 119. N. and P., line
4, begin "Clay of the body."

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THE QUATRAINS OF

417
In this dust world from pole to pole in sooth
Howe'er discerning people seek the truth.
The only good in this deceitful world
Is rose-hued wine and lovely cheeks of youth !

418

Have you no shame for all the sins you do.
Forbidden things, commands forsaking, too ?

Suppose you gain the kingdom of the world.
What do, except to leave it then, will you ?

419

A sot crouched in the desert I did see,
Islam nor unfaith, goods nor creed had he.

Nor God, nor truth, nor law, nor certainty ;
Where in two worlds is like audacity ?

417. N. 331. W. 372. P. 328.

418. N. 335. L. 596. W. 374. P. 332. C. 336.

419. N. 336. L. 616. W. 375. P. 333. Line 1 N. and P. begin for
'A sot" '*A man."

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OMAR KHAYYAM

420

Concerning faith and dogma some surmise,
Some are perplext *twixt doubts and certainties ;

When suddenly an unseen herald cries :
"O fools! Nor here nor there the pathway lies!''

421

A bull there is in Heaven, his name Parwin,
Beneath the earth another is unseen ;

Ope wisdom's eye, since mankind truly is
A string of asses, these two bulls between.

422

They bid me less than this the wine-cup use ;
**Nay, why dost thou not wholly wine refuse?"

It is my love's face and the morning draught.
Be just, could there be a more clear excuse?

420. C. page 86 margin. N. 337. L. 591. W. 376. P. 334. P. 25.
"Unseen," lit. "from ambush." Also ascribed to Shah Sanghan.

421. N. 338. L. 601. W. 377. P. 335. The bulls are the constel-
lation Taurus and that which was fabled to support the earth. Kha]^am
is here as contemptuous as lago.

422. N. 339. L. 593. W. 378. P. 336. C. 330.

141

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THE QUATRAINS OF

423
If I o*er Heaven should Godlike power acquire,
I 'd sweep away this firmament entire,

Another such, from that new Heaven I *d make.
So the freed soul might reach its high desire.

424

This poor, mad, sympathetic heart of mine.
Ne'er sober, for my sweetheart's love doth pine ;

The day the Fates poured out the wine of Love
This goblet They with my heart's blood did line.

425
Better to drink, with fair maids wander free.
Than in deceit to practice piety ;

If sots and lovers all in Hell will be.
Then who would wish the face of Heaven to sec ?

423. C. 335. N. 340. L. 594. W. 379. P. 337. P. 99.

424. N. 341. L. 590. W. 380. P. 338. C. page 86 margin. Line
4, lit. **liver*8 blood."

425. B. 127. N. 342. L. 608. W. 381. P. 339. Line 4. "who." I
follow L., the others read "none." P. 65, second edition.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

426

The joyous heart keep ever from despair,
Nor on the trial stone life's pleasures wear ;

Since no one knows what is to be, we need
At will with wine and love to rest from care.

427

Our names from off the Scroll of Life erased.
We by the hand of Fate must be effaced ;

O sweet-faced boy, bring water cheerfully.
For in the dust soon must we be abased !

428

*T is well indeed of good repute to be.
And shame to grieve at Heaven's tyranny;

Better overcome with fumes of juice of grapes.
Than with a zealot's self sufficiency.

426. B. 128. N. 344. L. 588. W. 382. P. 341. C. 333. Line 3
B. "None have appeared who know," and C. "None need know."

427. B. 52. C. 154. N. 112. L. 358. P. 112. B., line 1. for "Scroll
of U«e" reads "In Love's way," and line 3, for "Cheerfully" reads "Sit
not idle." B. may be translated as follows: Within the way of Love
effaced must I Become, destroyed by hands of Destiny. O, sweet-faced
boy, sit not idly by, But water give, for soon in dust we'll lie."
L. reads line 3 "moon-faced cupbearer," and C. ends "However
much you rise in the world. How high so e'er your station be in life. The
end is At last beneath the clay we all must lie."

428. N. 345. L. 586. W. 383. P. 342. C. 331.

143

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THE QUATRAINS OF

429

Lord, mercy on this captive heart bestow,
Pity this bosom overcome with woe,

O, pardon this my hand that grasps the cup.
And these my feet that to the tavern go!

430
The man of spirit, wine renounces ne'er.
The wine that to Life's water doth compare.

In Ramazan if one needs must abstain.
At least let it be abstinence from prayer.

In time when fresh-bloomed roses venders cry.
Give order that the wine-cup be filled high.

Count not pavilions, Houris, Heaven or Hell,
For their existence they will certify.

429. C. 332. N. 346. L. 587. W. 384. P. 343. C. and L. transpose
lines 1 and 2, and read ''On captive soul and heart." I transpose lines
3 and 4.

430. N. 135. L. 280. P. 135. C. 123.

431. C. 130. L. 284. If yon are destined for heaven or hell it is
unnecessary to trouble yourself about them, in due season the one or the
other with its adjuncts will be made manifest.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

Since with the Friend all thy life long at rest
Thou hast been^ as a dream is what has passed;

At last life must be left, but all thy days
These earthly pleasures have been thine to taste.

V 433

However much at Fate*s hand thou dost smart,

Oppressed by Heaven however grieved at heart.

Beware lest of pure water from base hands
A drop wet thy lip, though afire thou art.

434
If it be horses, turquoise, arms of war.
Be not proud of this ten day fortune, for

None bears away his life from Heaven's wrath.
Which breaks the mug to-day, — next day the jar!

432. L. 404.

433. L. 758. However afflicted » do not place yourself under obliga-
tion to the base.

434. L. 669. Pate takes the weak to-day, the mighty escape not
to-morrow.

145

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THE QUATRAINS OF

435
Drink ! for the jasmine oft grown high will be
And Suha oft above. Live happily

On verge of garden gaily! for full oft
That garden verge will bloom when gone are we !

436
O, Lord from care of more or less, free me!
O sever me from self and fill with Thee !

While sober I both good and bad know, so
Make me enrapt, from good and bad set free!

437
The ill deeds of yon circling dome, survey!
See earth laid bare of friends whoVe passed away!

Look for no morrow, seek not yesterday !
Live while you may, a breath, behold To-Day !

435. L. 288. Suha» a small star in Ursa Minor.

436. C. 343. N. 347. L. 613. W. 385. P. 344. L. and W. for
**more or less,** line 1, read ''acceptance and rejection." Line 4 **enrapt,"
lit. *'drunk,** **mast,*' enrapt is a secondary meaning.

437. L. 623. B. 126. W. 386. L. reads ''pass by yesterday!**

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OMAR KHAYYAM

438
Since in this harsh world all man's gain hath been
Only his soul's vexation and chagrin^,

Happy is he who quickly flees this^^qrld,
And he who never came knows joy serene !^^

439
Till comes to boiling this life pot of mine,
In Comfort's bowl I'll quaff juice of the vine.

O, potter, if from my clay you shape jars.
Sell them to none save those who deal in wine !

440

Ill-wishers never do their purpose gain ;
Not one hurt done, a hundred they sustain.

I wish you well yet you would do me harm.
No good you see nor ill doth me attain.

438. B. 124. C. 339. L. 605. W. 387. ''Harsh world," line 1, lit.
"place of strife," "wild," "salt marsh," etc. Line 4, lit. "That one who
never came to earth is at peace."

439. L. 471.

440. L. 360.

147

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THE QUATRAINS OF

441

We know not secrets of Eternity,
This riddle is not solved by thee or me ;

They talk of thee and me, behind the Veil,
But when the Veil is lifted, gone are we

442

Against our dear lives holding its design.

This wheel of Heaven doth plot thy death and mine;

Come sit upon this grass, 't will not be long
Ere verdure springs up from my dust and thine.

443
When from the body our souls pass away.
To mark our tomb a pair of tiles they *11 lay.

And then, for tiles for graves of other men
Within the potter's mould they '11 press our clay.

441. C. 328. L. 581. W. 389. P. 32.

442. B. 129. C.351. N. 348. L.634. W. 390. P. 345. C. begins
*'Drink wine for Heaven." B. reads line 3, for **Come/' **0, idol" and
C. and L. ''Sitting upon the grass the goblet drain, 'twill not be long, "etc.
Also ascribed to Attar.

443. C. page 89, margin. N. 349. L. 637. W. 391. P. 346.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

444
Yon palace that to Heaven towered high.
Where, forehead bowed to threshold, Kings did lie,

I saw a dove that on its battlements
Thus, "Koo, koo, koo?" "Where are they now?"
did cry.

445
Since every day and night of life for thee
Cuts off a part, give not up ; happily

Thy day and night pass, for O full long when
Thou art no more, still night and day will be.

446

Khajryam, the world surveys those with disdain.
Who still at Timers rebuffs morose remain.

Ere on the stones Life's crystal chalice breaks.
Quaff wine from crystal to the harp's soft strain.

444. C. 354. N. 350. L. 627. W. 392. P. 347. P. note to rubaM
18. Also ascribed to Hafiz. PitzGerald quotes Binning as finding this
quatrain inscribed on a stone in the ruins of Persepolis. "Koo" in
Persian signifies "Where," as if the bird were mournfully calling for
the lost tenants of the splendid habitation to return to the scenes of their
ancient grandeur.

445. N. 218. L. 438. P. 217.

446. N. 252. C. 259. L. 474. P. 251. Morose, Ut. "narrow
hearted."

149

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THE QUATRAINS OF

447
O Sweetheart, since the world doth sadden thee.
And from thy body soon the soul will flee.

Ere verdure from thine ashes springeth up.
These few days on the green rest cheerfrilly.

448

The moonlight severs the dark robe of Night,
On such a moment you no more may light;

So drink, rejoice, and think that one by one
Full many a moon on Earth*s face will shine bright.

449
Drink wine, ere doth your name from Earth depart.
For cares take flight when wine doth reach the heart;

And loose the loved one's tresses knot by knot.
Or e'er the knots your limbs bind, rend apart.

447. C. 61. N. 72. L. 134. P. 72. C. reads ''Rest on the green
and sip thy cnp awhile cheerfully.*'

448. C. 93. N. 94. L. 207. P. 94. Also ascribed to Attar.

449. N. 155. L. 237. P. 155. Also ascribed to Attar.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

450

The veil that parts us I will roll away
To-morrow, and with good luck, wine essay ;
The time agrees and the beloved Consents,
If I rejoice not now, when shall I, pray ?

451
Ne'er give up wine if wine at hand avail,
A hundred vain regrets else thee assail ;

In such a time how were repentance right
When roses bloom and sings the nightingale ?

452

I 'd give my pearl of self for no small fee.
Nor thy door's dust for Jamshed's empery.

My pains thee serving, for ten myriad balms.
Nor for both worlds a single hair of thee.

450. C. 194. N. 166. L. 335. P. 166.

451. C. 166. N. 133. L. 343. P. 133. Edward PitsGerald voices
in a similar note the sense, if not the revolt, of the Spring in a letter,
dated April 22, to his fisher-friend, Fletcher, which concludes thus: **And
now the Snn shines, and the shrubs in my Grounds are shaking out a
reef of Green, and a Nightingale is singing among them; and I have
been twice out in my little Boat with old West; and I am going down to
the Ferry to-morrow perhaps; and I am also yours truly, £. FG.*'

452. L. 578. I have transposed lines 2 and 3. Addressed to the
beloved. *'Sad hazar" =100,000, =ten myriads.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

453
'Tis hour of dawn, up! boy of simple mind!
And let the glass with ruby wine be lined.

This borrowed moment at this transient Inn
Full oft you '11 seek and ne'er again will find !

454
Lest you Pretence's tavern reach, take care 1
Nor as the Kalenders perform you there.

This is the way of folk who hold heads high ;
From ever setting foot therein, beware !

455
Be blithe, for that time will come certainly
When 'neath dust will be all humanity.

Quaff wine, nor drain the dregs of worldly care,
And let him fret who in the world shall be 1

453. C. 211. N. 214. L. 402. P. 213. Variant but synonymous.

454. L. 696. C. 396. A hit at the self righteous pietists.

455. C.164. N.160. L.303. P. 160. L.. line 2, for "aU humanity"
reads *'all bodies."

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456

Assembling let us all with loved ones sit ;
And of the time's cares let us all be quit ;

The chalice of Love's liquor let us drain.
Be all at peace and free, enrapt of it !

457
O, Saki, since youth's season has begim,
Do thou the w^ine-cup place my palm upon ;

The hour of daw^n-draught 'tis, I've locked the
door,
O boy, give wine! for risen is the sun !

458.

Of love of thee I censure never give,
And ne'er with fools upon this subject strive ;
The wine of loving flows for all mankind.
The worthless from this cup no joy derive.

456.

N. 371.

L. 644.

457.

L. 686.

C. 387.

458.

L. 155.

P. 367.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

459
My heart 's consumed for you ; What shall I do,
Saki? Than one wine-flown I 'm more dazed, too;

And though some call me sot, it yet, mayhap.
Is rather I 'm overcome with grief for you !

460

Thy daily need since fixed by equity
No jot reduced or added to may be;

At rest one needs to be concerning all.
And from whatever is one should be free.

461

This babbling cease if ye be friends of mine,
And do ye recompense my woes with wine.

When I am clay, make ye a brick thereof
A hole within some tavern wall to line.

459. L. 141.

460. L. 239. C. Margin page 49.

461. C. 174. N. 173. L. 353. P. 173. L. variant but synonymoas-
*' Imperious Cassar, dead and turned to clay, Might stop a hole to keep the
wind away; O, that that earth, which kept the world in awe, Should patch
a wall to expel the winter's flaw!''

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462

From evil trifling of yon glass-like Sphere
And shifts of Time that for the base doth care,

In breast my heart a blood-filled flask I bear,
And cup-like filled my cheeks with many a tear.

463
Beware in taverns that we make no cry,
Nor raise a stir when we are passing by ;

The Book and turban let us sell for wine.
The mosque-school pass, nor yet assemble nigh.

464

My wine-jar Thou hast shattered Lord, for me
And closed the door of my felicity ;

My pure wine Lord, Thou hast poured on the
earth.
May I die Lord! 'Tis Thou art drunk, may be!

462. N. 332. L. 615. P. 329. C. 345. I transpose lines 3 and 4.

463. N. 311. L.567. P. 310. C. 316. Book, 1.^., the Koran. Turban,
the emblem of dignity. L. variant bnt synon3nnous.

464. N. 388. C. 399. L. 703. B. 141. P. 384. Line 3 *'pnre,**
L. reads ** rose-colored** and C. **mby.*' Line 4 **drunk,** B. reads
"strange."

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465
An old man at a vintner's I did see,
I said "Of those gone hast no news for me?"
"Drink wine!" quoth he, "For many like us go,"
"But none comes back again on earth to be!"

466

Life's hidden wellspring thy lip doth possess!
Let not cup's lip to thy lip kisses press !

If the cup's blood I drink not, I 'm no man,
For whose the lip that should thy lip caress ?

467

That which I am, I am by Thy decree,
A hundred years Thy grace hath fostered me ;
A hundred more I still would sin to learn
If my sin greater or Thy clemency.

465. N. 412. L. 720. P. 407. As though by his aged appearance
he had come from the other world.

466. C. 353. N. 352. L. 626. P. 348. W. 394. Addressed to the
beloved.

467. N. 353. L. 632. W. 395. P. 3S0. C. 356. Une 2 L. reads
"I am nourished in ease by thy comfort." Also ascribed to Hafis.

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468

'•Take cup and tankard, dearest Heart," I said,
"Bear by the stream's marge round the grassy mead.
For many a slender, moon-faced form. Heaven's
wheel
A hundred times to cups and jugs hath made."

469

Of old and new wine we are buyers, then
Sell Heaven for two tiny seeds of grain ;

Would'st thou know where thou goest after death ?
Set wine before me and go where thou 'rt fain.

470

Who in the world hath not sinned, prithee say ?
If any man sin not, how lives he pray?

What is the difference 'twixt Thee and me ?
If I do ill. Thou dost with ill repay.

468. N. 354. L. 625. See quatrain 671. (B 147.) W. 396. P. 351.
C. 352.

469. N. 355. L. 635. W.397. P. 352. "Janat/' Heaven, according
to L. The others have '*Alam," the world. C. 358 is similar in last bait.
My copy is apparently defective. It runs freely: "O false one, who heed'st
not thy pledge below, And of two days who know'st not one or two; Dost
ask me where thou wilt go after death? Set wine before! and go where
thou would'st go!**

470. N. 356. L. 639. W. 398. P. 353.

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My body's life and all my strength Thou art !
My heart and soul are Thine, O Soul and Heart !

Thou art my being and completely mine !
I am all Thine, since I *m of Thee a part !

472

Thou, who like ball at Fortune's mallet's blow
To left (wine drinking) or to right dost go,

Say naught! For He who tossed thee down mid race
And search, doth know, yea He doth know, doth know!

473
Thy light gives sight to tiny insect's eyes.
Thy strength's imparted to weak limbs of flies.

Thy nature worthy is of Thee, O, Lord !
And far from Thee unworthy qualities 1

471. L. 641. W. 400.

472. C. 357. L. 633. W. 401. Man compared to a ball in the
game which corresponded very much to onr game of polo. P. 70. It is
the Moslem belief that the wicked at the Judgment will turn to the left.

473. L. 630. W. 402.

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474
O, thou, my souFs ease, welcome joyfully !
Thou comest and I am not sure of thee.

For God's love (not my heart's), drink so much
wine
That who thou art is all unknown to me!

475
The day that's past from you bear not in mind;
The morrow to fret o'er be not inclined;

Of what has come and past rest not secure.
Live gaily now, nor cast life to the wind.

476

Live blithely for Time will be passing by.
And every soul will for its body cry.

Yon skull-cup that you see with passion filled.
Beneath the feet of potters soon will lie.

474. N. 440. L. 724. P. 434.

475. N. 334. L. 619. P. 331. C. 348.

476. C. 183. N. 139. L. 386. P. 139. A satirical allusion to the
belief that on the Resurrection Day, the soul seeks to be reunited to its life
companion, the body. L. for "passion filled,** line 3, reads ** somewhat.*'

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477 •
When They a stranger to myself make me,
And but a tale my life and memory,

(Although the word I fear to speak) would that
They 'd make my clay a tavern-jar to be !

478

Heaven, Houris, Kausar's fount exist, they say.

And there pure wine and honeyed sweets have they ;

Fill up and pass the cup ! For better cash
Than is a thousand promises to pay.

479
If wine you drink, with wise men let it be.
Or with fair tulip-cheeked ones laughingly ;
Drink seldom, tell it not, nor practice it.
Drink little, now and then, but secretly !

477. N. 154. P. 154.

478. C. 133. N. 169. L. 297. P. 168. Houris, nymphs of Paradise.
L. for *' better,** reads ** sweeter.**

479. N. 212. L. 416. P. 211. C. 221. This quatrain is worthy of
Polonius. It would seem to be a sly hit at the hypocrisy of certain of
the orthodox. C. and L. for * 'tulip-cheeked** read '*smooth-cheeked.**
C. begins ''continually drink wine with the wise!**

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480

What power, O Soul, was it that raised thee e'er?
The moon to thy sweet face doth not compare ;
Earth's fair adorn their faces with the Feast,
But thy dear face maketh the Feast more fair !

481

If I my destiny could regulate.

Free from concern of good or evil fate.

Here in this barren life not to have come,
Nor been, nor parted were the better state !

482

You see, boy, taper, wine and moonlight there.
And sweetheart as the purest ruby fair ;

Uplift from earth this heart afire, nor give
It to the wind, but water hither bear !

480. L. 658. C. 367. Lines 1 and 2. lit. *'0 Sonl what power was
it that raised thee ? For compared to thy face the moon wanesl'* A face
of gracefully curved contour or radiant as the moon is one of the extrava-
gant comparisons of Persian compliment.

481. N. 450. P. 444. See quatrain 597. Ascribed also to Sanai.

482. C. 382. L. 682. N. 438. P. 433. L. and C. vary in line 2.
"And sweetheart overcome with wine." C. line 4, reads **wine without
water." Also ascribed to Attar. Note reference to Four Elements.

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483
How long grieve over cares the Fates bestow,
With heart blood filled and eye with tears aflow ?

Drink wine, and joyous, strive to be content
Or ever you beyond this orbit go !

484

The inn I sought with faith of devotee.
And with the Magian belt I girded me.

The tavern boy (so bad my name) my clothes
Threw out of doors and washed the hostelry.

485

Boy ! wine of redbud's hue pour in the bowl !
For at the lip from grieving is my soul ;

And be thou as I am in ecstasy.
At once be freed from self and earth's control !

483. L. 750.

484. L. 123. "And with the Magian belt/' etc., f . e,, I drank wine.
See note to q. 327. The mocking hnmor of the idea that Khajryam was
so bad that his presence was a reproach to tapsters is highly characteristic.

485. N. 428. P. 423. Line 1, lit. '*Ponr wine like the redbnd, O,
Saki!" Line 2 means apparently '*! am expiring." I mnst bring wine
to the lip to stay my sonl.

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486

If while thou art on earth the power be thine,
No instant live sans cupbearer and wine.

For many have found out ere thee and me,
To none does Fortune to be kind incline.

487

If thou art wise be not the slave of Greed,
Nor fallen its prey, a vain Ambition heed;

Nor be as earth's dust driven by every wind.
But keen as fire, as running water freed.

488

Since at Death's hands no quarter we receive.
Vintner, make haste a stoup of wine to give !

Let us not fret, boy, o'er our heart's concerns.
For these few days that here on earth we live !

486. L. 715. C. 407. C. line 2 reads '*Have a care, you live not save
for the moment."

4S7. C. 359. L. 638. W. 403. Lines 3 and 4 are transposed
488. L. 688. C. 388.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

489

How long wilt prate of earthly grief and pain ?
Arise ! Be joyful as the moments wane !

Since Earth's face, end to end is veiled in green.
Of ruby wine the brimming beaker drain !

490

Heart's hand ne'er touched the ringlet of Delight;
Content's cup to the lips was ne'er brought quite ;
Alas ! toward night my day of life doth draw.
One day to my heart's wish ne'er reaches night.

491

In drunken sleep a graybeard I did see;
Bereft of mortal sense he seemed to be;

O'ercome by drink, his tipsy sleep disturbed,
" His servants God doth favor ! " muttered he.

489. C. 265. N. 258. L. 483. P. 257.

490. L. 662.

491. L. 660. Line 2, lit. "Prom the circle of knowledge of his body's
house he was departed.*'

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492

If in my bosom rest a red-lipped fair,
Grape-juice to Khizer's water doth compare;

Though Venus minstrel be and Jesus friend,
The loved one gone, Joy has no dwelling there.

493
Saki, a cup ! for God is skilled indeed.
And gracious, doth His servants' pleadings heed ;

Drink wine in Spring nor barter service, for
God for His creatures' duty hath no need!

494
Wilt thou hold me in grief apart from thee?
Or me possess, in joyous unity?

What way thou should'st use me I tell thee not.
Just as thy heart doth dictate treat thou me.

492. L. 152. Khizer's water, the water of life. The Moslems claim
many of the prophets, saints and martyrs of the Jewish and Christian
religions as bnt the forerunners of Mahomet. Likewise they recognise in
tradition mnch of the Greek mythology. When the loved one is absent
there is no joy even in wine. Line 4, lit. **When the heart is not in place,
joy is absent.*'

4d3. L. 20. God needs not our obedience and still less will He ask
it of His creatures.

494. L. 25.

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495
" Pray drink no wine, or you will grieve! " they say,
**And all afire you'll be on Judgment day!"

This may be, but more sweet than both the worlds
That instant is when you from wine are gay !

496

Saki, that wine that thy red lip doth bear
While I have breath, my heart will give up ne'er;
I'm filled with longing, though thou deem'st
me bold.
Yet my presumption springs from love's despair !

497
How sweet in jar's throat is wine's melody.
And strain of song to flute's soft minor key !

With each bewitching fair and limpid wine
How sweet the bumper from the world's care free!

495. N. 445. L. 748. p. 439. C. 423.

496. L. 153. ''Despair,*' lit. ••extremity.*'

497. L. 149. C. 45. Melody, lit. gurgle. *'Hai hai," a bamper, a
large glass of wine. ••Limpid," •'nab," pure, undiluted. Minor key,
"nala" wail, lament, the words "minor key," well express the meaning of
the original, semi-tonic progression being a characteristic feature of much
Oriental music.

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498

Awake, O man of virtue strong and wise !
Say to yon child of crumbling clay, "Arise!''

Then " Heedless, you are trampling under foot
The brain of Kai Kobad, and Perwiz' eyes!"

499
How long of temple-incense, mosque-lamp tell ?
How long of Heaven's rewards or pains of Hell ?
See, from all time " What is to be, will be ! "
The Lord of Fate did on the Tablet spell !

500

Since thy death but a dying once can be.
Die once then, since there is no remedy.

For this robe, blood-stained, wrought of skin and
veins.
When 'tis disused why then this sympathy ?

406. C. 235. L. 433. **Child,'' i, e„ the potter. Kai Kobad and
Khosran Perwiz, two kings of Persia. C. reads line 3, ** Strike not heed-
lessly," and line 4, for "eyes," ''blood."

490. L. 218. C. 95. C. reads "The Eternal Master."

500. L. 72.

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501
Now that the nightingale to song doth wake.
Do naught save ruby wine with revellers take ;

Arise and come! in gladness blooms the rose;
These few days mid the flowers your joyance make !

502

In Love's inn glorious is this name of mine.
My lot is drinking and to worship wine;

I am the world's soul in this Magian cell.
My body this life's image is, in fine.

503
Bearer, a cup for heart's lamp fire ne'er takes
Till at wine's flame a new existence wakes;

Out on thy red lip's wine ! To its pure draught
Whoe'er sets lip that red lip ne'er forsakes!

501. C. 349. N. 323. L. 620. P. 320. * 'Nightingale" line 1 *'ha«ar
dastan/' lit. '*the thousand tales/' a species so called because of its many
notes. Lit. ' 'Now that the thousand tales his tale doth sound. ' ' L. varies
in line 3 "Rise, come! for roses joyously cry out, 'these few days,* *' etc.
This quatrain has a double rhyme, "dastan dastan,'' "mastan, mastan,"
"bastan, bastan." Line 2 "with revellers" lit. "at hands of drinkers."
Line 4 variant but synonymous.

502. L. 145. C. 15 varies line 1, and is apparently corrupt in other
lines; line 1 reads "In the tavern of Thought wine rules my heart."

503. L. 139. Line 4, lit. "Whoe'er sets lip ne'er takes lip away."

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OMAR KHAYYAM

For me here wine and sweetheart quite suffice.
My soul on past or future ne'er relies.

Of drunk or sober naught the heart doth know.
My quest of both worlds but an instant is.

505
Though thou art high. Fate will to dust bring thee.
And from soft luxury to beggary ;

In brief, then, avoid ignorance as thou may'st.
Lest want Fate bring thee, do no injury !

506

From your door, Saki, we will never stray.
Though you may kill us, that will not dismay;

Though from the dust you '11 not raise us, our
heads

Wc will not take from out your passageway.

504. L. 146.

505. L. 148. ' * Pate. "lit. * *Thcy , ' ' which is constanUy used, meaning
the Pates or Pate and Portune.

506. L. ISl.

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507
With pride let not greed in your heart remain.
For no one clogged by pride can place attain ;

Be yielding as the ringlet of the fair.
Or e'er your senses' thread doth snap in twain.

508

Saki, though you were based like walls, on stone.
By Death's tide you would soon be overthrown ;

The soul 's but air ! O bearer, bring me wine !
O, minstrel sing ! The world is dust alone !

509
O, Shah! To thee Heaven lotted sovereignty!
Saddled for thee the steed of empery !

And where thy moving charger, golden-hoofed.
Sets foot on clay, earth gilded seems to be!

507. L. 749. He who is ambitious, must abandon pride.

508. L. 689. C. 389.

509. B. 70. W. 506. Perhaps addressed to Malik Shah.

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OMAR KHAYYAMj

The cup fill ! For dawn light as snow doth turn.
And from the wine that 's ruby, color learn !

Take two sweet aloe logs, make bright the feast !
Then shape a lute from one, the other burn !

5"
When Love Eternal first my being wrought.
Love's lesson from the very first He taught;

The filings of my heart's dust made a key
Then for the treasures of immortal thought !

'T is best all things save grape-juice to forego.
That best, pavilion beauties' hands bestow,

A Kalender best, drinking, wand'ring free,
A wine-draught 's best from Moon to Fish below !

510. B. 98. Last line may also be rendered '*Play one then as a
lnte» the other bum." The word " 'nd*' means aloe wood and also a Inte.

511. L. 311. P. 76. C. page 33, margin, l>egin8 "when the Eternal
Being," etc.

512. B. 133. C. 370. N. 358. P. 355. W. 404. L. 672. L. reads
**Hakk," truth, and N. '^kharram," joy, instead of ''mai," wine, in Une
1, Moon to Fish, "MahtaMahi," the fish that supported the earth, mean-
ing all creation. B. line 2, ''enrapt pavilion beauties."

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Wake, Saki ! for the day dawn 's bright and fair.
With last night's wine for me the cup prepare.

With loved ones drink we and make glad to-day.
For the To-morrow naught for thee will care.

O, friend, for Fortune undisturbed remain.
Nor for Time's changes fret yourself in vain.
Since on your body this life's garb is torn.
What matters said or done, what matters stain ?

You, who have not done good but ill alone.
Thus trusting in God's favor to atone;

Do not on pardon rest, for never yet
Was done as undone, nor undone as done.

513. L. 691. C. 391. **To-day," **Alnyekdam-i-umar." **thisone
instant of life."

514. N. 360. L. 645. W. 405. P. 357.

515. N. 361. W. 406. P. 358. C. page 95, margin, second quatrain.
This quatrain is attributed to Abu Sa'id Abu'l Khair and is said to be an
answer to quatrain 527.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

516

Like an inverted bowl behold these skies
Whereunder fallen helpless are the wise.

Regard the bottle's friendship for the cup.
Lip to lip, between life blood fallen lies.

With my moustache I Ve swept the wine-house sill ;
I Ve bade farewell to both worlds' good and ill ;

Should both the worlds roll in the street like balls,
A grain, when drunk and drowsed I 'd rate them still.

S18

The drops wept, "We are severed from the sea.*'
The sea laughed, " For we are all one,'* said he,
" In truth there is no other God, we 're all ;
Though one point circling seems apart to be."

516. B. 134. C. 366. N. 363. L. 657. W. 408. P. 360. Note that
there is no apparent relation between the baits of this quatrain. P. 72.
B. reads "Choose," for "Regard/' Une 3. C. begins "Behold this base of
the sphere overturned," "Underneath the hearts of the wise have fallen I"

517. B. 132. N. 364. L. 654. W. 409. P. 361.

518. N. 365. W. 410. Pantheism, pure and simple.

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How long shall I fret for what I 've not got,
Or if content or not I '11 pass my lot?

The wine-cup fill ! since 't is not known to me
If I this breath I draw breath out or not.

520

Give not yourself to grief for fate unkind.
Nor call sad thoughts of parted ones to mind.

Yield not your heart save to sweet fairy lips.
Sans wine be not, nor cast life to the wind !

521
How long of mosque, prayer, fasting preach to me?
Get drunk in taverns though by beggary.

Khayyam, drink wine, for from your clay they '11
shape
A goblet, pitcher or a jar, maybe.

519. B. 136. N. 366. L. 740. W. 411. P. 362. C. page 93.
margin, and repeated C. 422. P. 14 second edition.

520. B. 137. N. 367. L. 643. W. 412. P. 363. Line 3. ''sweet
fairy lips" B. has "one jasmine-bosomed and fairy-bom/* and L. '*one
with curls."

521. N. 368. W. 413. P. 364.

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522

Lo, Zephyr rends the rose's robe in twain.
Her beauty bulbuls praise in joyous strain ;

Sit we 'neath this rose shade, for many a rose
Wind strewn in earth has turned to earth again !

523
Suppose the world to your wish goes, what then ?
And this life's volume read suppose, what then ?

I take it that you live a hundred years,
Another hundred add to those, what then?

524
Know'st why the cypress and the lily free
Reputed are in mouths of men to be ?

This has ten tongues but silent is and that
A hundred hands and yet ungrasping she.

522. B. 13S. N. 370. L. 671. W. 414. P. 366. P. 9. Line 3 L.
reads "Drink wine, for many a rose." Also ascribed to Attar.

523. N. 372 L. 666. W. 415. P. 368. C. 368.

524. N. 373. L. 665. W. 416. P. 369. The word "azada." free,
means lily and also cypress.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

Boy, place within my hand delicious wine.
The cup as beauty bright, place it in mine.

Give me that which, the foolish and the wise
As in a chain together doth entwine.

526

Alas! that this my life has passed in vain.

Forbid each mouthful, no thought free from stain ;

My face made black by God's commands undone,
Alas ! for deeds that He did not ordain !

We stay here trusting in Thy grace alone
Apart from sin or merit of our own,

For where Thy mercy is, it may be that.
Not done as done is, done is as not done.

525. N. 374. L. 663. W. 417. P. 370. Also ascribed to Hafis.

526. N. 375. L. 646. C. page 92 margin. W. 418. P. 371. The
Moslem belief is that the wicked will appear at the Resurrection with
black faces.

527. N. 379. L. 673. W. 420. P. 375. C. page 95 margin.
First quatrain. Ascribed to Ibn Sina (Avicenna).

176

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OMAR KHAYYAM

528

This is the form Thou gav'st my being. Lord !
And there a hundred marvels dost record ;

I cannot better be than this since Thou
Forth from Thy crucible me thus hast poured.

529
O, thou hast gone, and bent come back again.
Thy name is lost forever among men.

Thy nails together grown as hoofs become.
Behind, thy beard a tail is growing then !

530
O, Lord ! to Thee great and small worship pay.
'T is best in both worlds in Thy courts to pray.

Affliction Thou dost take, and givest joy.
O, Lord ! of Thy grace give and take away !

528. N. 380. L. 652. W. 421. P. 376. C. page 93 margin.

529. C. 372. L. 668. W. 423. Addressed to an ass laden with bricks
which Omar saw at the maddrassah in Nishapur and which Omar pre-
tended embodied the soul of a former teacher.

530. L. 677. W. 422.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

Oh, you who to the world's affairs are blind.
You are naught, for you rest on naught but wind !

Life's bounds are 'twixt two non-existences.
And your life 's naught, therein whelmed and confined !

532
Each morn I say, "To-night I will relent.
Nor be on cup or brimming bowl intent."

Now Spring has come, in time of roses. Lord
Give me repentance that I did repent!

533
Study of science you had best beware ;
And best hang o'er the tress-tip of the fair

And ere that Fortune shed your best life-blood.
Best shed the flask's blood in the cup to share.

531. L. 656. W. 424. C. 364. Blind, lit. ignorant, unknowing.
Line 4, lit. "And thy life's environs in the midst thereof are naught." C.
varies in second bait.

532. L. 655. W. 425. C. 363. F. 7. F. 94.

533. B. 131. C. 371. N. 359. L. 670. W. 426. P. 356. N. and
P., line 1, read "Science and devotion."

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OMAR KHAYYAM

534
Can you not. Heart, the riddle's secret gain ?
Nor make the subtlety of wise men plain ?

Here make your Heaven with wine and cup ; for
you
The place where Heaven is may, — may not attain.

535
O, cup-bearer ! those who have gone before
Sleep in the dust of pride for evermore ;

Go, boy, drink wine and hear the truth from me,
You '11 find but empty wind is all their lore.

536
When at the Loved One's feast, O Heart, you sit.
Severed from self, you 're joined to Self complete.
And when you drain the mortal cup, you are
Of Being and Non-being wholly quit !

534. B. 143. C. 415. N. 383. L. 733. W. 427. P. 379.

535. B. 140. C. 379. N. 384. L. 687. W. 428. P. 380. F. 26.
C, line 2, "Sleep in the dreams of pride."

536. C.401. N.386. L. 704. W.429. P. 382. A mystical quatrain.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

537
Though I am wont with wine enrapt to be.
Why should the people ever censure me?

Would that all things forbidden made men drunk,
For ne'er on earth I 'd see sobriety.

538

O, thou the offspring of the Seven and Four !
I know the Four and Seven thou frettest o'er.

Drink wine ! for more than four times I Ve told

thee
When gone, thou'rt gone! Thou wilt return no

more!

539
A thousand snares Thou settest in my way.
And threatenest if I step therein to slay ; .

Thou mak'st Thy law and me dost rebel call.
Though nowise is the world free from Thy sway !

537. N. 387. L. 695. W. 430. P. 383. C. 395. Also ascribed to
Hafiz.

538. C. 410. N. 389. L. 723. W. 431. P. 385. Four elements,
seven planets or heavens. In line 3 L. and C. have '^hazar/' a thousand,
instead of "chahar/* four. C. 377 is similar to above and reads, "Saki,
how long discuss the Seven and Four? How long the Four, the Seven,
the Eight talk o*er? From time to time, O minstrel, sound thy note!
Since life flies fast, haste boy, set wine before!"

539. B. 148. W. 432. P. 80. See quatrain 661.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

540
O, Thou whose essence wit can never know,
Who heedest not the good or ill we do,

Though drunk with sin. Thy hope doth sober me,
That is : I trust Thou pardon wilt bestow !

541
Were life but following authority
Each day in turn a festal day would be.

Every one then would grasp his heart's desire.
Were it not for vain threats of penalty.

. 542
O, Sphere ! you still do thwart my heart's desire.
And rend apart my festival attire.

You turn to dust the water I would drink.
The air wafted to me you change to fire.

540. N. 391. L. 699. W. 433. P. 386.

541. N. 392. W. 434. P. 387. ''Taklid/' imitation, in the sense of
the blind following of precedent, or authority. If that were all, life were
an easy matter. See P. 62.

542. N. 393. L. 701. W.435. P. 388. C. page 103 margin. I have
transposed lines 3 and 4.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

543
In gardens why are green grapes sour, O pray ?
When winter comes sweet, wine made sour are they ?

From wood if one a lute make with an adze.
And it turn out a flute, what would you say?

544
Thou know'st, O Sweetheart, though thou absent be.
Thou ne'er hast (in this bosom) gone from me.

Yet none thou sendest nor dost ever ask
What passeth o'er my head while far from thee.

545
Since odds *twixt hand and foot I could divine.
This Fortune base her hand hath closed to mine;

Alas that Fate will place in the account
What time I 've lived apart from love and wine !

543. N. 425. L. 730. W. 462. P. 420. As if there were no apparent
purpose in creation. L.» line 4, reads *'What of the thicket which grows
reeds, then, would you say?"

544. L. 9.

545. L. 86.

182

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OMAR KHAYYAM

546
O, Soul ! if from the body's dust set free
You soar a sprite in Heaven's infinity,

Which is your mansion, shame upon you, then,
That you come dwelling on this earth to be.

547
Potter ! if prudent, let your hand be stayed !
How long will you the clay of man degrade?

Of what think you ? thus setting on your wheel
Feridun's fingers and Kai Khosrau's head!

548

O, rose ! thou 'rt like that face my heart doth rend !
Thou wine ! that ruby the soul joy doth lend ;
O, striving Fortune thou each moment art
More strange, and yet thou seemest like a friend !

546. B. 145. C. page 96 margin. N. 394. L. 707. W. 436. P.
389. P. 44. **Dust,'' line 1, C, N. and P. read ''griefe." Also ascribed
to Pakhr uddin, to Badihi Salgavandi and Ahmad Bndeili.

547. N. 395. L. 711. C. page 99 margin, repeated margin page 100.
W. 437. P. 390. Peridnn and Kai Khosran, kings of Persia, the former
the sixth king of the Peshdadian dynasty, the latter known as Gyms.

'Sar/' head, according to L. and C. N. and P. read "kaf," hand.

548. N. 396. W. 438. P. 391. Also ascribed to Ansari.

183

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THE QUATRAINS OF

549
Ah, would there were a place to rest from pain
Or that the way we might at last attain

After ten myriad years and from earth's heart
Like new blown verdure might revive again !

Since Thou at first to me becam'st a friend,
Why then thereafter from myself dost rend ?

And since Thou did'st not leave me at the first.
Why here on earth dost keep me to the end ?

How long, O, friend, with body that doth tire.
The world to trace with eager foot aspire ?

All things that come and pass, depart and go.
And not one moment suiteth thy desire.

549. N. 400. L. 768. C. 427. W. 442. P. 395. F. 97. *'Sad
hazar," "a hundred thousand," i, e,, ten myriad.

550. N. 399. L. 761. W. 441. P. 394.

551. L. 648. C.365.

184

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OMAR KHAYYAM

I ope'd Love's book, to find an augury,
At once an ardent one in ecstasy

Cried, "Who at home a moonlike sweetheart hath
And night year long, ah, glad indeed is he!"

553
With Winter's passing and Spring's coming on
The leaves of our life's book close, one by one.

"Drink wine, nor grieve" the sage saith, "for
care is
Poison and antidote save wine there 's none."

554
Last night the cup I dashed against a stone.
Base was the act, my head with wine was flown.

The cup cried out to me in mystic tone,
"I was like thee, my case will be thine own."

552. N. 401. L. 762. W. 443. P. 386. C. page 104 margin.
"Love's" C. and L. read ''Life's book," and L., for **moonlike sweet-
heart," reads "day like a month."

553. C. 420. N. 402. L. 745. W. 444. P. 397. The Persians say
"to consume grief" instead of consumed by grief. Literally to eat g^rief.
See note to quatrain 294.

554. B. 146. C. 403. N. 404. L. 706. W. 446. P. 399. "In mys-
tic tone," "bi zaban-i-hal," in the tongue of the case, that is to say in
the language of the occasion, or fittingly, or as a cup might l>e supposed
to speak. This phrase is not infrequent. B. reads, line 2, for "mast"
lit. "drunk," "khush," happy.

185

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THE QUATRAINS OF

S5S
My heart is saddened by hypocrisy
Saki, arise ! and bring bright wine to me.

The prayer-mat and mantle pawn for wine,
So then my boasts may rest in surety.

If thou art wise, thyself examine, see
What thou did'st bring, what tak*st away with thee.
Thou say'st " I *11 not drink wine, since I must
die.''
But drink or no, thou 'It die for certainty.

SS7
Door-opener Thou art, then open, pray !
And since Thou art my guide, show me the way !

I '11 not give hand to other hand-takers.
All fleeting they, but Thou abid'st for aye !

555. N. 407. W. 447. P. 402.

556. N. 408. L. 719. W. 448. P. 403. C. 428.

557. N. 409. L. 726. W. 449. P. 404. C. 413.

186

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OMAR KHAYYAM

558
If remedy you 'd find, then bear with pain,
Lament not suffering, if cure you 'd gain,

And thankful be in time of helplessness
If aid to end your grief you would obtain.

559
Thou say'st from malice what thou say'st to me.
And call'st me "Skeptic, atheist!" constantly.

I am all that thou sayest I confess.
But pray, is malice well befitting thee?

560

A skin of red wine, book of poesy.
Bread, a half loaf, enough for life give me.
Then sitting in some solitude with thee
Were sweeter than the Sultan's empery !

558. N. 411. L. 760. W. 451. P. 406.

559. N. 410. C. 419. L. 744. W. 450. P. 405. Evidently directed
at some orthodox critic.

560. B. 149. N. 413. W. 452. P. 408. P. 12. Wine and other
liquids in the Bast were transported largely in skins in Omar's day.

187

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THE QUATRAINS OF

561

How long preach, Saki, of the five and four ?
One problem or a hundred thousand more;

We are but earth O, bearer, sound the lute !
We are but air, Saki set wine before !

562

While bone, vein, sinew this your frame array.
Strive not to step outside your destined way ;

Cringe not, although Rustam-i-Zal *s your foe.
Nor boon from friend seek, were he Hatim Tai.

563
Though ruby lips and wine-cup you desire,
Still following sounds of tabor, pipe and lyre.

All these are vain, God knows, and you are naught
Until you have renounced the world entire.

561. N. 414. W. 453. P. 409. The five senses and the four elements.
What are these problems in the face of our mortality?

562. N. 416. C. 421. L. 746. W. 455. P. 411. Rustam. son of
Zal, one of the three most famous Persian warriors. Hatim Tai, an Arab
chief, the exemplar of hospitality. F. 10.

563. N. 417. L. 755. W. 456. P. 412.

188

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OMAR KHAYYAM

564
O'er Yasin and Barat why Saki, fight?
The draft Barat within some winehouse, write !

The day our lot is in the tavern cast.
That day, boy, shall be as Barat's great night !

565

'Neath Heaven's relentless sphere your patience prove.
Drink wine ! since in a world of woe you move ;

Since your beginning and end are in earth.
Think now you are not *neath earth but above.

566

Although affairs to your wish never go.
Be glad in what the moment doth bestow.

Since of all secrets, boy, you are the soul.
Why all this grieving vain and care below ?

564. C. 390. N. 415. L. 690. W. 454. P. 410. Yasin, 64th chap-
ter of the Koran. Barat, 9th chapter of the Koran. Barat also means an
order or draft, a lot. **Shab-i-Barat," the night of the Lot, commonly
called the night of Power. A punning quatrain in which the various
meanings of Barat are brought out.

565. N. 418. C. 424. L. 765. W. 457. P. 413.

566. C. 405. N. 419. L. 714. W. 458. P. 414. I follow L. The
baits are transposed in the others.

189

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THE QUATRAINS OF

Behold where'er I look, lo ! everywhere
Heaven's verdure springs and Kausar's stream is there;
And wastes as Heaven are ; Hell is gone, you 'd
say;
Sit in this Heaven then with a Heaven faced fair.

568

Seek not friends in this house of jugglery.
Bear you with pain and seek no remedy.

My counsel hear and look you do not speak.
Mid grief sit cheerful, seek no sympathy.

569
Two saws are Wisdom's most essential.
Of more worth than your lore traditional ;
Better eat not than taste of everything ;
Better live by yourself than mate with all !

567. B. 151. C. 406. N. 420. L. 713. W. 450. P. 415. B. varies
in line 2: '*In the garden flows (a stream) from the river Kausar." N.
W. and P., in line 3, for **Hell is gone*' read ''changed from Hell.**
Kausar, the principal stream of Paradise. The quatrain is a vigorous
description of the sudden coming of the verdure of Spring.

568. N. 423. W. 460. P. 418.

569. N. 424. W. 461. P. 419.

190

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OMAR KHAYYAM

SJo
Do you know why when dawn makes light the sky
The bird of morning sounds his constant cry ?

In morning's mirror 't is to show that from
Your life a night has passed unheeded by.

Give me the ruby, tulip-tinted wine,

Draw from the flagon's throat blood of the vine.

For save the wine-cup there is not to-day
For me one friend at heart so genuine.

S7^
In wisdom though Aristo or Jamhur,
And though in power Caesar or Faghftir,

Drink wine from Jam's cup, for thy end 's the grave.
Though Bahram's self thou wert, thy goal 's the **gur."

570. C. page 96 margin, also C. 426. N. 426. L. 767. W. 463.
P. 421. L. variant but synonymous. Also ascribed to Abu Sa'id.

571. B. 153. C. 418. N. 427. L. 693. W. 464. P. 422. Repeated
L. 739. L. varies slightly.

572. N. 430. W. 465. P. 425. Aristo, AristoUe. Jamhur, Buzur-
jimihr philosopher of the sixth century and vizier of Nushirwan, famous
for his wisdom. Faghfur, the Chinese emperor. Bahram, the celebrated
hunter king called, from his fondness for the chase, * 'Bahram Gur,"
Bahram of the wild ass, because the pursuit of the "gur," wild ass, or
onager, was his favorite sport. Word play is here introduced on the
word **gur," g^ve. See quatrain 10.

191

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THE QUATRAINS OF

573
A potter in his shop I paused to greet.
And saw the master, foot on wheel, complete

Covers and handles for his pots and jars
Wrought from the heads of kings and beggars' feet !

574
Hast sense? In witless ways seek thou to be
And drink with drinkers of Infinity !

Art senseless? Then not thine 's true ignorance;
Not every fool attains to ecstasy!

S7S
Take every care. Beloved, while yet you may.
The heart's grief of your lover to allay.

This queendom of your charms lasts not for aye,
But all at once slips from your hands away.

573. N. 431. L. 698. W. 466. P. 426. C. 398. N.. W. and P.
read line 3 "for his vessels strong." And L. reads *' Frail handles for
pots and jars from monarchs' heads for beggars' hands."

574. N. 432. L. 727. W. 467. P. 427. A mystical quatrain. Lose
self consciousness in the contemplation of the Infinite. If you are a fool,
i, e,i incapable, you cannot become rapt in the Infinite.

575. N. 434. L. 717. W. 469. P. 429. C. 400, line 3, reads
*'For this unstable world abides not with any one."

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OMAR KHAYYAM

O Love! ere through the Door thy step incline.
Or potters mould jugs from my clay and thine,
Fill thy cup from that flagon of good wine
That harms not, drink, and then replenish mine.

S77
Ere you be drunken with the cup of Death,
Or fallen low rude Fortune's blows beneath.

Some substance gather here, for there, I trow,
111 will he fare if naught in hand he hath.

578

Of quick and dead Thou makest the estate.
And Heaven's distracting wheel dost regulate;

Though I am bad, of this slave Thou art Lord,
Then why blame me, since me Thou did'st create?

576. C. 392. N. 433. L. 692. W. 468. P. 428. The baits of this
quatrain are reversed in C. and L. I follow N. and P. L. 12 and L. 680
(19 and 658 in this translation) are similar.

577. N. 435. L. 756. W. 470. P. 430.

578. N. 436. L. 700. W. 471. P. 431. C. page 109 margin.

193

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THE QUATRAINS OF

579
O, wine so pure and O, so crystalline !
So much I '11 drink in this mad state of mine

Of thee, that all who see me from afar
Will cry, " Whence dost thou come, O Master Wine?"

580

A Shaikh to harlot, "You are drunk!" said he,
" Each moment caught in some fresh snare! " Said
she,
"All that you say I am, O, Shaikh, I am;"
" But you, are you such as you seem to be?"

S8i

If Earth rolled in the gutter like a ball,

When drunk and drowsed, a grain I 'd rate it all.

Last night they pawned me at the inn for wine,
"A fine pledge thou!" the tavcrner did call.

579. N. 439. L. 741. (A slight variant in lines 1 and 2.) W. 472.

580. N. 441. L. 709. W. 473. P. 435.

581. N. 442. W. 474. P. 436. C. 394.

194

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OMAR KHAYYAM

582

Sometimes concealed, Thou show'st Thy face to none,
Again Thou dost existent forms put on ;

This splendor to Thyself Thou dost reveal.
Thou art spectator, spectacle in one !

583

If Earth's face populous thou mad'st to be.
Than to make glad one heart 'twere less in thee;

To bind one freeman in the bonds of love
Were better than a thousand slaves to free !

584

If knowing, thou for pleasure of thy heart
Dost make a soul at peace with grief to smart,
Go, thy misfortune bear and mourn thy wit
Thy life long, for a wondrous fool thou art !

582. N. 443. L. 70S. W. 475. P. 437. C. 402. P. 52.

583. N. 444. L. 747. W. 476. P. 438. Also ascribed to Abu Sa'id
and to Ala-tid-datila Sem-nani.

584. N. 446. L. 766. W. 477. P. 440. C. 425.

195

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THE QUATRAINS OF

585
Whene'er there comes to hand two maunds of wine.
To drink in all assemblies ne'er decline;

For whoso does thus, sets his spirit free
Of such as thy moustache or beards like mine !

586

If bread you have made from the grain of wheat.
Two maunds of wine, a mutton joint for meat.

In some nook sitting with fair Tulip-cheeks,
Not every Sultan hath such joy complete !

587

They call you bad if in the city known.
Suspect, if you in corners sit alone.

Though Khizer or Elias you should be.
Better of none be known and to know none.

585. B. 156. C.393. N.447. L. 694. W. 478. P. 441. L.,B.and
C. read, in line 3, **Por He who made the world," etc.

586. B. 155. C. 397. N. 448. L. 697. W. 479. P. 442. C. and
L., line 3, for * 'Tulip cheeks'' read **moon faced one." B., line 2, reads
**a gourd of wine."

587. N. 449. W. 480. P. 443. C. page 107 margin. "Khiaer," see
quatrain 330. You are called **bad/' if a man about town, if reserved
and abstracted in manner you are apt to be regarded as a dissembler or
not quite right mentally.

196

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OMAR KHAYYAM

588

Ours be dawn draught, beloved and wine, Saki !
True penitence shall not be mine, Saki !

Saki, how long wilt preach of Noah to me ?
Bring thou that light heart's ease of thine, Saki !

589

I 'm powerless ; to join thee I aspire
And in thine absence I can scarce respire.

My grief I dare not tell to any one.
O vexed case ! rare passion ! sweet desire !

'T is hour of dawn-draught and of cry, Saki !
Here in the vintners' street am I, Saki !

What place for piety is this ? Peace ! Drink !
Traditions leave ! Devotion fly ! Saki !

588. N. 452. L. 679. W. 481. P. 446. C. 378. C. 375 is similar:
' 'Especially at the time when thou and I, O Sakil Drink oft below upon
the green, O Saki! How long concern thyself o'er this, O Saki? In
pleasure 'tis that life is spent, O Sakil"

589. N. 453. W. 482. P. 447. To the beloved.

590. N. 454. L. 685. W. 483. P. 448. F. 3. C. 386. ''Cry," see
note to quatrain 678.

197

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THE QUATRAINS OF

Idol, whose step brings joy ! 'T is break of day !
Set wine before and sound a tuneful lay.

For this Tir coming and departing Dai
Ten myriads cast to earth like Jam and Kai !

Pray treat not drinkers with severity.
Nor to the worthy show austerity.

Drink wine ! for whether you drink wine or no.
If doomed to Hell in Heaven you '11 never be.

593
Would God the world in other fashion frame !
And now that I might see to what it came !

Either mysteriously increase my store.
Or else from off His roll remove my name !

591. C. 404. N. 455. L. 712. W. 484. P. 449. Tir, April. Dai,
December, i, e,. Spring and Winter. Jam, Jamshed. Kai, Kai Khosran,
Cyrus.

592. N. 456. L. 736. W. 485. P. 450. C. 417.

593. N. 457. W. 486. P. 451. F. 96. I transpose lines 3 and 4.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

594
Lord, ope to me the door of daily bread !
Without men's aid into Thy presence lead !

Keep me so flown with Thine own wine, that I
From witlessness have not an aching head !

595
O, burning, burning, burnt, O, thou to be
Consumed in fires of Hell made bright by thee I

How long "Have mercy, God, on Omar!** say?
For who art thou to teach God clemency?

596
Rejoice ! for yesterday thy lot fixed They !
Secure from all thy clamors yesterday!

Be jocund ! for They, lacking thine accord
Did yesterday thy morrow*s fate array !

594. N. 458. L. 731. W. 487. P. 452. C. 412.

595. N. 459. L. 7G9. W. 488. P. 453. A triple curse apparentiy
aimed at his orthodox enemies. P. Introduction.

596. B. 152. C. page 101 margin. L. 702. W. 489. B. reads for
"clamors/' Ihie 2, * 'wishes/' and L. reads, line 4, "Did yesterday
i4>point thy burial place to-morrow!" F. 74.

199

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THE QUATRAINS OF

597
I 'd ne'er have come, could I have had my say,
If mine were going, when should I go, pray?

Were it not better in this world of dust.
Neither to come, nor be, nor go away?

598

A flask is man, the soul as liquor bright,

A pipe the heart, the voice therein, the sprite.

Know you what man of clay is, O, Khayyam ?
A magic lantern, and in it a light!

599
To all churls something you give. Sphere on high !
Warm baths, mills, watercourses you supply.

The upright pledge their goods for evening bread.
Perhaps you 'd give a puflF for such a sky !

597. L. 732. B. 157. W. 490. C. 414. See quatrain 481. L., Une
3, for **in this world of dust" reads **in this ruined retreat."

598. C. page 103 margin. W. 491.

599. B. 142. W. 492. See quatrain 616. Line 4 is freely translated.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

600

About a potter's shop I chanced to stray,
At every breath with axe he beat away

At earth ; if dullards see not, I perceive
In every potter's hand my fathers' clay.

601

With wine and love, O Heart, by garden side.
Dissemble not nor in pretence abide;

If thou liv'st worthily thou shalt drink wine
From that Fount where Murtaza doth preside.

602

Continually by lust of sense beset.

Thy noble soul thou constantly dost fret ;

Know'st thou not that the ruin of the soul
Are these desires on which thy heart is set?

600. L. 721. W. 483. P. 38. C. 409.

601. N. 403. L. 770. W. 445. P. 398. Murtaza, All, the celestial
cnpbearer, the Prophet's son-in-law.

602. L. 708. W. 496.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

603

O Fortune ! in thine acts confessed to be
Within Oppression's cell a devotee,

Thou givest base men wealth, the good unrest.
Save these two is nor pearl nor pottery.

604

Thou essence of four elements ! To me
A word list from the world of mystery.

For demon, angel, beast and man are joined.
Yea, thou art all thou dost appear to be.

605

Would you that all mankind approve of you ?
Accepted of the many and the few ?

Speak ill of none, so be in good repute
With true believer. Christian and with Jew.

603. L. 716. W. 495. C. 408. Line 4 means apparentiy that aU
mankind is included in these two classes. C, line 3, "To some yon give
wealth, to others unrest." C. and W., line 4, read "Is this from lolly or
decrepitude?"

604. L. 757. W. 497. Man in his yaried aspects.

605. L. 737. W. 496.

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606

O, Sphere ! say truly what I Ve done to thee,
That in Life's race thou curb'st me constantly?

I get no bread till driven from street to street,
Nor even water save dishonorably.

607

No longer vainly grieve ! Live happily !
And in Life's devious path, do equity !

And since the end of worldly things is naught.
Think you are naught, and from concern live free !

608

Where 's Badakhshan's red lip, that ruby rare ?
That fragrant wine which frees the soul from care ?

They say "Wine is forbidden Mussulmans."
Drink then ! nor grieve ! The Mussulman is where ?

606. L. 735. W.499. The above is not literal. More closely it runs as
follows: "O, sphere, say tnily what I've done to thee, that in the race
thrown constantly at slow pace I am; thou giv'st me bread, but not until
thou hast driven me from street to street; thou dost not give me water,
save for water of my face,'* {i, e, at the expense of my honor.) *'Ab-za-
rui," meaning **honor,'* lit. **water from the face.'*

607. B. 150. L. 729. W. 500. Line 2, lit. *'And in a way that is
without justice, do thou live with justice."

606. N. 357. C. 360. L. 628. W. 3d9. P. 354. Badakhshan, noted
for its rubies. Here red wine is meant. Where is he who does not drink
wine? L., line 3, for **They say" reads ''Although."

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THE QUATRAINS OF

609

Last night on marge of stream I did recline
With shapely fair and flask of rose-hued wine,

Before us placed a shell, for whose pearl, forth
Dawn's herald came, so brightly it did shine.

610

By Reason's dictates you should live ; it may
Be so to do that you know not the way.

Your master Fortune, hence, his whip in hand
Thus strikes your head that you learn to obey.

611

Love's infidels, not Mussulmans we are.
And ants are we from Solomon afer.

Seek from us sallow cheeks and garments torn.
Elsewhere 's the muslin seller's gay bazaar.

609. N. 333. W. 373. P. 330. Shell, the wine glass. Pearl, the
wine. A truly Oriental extravagance that the wine should be so bright
as to deceive the dawn crier.

610. L. 602. W. 388.

611. N. 55. L. 47. W. 58. P. 55. Solomon, the greatest, the ant,
the least of creatures. See Koran, XVII. Also ascribed to Jalal uddin
Rumi.

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612

Nothing but smoke by this sect's fire is made,
And hope of weal from any is gainsaid ;

Compelled by hand of Fate, I lift my hands
And clutch the skirts of men but find no aid.

613

Though people call me lewd continually,
I 'm guiltless, 't is their fancies fixed on me ;

On me in law-breaking ! O, good folk, naught
I 've done save drinking and debauchery !

614

O, Heart ! suppose all worldly wealth your own,
Goods fill your home and bright caparison.

Live blithely in this house of Life and Death,
Suppose these few days resting — and then gone !

612. C. 105. N. 74. L. 224. W. 76. P. 74. An attack on his pious
enemies. N. and P. begin **0£ my sins* fire," etc., line 3, for **Pate'8*'
read * 'men's." Also ascribed to Siraj uddin Qnmri.

613. C. 91. N. 88. L. 159. W. 90. P. 88. Line 4 is freely rendered.

614. N. 199. P. 198. See quatrain 286. Ascribed to Shahi and
Akifi.

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THE aUATRAINS OF

615

Wine is a liquid ruby, flask the mine,
The cup the body and the soul is wine;

That crystal goblet laughing with its juice,
And yet like tears that heart's blood doth enshrine.

616

Something, O Sphere, to every churl you give.
To some, mills, houses and the means to live;

The upright (live) mid drones who set up shop,
'T were well, O Sphere, could we these gifts receive!

617

Ten myriad Musas Sinai hath seen.

And Time ten myriad Isas that have been ;

The palace stands ten myriad Caesars passed.
The dome that watched ten myriad Kasras, e'en !

615. L. 58. B. 39. W. 105. L., line 2, reads '*The cup thy eye
and its soul is wine."

616. L. 728. See quatrain 599. Line 4, lit. '''Twere weU O.
Sphere, that of these things thou to us, too, did'st givel"

617. L. 144. W. 121. Time endures but life is short. Musa,
Moses; Isa, Jesus. Kasra, Khosrau or Cyrus. *'Sad hasar," a hundred
thousand, f. e,^ ten myriads.

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6i8

Thy being from Another's doth proceed.
Another's passion doth thy passion breed;

Go, and within Thought's collar draw thy head.
For by thy hand Another's hand is hid.

619

From lore to cup your bridle turn, inclined
To Kausar and leave Heaven and Hell behind ;
Your muslin turban sell for wine, nor fear;
A muslin shred then round your forehead bind.

620

They are but fools who worship mats for prayer.
Since they Hypocrisy's hard burden bear.

And strangest Islam they sell and are worse
Than heathen, since Devotion's mask they wear.

618. Blochmann. W. 131. Literally this quatrain is as follows:
"This thy being is Another's being, and this thy passion (dmnkenness)
is Another's passion. Go, draw thy head into Thought's collar, for this
thy hand (or forearm) is but the sleeve of Another's hand."

619. N. 102. W. 132. P. 102. Give up learning (theological) for
life's pleasures. Think of Kausar's fount of nectar (wine) but give no
other thought to the future. Sell the emblem of dignity (the turban) for
wine and be content with a shred of muslin in its place.

620. C. 158. N. 114. L. 392. Directed at formalism in reUgion.
W. 143. P. 114.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

621

Happy the man who hath been all unknown,
Nor corslet, mail, nor woolen garb doth own.

And who haunts not earth's ruins like an owl.
But like Simurgh to highest Heaven hath flown.

622

The worth of rose and wine sots know alone.
To narrow hearts, close fists it is not shown

Excusable in fools is ignorance.
The joy of these delights to sots is known.

623

The Heavenly Sage thy secrets all doth see.
Doth, hair by hair and vein by vein, know thee.

Grant with deceit that men thou may'st beguile.
How deal with Him since all things knoweth He?

621. C. 181. N. 140. L. 362. W. 163. P. 140. Hi^>py is he who
has lived in retirement, being neither soldier nor Snfi (wearer of wool),
nor posing as a recluse, but like Simurgh (a fabled bird, si-murgh, liter-
ally, thirty birds, so called because of its size) seeking the highest.

622. N. 141. C. 112. L. 231. W. 164. P. 141. ''Delights" L.
reads '*wine." Also ascribed to Rad, and to Nimat allah Kinnani and
Ansari.

623. C. 110. N. 158. L. 250. W. 177. P. 158. Also ascribed to
Rumi.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

624

To prayer and fasting when my soul inclined,
Methought attained the wishes of my mind ;

Alas ! a half wine-draught annulled the fast.
And my ablution a mere waft of wind.

625

To rose-faced fair inclines my very soul.

My hand grasps constantly the brimming bowl.

With every part my lot I will enjoy
Before my parts seek union in the Whole.

626

A love that passeth, no real value shows.

And with no warmth, like fire half-dead, it glows ;

The lover true, for months, years, day and night.
Recks not of sleep nor food, ease nor repose !

624. C. 147. N. 162. L. 366. W. 180. P. 162. F. 93. The abln-
tions which precede prayer are subject to very precise rales to ensure
their efficacy and that of the prayer. A half-draught of wine broke the
poet's fast. So after the ablution any interruption of nature annulled its
force. Apparently aimed at formalism in religion.

625. C. 170. N. 163. L. 349. W. 181. P. 163. F. 44. Second
edition. Pantheism.

626. B. 71. N. 164. L. 294. W. 182. P. 164. "Passeth," line 1,
"Majad," passing, worldly, superficial, profane, as distinguished from
true or Divine love.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

627

Though rich, the toper comes to poverty,
And stirs the world by his debauchery.

That emerald in my ruby bowl I '11 pour
That I may wholly blind Care's serpent eye.

628
How many in research a night till morn
Ne'er toiled ! How many a fool fine clothes adorn !

How many ne'er set foot beyond themselves !
How many a reputation soiled and torn !

629
Each dawn when dews the tulip's face o'erflow
The violet in the garden bendeth low,

Indeed the rosebud gives me joy, although
Round herself closely she her robe doth throw.

627. C. 192. N. 183. L. 333. W. 198. P. 183. Also ascribed to
Malik Shams uddin. Emerald, "zumumid," which Nicolas explains is
hashish, possibly because of the use of the word ''hukka," casket, box or
bowl, or pipe, but emerald may just as well mean wine in view of the
peculiar use of the various color names by the Persians meaning wine, as
^'la'l,*' ruby, **mima,** glass-like or blue, *'sabza,** green, as in quatrain
857, where the latter word is played on in various senses. The emerald is
believed by the Orientals to possess the power of blinding serpents.

628. C. 179. N. 184. L. 266. W. 199. P. 184. Also ascribed to
Magp^bi Tabrizi, Rumi and Ansari. Line 1, lit. "How many for one night
are not borne to day-break in research!" and line 4, **How many a good
name made infamous!'* The first line apparently alludes to Omar's
astronomical studies.

629. B.82. L. 271. W. 210. Line 4, the closed petals of the bud. L.
has "ghussa,** grief, for '*ghuncha,** rosebud, in B. Line 3, lit. **Indeed,
from the rosebud joy comes to me,*' and L., lines 3 and 4, **Indeed,
from Grief to me Joy comes If the skirt of self one draws together."

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OMAR KHAYYAM

630

If Heaven deny me peace, come war alone !
And if good name I lack, be shame my own !

The cup of wine as ruby red-bud, see !
Who drinks not, for his head behold a stone !

631

With cypress-slender maid, more freshly fair
Than new plucked rose, wine cup and rose leaves
share.
Ere Death, as 't were the vesture of a rose.
With sudden blast thy robe of life shall tear !

632

More useful we than you. City Mufti,
With all this drinking soberer are we ;

The blood of men you drink, we that of grapes.
Be just, how can we more bloodthirsty be ?

630. C. 260. N. 254. L. 478. W. 294. P. 2S3.

631. C.266. N.2S7. L.488. W. 298. P. 256. Literally. ** With one
of cypress statnre more fresh than the harvest of the rose, Set not from
hand wine cup or skirt of the rose, Ere suddenly from Death's blast your
garb of life becomes as the garb of the rose!"

632. C.286. N.264. L. 526. W. 307. P. 263. Mufti, an expounder
or doctor of Mohammedan law, here a magistrate. An allusion to the
selling of justice by Muftis.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

633
One hand on Koran, on the cup one hand.
We now to law incline, now toward things banned.

Nor skeptics quite nor Mussulmans complete
Beneath this dome of turquoise hue we stand.

634
Without pure wine I cannot life sustain.
To drag the body's load I strive in vain;

I am that moment's slave when Said says,
" Yet one more cup ! '* and that I cannot drain !

63s
What boots the coming, going of the race ?
And life's woof found, where will you life's warp
place ?
Consumed so many pure men, turned to dust.
Where in Heaven's dome is there of them a trace?

633. C. 288. N. 315. L. 527. W. 347. P. 314. Line 4, N. has
"kham," nntried, L. has "fam," colored, and W. "nikham," marble.

634. C. 285. N. 460. L. 521. W. 360. Line 2, L., **Wlthont the
cup to drag," etc.

635. B. 130. C. 355. N. 351. L. 624. W. 393. P. 348. Line 3»
B. reads "So many delicate hands and feet, the world consumes to dust/*
etc., "men," lit. "jasm," bodies, L. and C. have "jan," souls. Also
ascribed to Afsal Kazi and to Hafis.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

636

I could repent of everything but wine !
And every other aid I could decline;

I never could turn Moslem, and this juice
From quarters of the Magians resign !

637
Earth's kitchen smoke consuming why remain ?
How long o'er "Is** and "Is not** fret in vain?

A great loss to its people is the world ;
That loss abjuring, you *11 enjoy all gain.

638

Seek not at night the people's hearts to smite.
Lest nightly they pray God their wrongs to right;

Nor riches, beauty, trust, for those the Fates
May bear away, and this, — this very night.

636. N. 377. L. 764. W. 419. P. 373.

637. B. 144. N. 397. L. 710. W. 439. P. 392. B. varies in lines 3
and 4, and is not wholly clear. "Wonld'st thou have a capital that
decreases? The capital who will consume since thou consumest the gain?"
Yon are too much concerned with the world. Why fret abont it? Think
of higher things.

638. N.396. W. 440. P. 393. Nicolas says that this quatrain allndes
to the methods of despotic government in the East, where midnight arrests
of suspects and the confiscation of their property are frequent, and whose
agents respect neither youth nor beauty. Line 2, lit. "Lest they cry out
•O Lord!' at dead of night."

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THE QUATRAINS OF

639
Pure ruby wine 's the jewel of our soul,
With loud lament we put aside the bowl.

For so much wine 's atop the wine we *ve dnink,
We *re over wine and yet in wine's control !

640

Drink wine, for thy souFs ease *t will ever be.
For wounded heart and soul thy remedy;

If Sorrow's deluge would engulf thee, then
Seize thou on wine, *t is a Noah's ark to thee !

641

The world 's a breath, and I a breath alone !
How many breaths can one draw in but one?

Grateful for life, rejoice ! This faithless world
Ne'er steadfast did abide with any one!

639. L. 14. C. 2. C. reads for ••pure." line 1, **niby." Line 1.
lit. ' * Prom pure wine the ruby has become our jewel. ' ' ' * Jewel, ' ' essence,
soul, and line 4, lit. **Wine is over us and we over wine."

640. L. 91.

641. L. 751. **Na£s." breath, moment.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

642

Debauched, to wine and tavern we repair;
Hopeless of Mercy, naught for Pain we care,

Soul, heart, cup, raiment filled with dregs of wine.
We *re freed from earth and water, fire and air !

643
Those who the pearls of Learning thread in thought.
With fluent speech have of God's nature taught.
But none the clue's end of the Secret knows.
At first they prated, then they slumber sought !

644

Life's length beyond three-score seek not to trace;
Nor, save drunk, anywhere thy foot to place;
And ere thy skull they make into a bowl.
Set not from back thy jar, from hand thy glass !

642. B. 7. See quatrain S3. Line 1, lit. ''We are here with wine,
tavern and debauched bodies."

643. L. 325. Quatrain 273 is somewhat similar. W. 226, variant, in
line 3, * 'Since ne'er expert in Heaven's mysteries." P. 65.

644. L. 647. N. 362. W. 407. P. 359. B. 138 varies in line 1 and
reads ''As life advances lay not (thy course) from its aim." And L.
begins "The thought of life beyond," etc.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

645
The world 's no place of joyance nor of rest.
The wise man to be lost in wine were best;

On Sorrow's fire then wine for water throw.
Ere wind in hand you sink into Earth's breast.

646

O, Sage, mere hope 's the morrow's prophecy.
And boast of fortune mere insanity ;

To-day is like its fellows wise men know,
For the whole world a single Soul must be.

647

Wine is good though called bad in God's command.
And sweet 'tis when in youthful loved one's hand;

'Tis bitter and forbid, yet sweet to me;
For always things are pleasant which are banned.

645. L. 93. Lost **kharab," syn. ruined, drunk. Wind in hand,
i, ^., empty handed. Here used to complete the reference to the four
elements.

646. L. 73. The Vedantic doctrine of an all pervading, self-ezistent
essence.

647. C. 46. L. 68. ''God's command." **8har'," Divine Uw.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

648

If one as Houri fair by marge of lea.

In Springtime sweet a brimming cup give me.

Though men this speech deem bad, if then I call
On Heaven, than I a dog would better be!

649

When my heart gets no solace for its pains.
My soul the lip but not its end attains;

My life reaches its goal unconsciously.
But ne'er the talc of love its object gains.

650

The bowl of Heaven of heart's delight is bare,
I know not in this world who 's free from care.
And since no soul can live apart from death.
What profit in a fruitless world is there?

648. B. 25. L. 96. See quatrain 133.

649. N. 144. P. 144. Nicolas says '*My soal the Up/' etc., means
'I am about to die." Ascribed also to Attar.

650. L. 85. Death is ever impending.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

651

What profit can there be in grieving vain ?
Many like us hath Heaven seized and slain ;
The cup fill ! set it in my hand to drink !
Quickly, for it doth everything sustain !

652

Thirsting, a cup my hand doth ne*er attain.
Nor doth my foot a solid basis gain.

My heart is disappointed in its hopes.
All objects of its cares unreached remain.

653
Like drop in mighty stream, like desert blast.
Another day from our lives flieth fisist;

However two days' grief I reckon not.
The day to come and that already past!

651. L. 389. C. page 32 margin, also repeated C. 162, the baits
transposed.

652. L. 388.

653. L. 84. B. 20. C. 48. See quatrain 58. P. 57.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

654
Why art thou proud of house and fine array,
Since but a tale is this life's outcome ? Nay,

The wind 's thy spouse, yet tapers thou would'st
light;
Why build thy dwelling in the torrent's way ?

655

Life's worn-out garb will ne'er be new again.
Nor worldly courses run as thou would'st fain ;

Care's goblet broken then becomes Joy's cup ;
Quaff wine in cups then, nor Care's goblet drain !

656

Though drink has torn my veil, while life have I,
Wine I '11 not leave. I 'm in perplexity

Concerning those who deal in wine, for they —
Better than that they sell, what will they buy ?

654. L. 661.

655. L. 374. Care's goblet broken becomes a cup of Joy. Lines 3
and 4 are transposed. C. 185 in part.

656. B. 62. See qnatrain 257. P. 95.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

How long shall I make bricks upon the sea ?
I tire of temple and of devotee ;

To-night I '11 pass with silver-bosomed maids.
What 's Heaven or Hell ? Loved one and wine give
me!

658

Pour, Saki, musky red juice of the grape !
That we in wine contention may escape;

A jug pour of this vintage ere the time
That potters from our clay their goblets shape !

659
Now Ramazan is come, wine's season *s done.
Clear wine, our simple wont we 'vc quite foregone.
And all the drink we 've stored remains untouched
While uncaressed go our loves every one !

657. L. 214. See quatrain 158.

658. L. 680. C. 380.

659. N. 66. W. 69. P. 66. The last line is freely translated. The
quatrain is apparently ironical.

220

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OMAR KHAYYAM

660

On Fortune's hem alluring young and old.
Untrammelled by your load at once take hold;

But if your hand for the emergency
Be short, give o'er, for long 's the tale when told,

661

Two hundred snares on all sides Thou dost lay,
** It is thy loss, if thou step'st in ! *' dost say.

Thou set'st the snare, and all who step therein.
Dost catch and call rebellious and then slay !

662

Thou ever bring'st to me O Destiny !
Sorrows and still to others remedy;

In peace what have I left undone for thee ?
In war what is there thou dost not to me?

660. L. 614. C.344.

661. N. 380. See quatrain 539.

662. L. 584.

221

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THE QUATRAINS OF

663

Since Life moves on, what matters sweet or sour?
What Balkh or Baghdad when the cup brims o*er?
Drink wine ! for oft this moon from new to full,
From full to new will pass and we no more !

664

What time my heart with youthful ardor wrought.
Few of Life's secrets were unknown, methought ;

Now when I look about in Reason's way.
My knowledge is as if the known were naught.

665

Give me wine which to my bruised heart doth prove
A balm, boon friend to those who mope for love ;

Better, I hold, the dregs of but one draught
Than the world's hollow skull Heaven's dome above !

663. B. 47. C. 109. L. 229. N. 105 (variant, soe quatrain 181).
8. C, for ''Drink wine." reads *'live blithely."

664. L. 265. See quatrain 191.

665. B. 37.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

666

Wine jar and lover's lips in blossomed dell
Have filched thy credit and my cash as well ;

The human tribe to Hell or Heaven is pledged,
But whoe'er came from Heaven or went to Hell ?

667

Each vow we make we break again. The door
Of Fame and Shame shut on ourselves once more.

Blame me not if I act beside myself.
For I am drunk with Love's wine as before.

668

My heart no odds 'twixt bait and snare divines.
Toward mosque and cup alternately inclines ;

In taverns better, wise with wine and love.
Than be a fool the cloister wall confines.

666. B. 45. Lab-i-kisht, marg^in of the sown field, garden verge,
blossomed dell. See quatrain 28.

667. B. 93. C. page 94 margin. N. 381, L. 653. P. 377. L., N.
and P. read * 'wholly*' for **once more."

668. B. 117. Line 2, lit. *'One counsel is toward the mosque, another
toward the cup." Wise, '*pukhtah," lit. cooked. Fool, •'kham,** lit.
raw, or **the raw.** ''Love,*' «. ^., loved one. Line 4, lit. **In a wine-
house, cookedy better than in a monastery, raw,

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THE QUATRAINS OF

669

That spirit which is called pure wine, they say
Will grief of desolated hearts allay :

"Good water'* why do they "bad water" call?
Quickly some cups well filled by me array !

670

Is wine rose red, the cup water of rose
Whose crystal casket a pure ruby shows ?

Rubies dissolved in water it may be.
And moonlight be but sunlight veiled, who knows ?

671

Wine-cup and tankard take, O dearest Love!
Joyous through blossomed mead by stream's marge
rove;
Many dear ones are turned a hundred times
To cups and jugs by vengeful Heaven above !

669. B. 104. The word-play here is on ''ruh." spirit, and "rah,"
wine, '*kharab/' desolate, and "khairab," good water, "sharr ab," bad
water, and "sharab," wine. Why do they call what is in fact a very
good water, "sharab,'' wine?

670. B. 92. ' 'Magar, ' ' 1. e. , may be or who knows. A trivial qoatrain
but an odd conceit.

671. B. 147. See quatrain 468 (N. 354, L. 625). I have used the
passive form in the last lines. Vengeful, ''badkhui,*' ill tempered. In
line 2 "khush khush bikharam," content, sweet and with grace (or joy),
literally.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

672

Reproach not drinkers, while you can refrain,
Avoid pretence and idle talk restrain;

If henceforth you desire a peaceful life.
The very humblest people ne'er disdain.

673
When all uprooted is my being's tree.
And scattered wide become the parts of me.

If then they make a flagon of my clay.
When filled with wine alive at once 't will be.

674

Since Heaven's wheel never to thy wish hath run.
Would 'st thou eight Heavens or would 'st thou seven
count on ?
There are two days that never trouble me,
The day to come and that already done.

672. B. 3. So bear yourself as not to provoke controversy.

673. C. 163. N. lis. L. 391. P. 115. P. 89. See quatrain 373.

674. N. 42. (See L. 201.) P. 41. ** Seven." etc., Nicolas says that
this is a reference to a controversy whether there existed seven or eight
Heavens. See quatrain 686.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

Wine drinking 's frowned on in society.
Nor harp, nor flute, nor love at hand may be.

And revellers all have ceased wine worship, save
The Muhtasib who 's drunk continually !

676

I Ve a breath left, thanks to the tapster's pains.
Yet among men nothing but discord reigns;

Not one maund more is left of last night's wine.
But I know not what yet of life remains !

677

Fret not o'er worldly cares while you Ve the power
Nor brood upon the past or coming hour;

Drink sweet wine in this halting place and pour ;
Live to yourself! though you have treasured store.

675. L. 220. C. 103. The Muhtasib is a sort of chief of police, one
of whose duties is the suppression of drinking. Written ironically or at a
time of some ''Reform" movement.

676. N. 461. L. 221. Reflections of the day after. L., line 2, reads
''In the company of life," i, ^., In the world.

677. L. 226. C. 107.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

678

Where *s minstrel, wine ? The cry of morn that I
May give. He 's glad who doth the dawn-draught

ply-
There are three things in this world sweet to me,

A head wine-flown, sweetheart and morning cry.

679

The rose' sweet scent a thorn-prick *s worth, 'tis true;
If wine you drink, a headache 't is worth, too.

The loved one who delights a thousand souls.
Is worth awaiting, give her but her due.

680

Saki, to part, in grief I 'm perishing.
Where you go to your hem my hand shall cling ;
You go ! A thousand hearts are grieved. Come
back !
For you ten myriad souls the oflFering !

678. C.108. N.104. L. 227. P. 104. The cry of mom, a cry or caU
or refrain of drinkers in the early hours of the morning, and apparently
a custom.

679. L. 233. C. 114.

680. L. 177.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

68i

Boy, earth hath oft grown gay with rose and green.
That but a week before mere dust had been ;

Drink wine and pluck the rose for while you look.
Rose turns to dust and green to refuse, e'en.

682

The morning draught of clear wine, boy, give me ;
Give wine to those wrought to its ecstasy;

And tell a crumbling world we 're lost, enrapt
Within this Tavern of Mortality !

683

Leaving the world of dust, my dust I strew ;
A hundred friends and foes I leave and go.

I, with your when and why have no concern.
So that in peace I go and strewing do.

681. L. 175.

682. L. 664.

683. L. 187.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

684

Parcht Earth hath washed her cheek in vernal rain.
Time when thy broken heart grows whole again.
See! Cheeks of down, grass-plot and wine!
Come, fool !
For from thy dust the grass will spring amain !

685

Many a one hath lived ere thee and me.

That earth*s four quarters hath made fair to see.

Thy body soon turns dust, for thousand times
Embodied elsewhere hath been dust of thee !

686

Since ne'er the Sphere turned as the sage is fain,
Would you the seven Heavens or the eight explain ?

Since Death comes, wishes unfulfilled, as well
Devoured by ants in tomb as wolf on plain !

684. C. 96. L. 213. C. transposes lines 2 and 4, and for "wine"
reads "a cnp." "Nu mz/' the Persian new year's day, at time of vernal
equinox, i. ^., Spring.

685. L. 208. C.94.

686. L. 201. C. 85. See quatrain 674. Since death will come before
earthly wishes are satisfied, one form of death is as good as another.

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687

When bulbuls mid the flowers make melody.
Wine like the tulip in my hand must be.
Rather than ignorantly, "Such a one
The cup in hand hath ta'en ! " they *d say of me.

688

One should not in the heart plant Sorrow's tree
But read the book of Gladness constantly.

One should quaff wine and seek his heart's desire.
For it is clear how long on earth you '11 be.

689

The cup of rosy wine in rose time drain !
To melody of pipe and lute's soft strain ;

I tipple and rejoice ; what should I do ?
Go ! bite the dust ! if you from wine refrain !

687. C. 88. L. 204. People will say I drink whether I do or not;
therefore, lest they speak ignorantly, I will drink.

688. C.180. N. 147. L. 281. P. 147. The lines are transposed in L.

689. N. 209. P. 208. "Bite the dust/' lit. "eat stones," an expression
of contempt. See note to quatrain 294. In last line literally "if wine thou
drink not."

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OMAR KHAYYAM

690

Whole nights pass that we close our eyelids ne*er.
For when we breathe not, dawn will oft appear ;

Up then ! and let us drink ere day, to set
The foot of Pleasure on the head of Care !

691

'T is dawn, arise, O Source of grace ! and drain
The bowl of wine and sound the lute's soft strain !

For those who sleep (like thee) not long remain.
And they who 've gone will ne'er come back again !

692

'Mid tavern revellers I am chief of all.
From acts of worship I to sin did fall.

And I am he who all night from strong wine.
With heart a bleeding unto Allah call.

690. C. 298. N. 293. L. 547. P. 292. Lines 2 and 4 are transposed
in N. and P. The word play is on the various meanings of "dam,"
breath, instant, break (of dawn). Line 4, N. and P. for * 'Pleasure" read
"Separation," and transpose lines 2 and 4.

691. C. 230. N. 235. L. 431. P. 234.

692. C. 283. N. 292. L. 520. P. 291. "Heart," Ht. "liver," see
note to quatrain 387.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

693
In this world where each breath we draw in pain,
*T were best we breathe not save the cup to drain.

When dawn breaks, rise and drink all day, for when
We 've ceased to breathe, dawn oft will break again !

694

Our heads are turned by grape-juice constantly.
There 's naught save wine cups in our company.

Your preaching cease, O foolish votary !
To worship wine and loved one's lips we 're free.

695
Pregnant with life that goblet's frame behold !
Like jasmine that should purple buds enfold

Nay, I do err, since wine (to be quite nice).
Is water that a liquid fire doth hold I

603. N. 295. p. 294.

694. C. 308. N. 307. L. 558. P. 306. Line 4. literally "We are
worshippers of wine and loved one's lips at will."

695. N. 324. L. 599. P. 321. Arghavan, purple, also the redbnd
or judas tree, whose blossom is red. Also ascribed to Baha-uddin and to
Asgadi Marvi.

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696

Deceitful women^s chatter do not hear;

From those well bred take grape juice sparkling clear.

Those who have risen one by one have gone,
But none gives token of returning e*er !

697

Sots, lovers, wine adorers we all are.
And lounging, tavern quarters ever share;

Seek reason not from us for we *re enrapt.
From good and bad, surmise and fancy far.

698

Although the Fates make earth fair to thine eyes.
There is one view wherein agree the wise ;

Ere They take thee, thy share take, for like thee
Many depart, many will come likewise!

606. N. 343. L. 600. P. 340. Deceitful, lit. ready to tarn or move.
'All things to aU men." L. for ''risen" reads "adorned."
687. N. 378. L. 649. P. 374.
606. L. 247. C. 119.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

699

How long from man's injustice shame sustain?
Of cruel Fortune's fever bear the pain ?

Arise ! nor drink Care's cup, if you be man.
The Feast 'tis, come! while rose-hued wine we drain!

700

Up, up ! O Saki, from that bed of thine !
Give, give ! O Saki, pure juice of the vine !

Or e'er They flagons make from our head bowls.
From flagon into bowl do thou pour wine!

701

The cup of wine is better with my love.

And tearful eye when she from sight doth rove ;

Since this base world will not keep faith, in it
To be o'ercome by wine doth better prove.

699. C. 271. N. 281. P. 280. Cruel, lit. **birang," colorless. Line
3, literally '* Drink not earth's griefs," etc. See previous note on use of
word "khurdan," to drink.

700. N. 406. P. 401.

701. C.21S. N.20S. L.407. P. 204. ** O'ercome, ** **Masto kharab,»'
drunk and lost, or ruined; colloquially, '*dead drunk." C. 226 is not
dissimilar; it reads '"T is the season of youth. Youth is the best; With
lovely boys that cup of wine is best; This fleeting world, since it was laid
waste without water; In the tavern place a tavern crowd is best."

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702

Drink to your sprightly charmer*s visage fair
The cure when bitten by the asp of Care ;

I quafF, rejoice, 't is well ! What should I do ?
Go ! Get you hence, if grape-juice you drink ne*er!

703
Let not things still to come blanch your cheeks* hue.
Nor present things your breast with fear imbue ;
And reap your harvest in this wicked world
Ere Fortune^s favors are withdrawn from you.

704

Toward limpid wine be my inclining still.
To viol's note and flute's melodious trill ;
If potters fashion from my clay a jar.
May juice of grapes that vessel ever fill !

702. N. 213. P. 212. **Get you hence!" lit. *'Feed on dust!"

703. C. 252. N. 239. L. 457. P. 238. Line 2, lit. **Make your
gall to break." Line 4 varies and may be translated '* 'Ere Time closes
thine eyes' and L. *Ere Time draws its sickle.' "

704. 0.281. N. 299. L. 518. P. 298. Line 2, lit. ** My ear to flute
and viol constantly."

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THE QUATRAINS OF

That day when vine-juice bides not in my head.
Timers proffered cure would poison be instead;

World's care is poison, wine its antidote,
I drink the cure, since I the poison dread.

706

You are excusable if you strive o*er

That which you eat and drink of this world's store ;

All else mere trifles weigh, have then a care
Lest your dear life you sacrifice therefor.

707

If roses be not ours, let thorns suffice !

And night, if for us no dawn's light doth rise;

And if our beads, prayer rug and Shaikh we lack.
With bell and church, the zone their place supplies.

705. C. 280. N. 280. L. 516. P. 279. In line 1, L. has ''That day
when I lack liquor of the vine."

706. L. 763. C. page 107 margin. Beyond the necessaries of life,
strife is unworthy. The simple life.

707. L. 39. Nearly identical with quatrain 339.

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OMAR KHAYYAM

708

Glance on the friendless, Saki, for God's sake !
Do you the idol of our senses break !

Life's water for God's love, then bring to us!
Moonstruck are we, in union to partake !

709

In ruin haunt, with song and juice of vine.

Heart, faith, and mind and soul we pawn for wine;

With heads awhirl, wine built atop of wine.
The structure left but bubbles is in fine.

710

O Heart, seek not kind rule from Destiny,
Nor from Time's turning, high or rich to be ;

Seek you to ease your pain ? It doth increase ;
Bear suffering and seek no remedy !

708. L. 21.

709. L. 30. See quatrain 53.

710. L. 26.

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THE QUATRAINS OF

711

To this age wherein we both come and go.
Beginning, end nor boundary doth show;

No one can speak the truth upon this point.
For whence we come and where we go, none know.

712

Life's mystery as 'tis in our book enrolled.

Our secret since 'twould wrong, may not be told;

Since midst unknowing men none worthy is.
Not all can be revealed our minds enfold.

Though thy head ache, the cup fill of that wine
Which still another life doth add to thine.

Give it to me ! But tales are earth's affairs !
Haste now ! for passing is this life of mine !

711. L. 45. W. 508. C. page 8 margin.

712. L. 50. C. page 28 margin. See quatrain 96.

713. L. 53. C. 59. C. reads **that to thy spirit adds another life"
and, line 4, **for thy life, oh boy, passeth!"

238

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OMAR KHAYYAM

We Ve traversed many a vale and desert plain.
Nor did from all our search one need attain ;

If unkind Fortune once in my life gave
Aught good, 't was in an instant gone again !

Give, boy! that wine which is the world's delight;
Which to Joy's rose is as the moonlight bright !

Haste, for the fire of youth as water flows
And Fortune's waking is a dream of night !

716

'T were strange if war 'gainst us the Heavens on high
Wage not, and if our heads with stones not ply ;
The Cadi who sells trust-funds, wine to buy,
'Twere strange 'gainst him should mosque-schools
raise no cry.

714. L. 60. See quatrain 178.

715. L. 90. See quatrain 99.

716. L. 101. The Cadi or Cazi, a magistrate who might well be
supposed in a position to administer trusts for pious or educational pur-
poses. Omar here makes a drive at the corruption of the magistrates.

239

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THE QUATRAINS OF

717

Wine, boy, to me is knowledge and good name.
Although to fools drinking be sin and shame ;

Without it since man's business comes to naught,
Knowledge alone should be man's only aim.

718

Since idly pass yester-fore-yesterday.
And go alike toils, cares, joy and dismay.

To-day whatever befalls you, still be gay.
For as this secret comes, cares pass away.

719

Boy, 't is a world of gloom ! the cup prepare !
Yet save thy face no well of life is there ;

Of life, soul and whatever is in the world.
Praised be the Prophet ! but for thee I care ?

717. L. 117. Line 2, lit. **In drinking those without knowledge sin.**

718. L. 112. When the * 'secret, * ' * . e, , the futility of taking thought,
comes (takes possession of us) cares take flight.

719. L. 116. *'Gloom,'* **mlmat,'* darkness, obscurity, the region
of shade whence flowed the water of life.

240

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OMAR KHAYYAM

720

How long grieve I that from this old cell here
Nor head nor body things to me appear ?

Ere I bind on my load to leave this house,
Saki, give v^rine, for that alone can cheer.

721

Your being from the v^rorthless you should hide.
Your secret to all fools should be denied.

See you be careful hov^r you deal v^rith men.
Your hopes to all men you should not confide.

722

Art thou no hunter ? Of the chase ne'er prate ;
O'er aught uncalled for venture not debate;

With thine eyes the Traditions keep in sight
When graybeards v^rould have thee the truth relate.

720. L. 610. ''Old cell/' f. ^., the world. How long shall I fret
because I find worldly affairs are so perplexing.

721. L. 640. See quatrain 96.

722. L. 611.

241

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THE QUATRAINS OF

723
This dust was of Bokhara's sage's way,
(A man of high distinction in his day.)

Here where you now set foot, think certainly
Some mighty hero's hand, this piece of clay !

724

Saki, since life 's a breath, a cup give me !
If joy an instant last, enough 'twill be;

Since naught befalls to any one's desire.
Be glad of whate'er from Fate comes to thee.

Bear thou with pain and live contentedly.
And from the bonds of Avarice be free ;

Seek not aggrandizement of self, nor grieve.
Lean not on less than thou, live joyfully !

723. L. 121. Sage, Mohammad Ismail al Bokhari.

724. L. 125. '*Li£e," line 1, literally "the world's affairs."

725. L. 742.

242

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OMAR KHAYYAM

726

Sakiy my heart 's aflame with yearning vain,
Return, for you Vc the leech for lovers' pain.

Life-giving hope to me is in your step.
And while life 's left doth hope with me remain.

727

Saki, my heart that knows not joy for woe.
Save wine-cups this world's pleasures doth not know ;
Give wine, for morning's breath this life revives
And none save Christ knows what it doth bestow.

728

Why, Saki, after Heaven this longing vain?
Save wine and thee what can in Heaven remain ?
We have both here and there too, better than
Thyself and wine what do both worlds contain ?

726. L. 127.

727. L. 129. The life-giving powers of the breath of the Messiah are
celebrated throughout the East.

728. L. 128.

243

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THE QUATRAINS OF

729

boy, 't is pleasant and the moon doth shine,
A point of dogma's Heaven, so give us wine.

You know that Death like lightning, harvests
burns,
Which whilst you look your harvest burns and mine.

730

1 said still will be true the faith of thee
To its first aim from all eternity.

And yet as earth's foundation stones infirm
I know, O mine eyes Light, thy faith will be !

Thy moon-cheek, Saki, life for all I find.
Enchanting me, bewitching every mind!

O, sun-like ! liquid sunshine 's not so fair !
And not alone to me but all mankind !

729. L. 140.

730. L. 156.

731. L. 154. The comparison of the face of the beloved to the moon
in its contour and radiance is a frequent Oriental extravag^ance of fisT^re,
the comparison to the sun less frequent. Line 3, lit. "O, sunlike! sun in
water (or sun in liquid) is not sweet!" f. e,, wine. Wine even is not so
desirable as the cupbearer's beauty.

244

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OMAR KHAYYAM

Bearer ! my ancient friend is good old wine.
My faith's life with the daughter of the Vine.

They say faith and wine-drinking ne'er agree;
I drink wine for wine-drinking's faith is mine.

733
I fear, grieving for you, who 's not ? O, who,
Saki ? Nor knows my patience your cheek 's due ?

By Heaven I swear that you are my desire
And in my heart dwells none save only you !

734
Saki, a glance ! for my heart 's reft by care ;
The lion-like have empty left the lair :

Thou bowl of Heaven with bubbles foam'st each
night.
But now it is my turn, the bowl is bare.

732. L. 176. Line 2, lit. "Without the daughter of the vine life nor
faith of mine is." The above is Lucknow, 1894. There is some variation
in lines 3 and 4 in the other editions.

733. L. 173. Who knows not that it is the tribute due to the cheek
of beauty that the lover should be patient.

734. L. 165. Line 1, **Por the heart from care is empty." Lion-like,
i. e,t lion-like men. The poet complains that Heaven however bountifully
supplied is niggardly toward him.

245

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THE QUATRAINS OF

735
Know why I ne'er to penitence incline?
It is because *t is lawful to drink wine :

It is forbid indeed to the profane,
Be adepts' drinking on this head of mine !

736
A liquid life is flowing in the bowl.
That spirit flows in its embodied soul ;

'T is frozen water filled with liquid fire,
A ruby mine in crystal cups doth roll !

737
I '11 lay no brick, but foot on tile will press.
And henceforth wine by garden verge possess ;
I '11 not burn for each trifle, nor is 't well
Life to the last with evil to distress.

735. L. 609. Adepts, people of the secret.

736. L. 621. A description of wine.

737. L. 752. "Khisht," means brick or tile, also applied to the cover
of the jar. Apparently I will not trouble myself about habitations or
memorials but stand by wine. I will not allow myself to be vexed easily
nor is it well that I should pass my days in fretting because of evil. Line
2, lit. "Henceforth I and wine and garden verge."

246

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OMAR KHAYYAM

738
O, friend come ! and the morrow's care allay.
And this cash moment treasure while we may ;

Our sins exist not save by His command.
Then why should we fret o'er the Coming Day ?

739
Arise, come sweep the hand o'er the lute's frame !
Again let 's drink wine and strike name on shame ;

When wine we quaff in taverns let us drink.
And on stones smite the glass of shame and fame !

740

We '11 grasp the fkithless loved one's garment hem.
Drink wine and good name will we clash with shame.

And sell the prayer-rug for a single cup.
Squander and shatter on the stones, fair fame !

738. L. 561. Line 1, lit. *'0 friend come and consume not grief of the
morrow."

739. L. 564. C. 312.

740. L. 565. C. 313.

247

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THE QUATRAINS OF

741
How many patched and rotten dolts there be
Who tread not paths of truth and purity !

How many boasters caught by foolish prate
Mar names of good repute with infamy !

742

He who of faith's hope doth unworthy seem.
As water clear this doubtful point doth deem.

To make God's prescience the cause of sin.
To men of sense seems ignorance extreme.

743
The sage drinks not Care's draught of grieving vain.
And naught save brimming cup on cup doth drain.

Let grief be in the heart so wine 's in flask.
But plague take him who grieves, nor wine hath ta'en!

741. L. 248. Evidently directed in part at the patched and pious
dervish.

742. Lucknow edition of 1882, page 34. See quatrain 14.

743. L. 255. See previous notes on the Persian use of the verb
"khurdan*' to consume. Lit., line 4, ''But plague take him who con-
sumes grief {i. e.y is consumed by grief) and consumes not winel"

248

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OMAR KHAYYAM

744
With naught save reason in its way agree.
Accept no bad friend when good friends there be;

Be of contented mind nor self contained
If thou would'st have the world approve of thee.

745
No rose doth Fortune uprear from the clay
But she doth break and then in dust doth lay :

If just as clouds raise water they raised clay,
'T would rain blood of the great till Judgment Day !

746

Quaff wine ! for grief from thy soul it doth bear.
The thought of both the worlds and all their care ;

Choose flowing fire ! for Life's water 't is.
That when thou art but earth lifts thee in air !

744. L. 300.

745. L. 274. Another reading of lines 3 and 4 is, "If dust and water
she as clouds upraise, the blood of great men she hath ever shed," i, e,.
If she upraise common clay, ordinary people, she also sheds the blood of
the great.

746. L. 304.

249

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THE QUATRAINS OF

747
Those who lead lives of abstinence, all say
That just as men die even so rise they.

For this we persevere with love and wine,
That They may raise us up in the same way.

748

The Feast has come and things will be made right.
Pure wine, boy, will be poured in goblets bright.

Prayer's bridle and the halter of the Fast
From asses' heads they '11 loose the Festal Night.

749
Cheer up ! for new the Festal moon will glow.
And none in his affairs a need will know.
O, Saki ! if you give us wine or not.
Know that the heads of all will be laid low !

747. C. 134. L. 307. Let us insure a continuance of earthly joys.

748. L. 314. At the end of Ramazan, the fasting month, comes
Shawwali with its feast.

749. L. 317. The end of the fast of Ramazan is marked by the new
moon of Shawwal. This quatrain begins like one in the Calcutta MS.,
No. 186, which is as follows: "Cheer upl the Festal moon will comeagaini
And every good means pleasure to sustain. The sallow moon, crook-
backed and thin become. You 'd say 't would sink beneath its load of
pain." F. note.

250

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OMAR KHAYYAM

750
In death's hour when my case the Fates array,
No idle words at my bed let them say.

When men set at my grave a tile, be sure
That they with wine (not water) shape its clay.

If of this life one instant is left thee,
Let it not pass except in gaiety.

Beware! for this world's capital is life
Which thus drawn on, soon passed away will be.

75^
Outcast my body poor away doth wear.
The home's sweet converse it hath tasted ne'er.

My life doth pass and knows no time of joy.
The recompense of my term will be where ?

750. C. 195. L. 318. Line 1, lit. "In the season of death when They
(i. e., the Pates) make or cause my affairs to come."

751. L. 319. C. 196.

752. L. 323. Line 4, '*term," f. e., my time of servitude on earth,
my life.

251

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THE QUATRAINS OF

753
Alertness, joy and vigor rise from wine,
Where drought and cold rise in that soul of thine.

If thou quaff (rosy) wine, thou 'It be like it;
Herb eating doth the cheek with sallow line.

754
A man should be, and necessarily.
From crown to sole in pain, and constantly
Love's lesson he should ever study o'er
And as dust in the Friend's street should he be.

755
A fever holds my bones, for sick am I,
And abstinence from wine my life doth try ;
Behold this wonder, whatc'er I consume
In sickness all save wine 's my injury.

753. C. 208. L. 327. Drink wine and be ruddy like wine, lead the
life of an ascetic, eating "sabza/* green or herbs, and you will become
sallow faced.

754. L. 322. For love one should suffer every pain and for the Divine
love be as dust in the Divine presence.

755. L. 328. C. 187.

252

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OMAR KHAYYAM

756

Youth has gone, horse and foot, and now to me
Life bitter is, though that wine 's essence be.
This body once as arrow straight is bent
As bow I Ve strung with staff drawn joyously.

The month of Ramazan as it comes this year
On Wit's foot is a shackle hard to wear :

O mighty God, make people negligent,
So that they may think that Shawwal is here !

758

You should seek with grape's nectar, love's embrace
Far from the world some streamlet's marge to grace.
Like roses though life's joys last their few days.
One should wear smiling lip and cheerful face.

756. L. 463. C. 255. Apparently, my body has become as a bow,
bent, bnt the operation has proved a pleasant one to me. The body bent
as a bow, the staff carried representing the string.

757. L. 331. C. 190. The Moslem months being lunar, Ramasan,
the fasting month, comes periodically in the hot weather when the fast
throughout the long and hot period from daybreak to dusk is particularly
trying. Shawwal, the fasting month's successor, is ushered in by feast-
ing. Assuming Omar to have been bom about 1040 A. D., Professor
William £. Story, of Clark University, has computed that this quatrain
was probably written in the period from 1098 to 1103.

758. L. 348. Line 3, lit. 'Uast but ten days."

253

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THE QUATRAINS OF

759
Since ne'er doth hand the hem of longing gain
Nor to the heart's desire the soul attain,

Give me a glass and go, for cup unmixed
To none comes from yon turquoise bowl to drain !

760

For down that nestles on the loved one's face
Think not diminished is her loveliness.

The rose in her cheek's garden is adorned
With verdure for the spirit's pleasure place.

761

'T is base sin now to friendship to pretend.
Where is man's love ? and where a noble friend ?

The skirt 't is better to draw in with all.
And distant speech and greeting to extend.

759. L. 368. Pate gives no favor unalloyed.

760. L. 369. The down on the cheeks of women is esteemed a beauty
by the Persians. It is called "sabxa," verdure.

761. L. 506.

254

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OMAR KHAYYAM

762

Mere dregs within Love's path the purest are;
And in its quest the great as small compare ;
To-day is as to-morrow, night and morn,
Who seek the morrow die in its despair.

763
Since 'gainst my will the Pen my fate doth trace.
Why then its good and bad upon me place?

Yesterday like to-day regards us not.
To-morrow why cite us the Judge to face ?

764

I will drink wine the while my life shall be.
Though my world's harvest show deficiency.

O, world's soul ! in this world I '11 gaily live !
How know I if the next world be for me?

762. L. 371.

763. L. 372.

764. L. 382. C. 161.

255

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THE QUATRAINS OF

765

The foe who ever evil in me spies.
Doth surely not see with a vision wise;
Into the mirror of himself he looks.
And that dead form takes hue from his own eyes !

766

Evil a good man should not countenance.
Nor should one troubled be for sustenance ;

111 motives should not be a guide in faith.
Nor should one boast himself in excellence.

767

A need to man is learning, people say.
In high position ancestry need they;

Now ancient things are naught, *tis gold one
needs.
So sordid are the people of our day.

765. L. 373.

766. L. 375.

767. L. 385.

256

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OMAR KHAYYAM

768

Excuses for the love of thee abound.
Many enrapt of thee thy paeans sound ;

Why draw the sword of thy glance killing us
Since for us there are many lashes found ?

769

Th* eternal secrets revellers know alone.
The wine cup*s power to close-fists is not shown;
Though my case you deem strange, there *s no
doubt that
The sot's case is by drinkers only known,

770

Those ancient things and those things that are new
Each one by one its end attains vmto.

For this base world abides with none for aye.
They pass and others come and follow, too.

768. L. 384. To the beloved. Lines 1 and 2, lit. ''There are many
ezcnses for love of thee, Those drunken for thee (sound) many a song."
Apparently the contemplation of the eyelashes of the adored is quite
sufficient for the poet without the obligation of being the target for her
deadly glances.

769. L. 394. See quatrain 622.

770. L. 241. C. page 31 margin.

2S7

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THE QUATRAINS OF

771

The zealot's sackcloth I will put away ;
With whitened locks the wine cup I *11 essay ;

My life *s reached seventy years, if I do not
Rejoice this moment, ah, when shall I, pray?

772

" From lip to jar's lip what dost thou divine?"
Quoth jar "It means that my lip is like thine;"

"At last, when like my being thou'rt no more.
By God's decree thy lip becomes as mine ! "

773
Those who in learning's matters would excel
Alas ! the burden ox they 'd milk as well.
Better the dress of folly they put on.
For now for wisdom, wine-dregs they would sell !

771. L. 387.

772. L. 259. C. page 50 margin. ** Lib-bar-lib** means lip to lip.
also brimming. The word-play here is on **lib," repeated in various
ways. The apparent meaning is, The reason we press the cup to our lips
is that our lips and its are alike of clay. However beautiful the lip of the
beloved, it too, is but clay like the lip of the jar, like the lip of the lover.

773. L. 365.

258

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OMAR KHAYYAM

774
Thy tresses mock the musk of all Cathay,
To thy red lip the soul *s attuned for aye.

The cypress to thy stature I Vc compared.
Exalting the straight cypress from that day !

Old Sphere ! each day of thy course, the palm tree
Of my joy is uprooted quite by thee ;

*T is strange those undeserving thy snare-place.
No one should tell, "*Tis dangerous, let be!"

776

The loved one's ruby lip press close, O wine !
Since this that thou dost hold is superfine :

Cup, be content from tulip-wine to part.
Since with heart's blood it brings her lip to thine !

774. L. 376.

775. L. 583. ** Snare-place," j. ^., the world.

776. L. 106.

259

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THE QUATRAINS OF

Suppose all worldly needs be granted you ;
And life well rounded, gained the term's end, too ;
You say, " I '11 strike hand on my heart's desire."
You cannot ; if you can, suppose you do !

Since 't is man's lot here in this world forlorn
To yield his life, the soul by sorrow worn,

Happy his heart who never here drew breath.
At peace the one never of mother born,

779
Suppose by Fate thy head exalted be.
Life's joys possessed in their entirety,

Whate'er thy heart can wish of gold and gems
Enjoyed suppose, then passed away from thee !

777. L. 413. C. 222.

778. L. 400. C. 217.

779. L.415.

260

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OMAR KHAYYAM

780

I said "Again I quafFnot rose-hued wine.
Blood I drink not, and *t is blood of the vine/*

An old man said, "Do you speak honestly?'*
Quoth I, " I jest when drinking I decline/'

781

Though in whatever course I wing my way.
For love of thee whatever I essay.

The tears ne'er for a moment cease tp flow.
Until some other point my eyes survey,

782

Thou art come to perform thy sovereignty.
Bethink thyself, quit this depravity;

Naught yesterday, to-morrow thou 'It be naught,
'T is clear to-day what will be done by thee.

780. L.511. C.279. Line 4, lit. ** Quoth I, *I jest when I drink not.'"

781. L. 576. Seemingly whatever I attempt Pate forces me to abandon .

782. L. 597. C. 337. Thou art come to exercise thy rights as a man.

261

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THE QUATRAINS OF

783
Beyond man's lot here, naught can we discern.
It is no easy task this truth to learn ;

Drain then one draught of this pure wine, until
No more God's creatures give thee no concern.

784

If I no headache got from last night's wine.
Drinking by daylight ne'er were choice of mine.

Sayest thou then "Choose thou to drink by day?"
Day drinking ne'er to fortune doth incline.

785

Suppose earth, pole to pole, in gold array.
And hundred golden stores and gems display;

And at the last these treasures like the snow
Three days lain on the waste, then passed away !

783. L. 336.

784. L. 283. C. 125.

785. L. edition 1882, page 56. (C. 223 variant.) See quatrain 286.

262

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OMAR KHAYYAM

786

Lord, Thou hast graced that love-exciting fair
With hyacinthine, amber-scented hair.

Then bid'st us not look on her ! This command

Is just like saying, ** Hold awry ! Spill ne'er ! *'

They say, I *m a wine worshiper, I am.
Notorious and reveller, I am.

Regard not much my outside for within
Such as I am (as they aver), I am.

788

In stress and search we Ve fallen night and day.
Put in confusion, up and down we stray ;

Nothing our travel yields save further pain.
And naught remains at last save the Long Way.

786. L. 441.

787. L. 507. C. 276. C, line 2, reads "Lover and drunken fellow,
lam."

788. L. 432. The Long Way of Death.

263

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THE QUATRAINS OF

789

When dead, nor food nor sleep *s required by thee.
These Four Mates will bring thee to beggary;

Each what he gave thee will take back again.
Till as thou wert at first thou com'st to be !

790

O, friend ! In this vain life be not forlorn.
Nor bootless, worry in this world outworn!

When Life is past, Non-Being disappears.
Take heart ! Nor fret about that world unborn !

791

O learned doctor ! if there *s sense in thee.
Look not on worthy folk with enmity;

They talk of the Creator and His works.
Thou of blood courses and obscenity !

789. L. 436. "These Pour Mates," the elements.

790. C. 225. L. 421. Lit. "Consume not grief." With death wiU
disappear all concern and speculation as to the future.

791. C. 224. L. 422. Addressed to some theological disputant who
exalted ceremony and ritual, particularly that pertaining to uncleanness,
apparently. "Obscenity," lit. "other foulness."

264

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OMAR KHAYYAM

792

You Ve neither wit nor worth, O Sphere on high !
The welfare of the worthy you pass by ;

You give to grasping men treasures and gems ;
Sphere that protects the weak, well done! say I.

793
O, base wheel ! vile and full of treachery !
Thou ne'er dost turn as any would have thee !

O wheel, thy wont the No-ones, Some-ones thus.
And Some-ones, No-ones oft doth make to be !

794
If I the leaf of life from sorrow turn.
Wine's laugh I '11 cause to bubble in the urn.

Arise ! let brimming wine-cups circling pass.
Perchance I '11 overcome the world's concern !

792. L. 406. Last line is apparently ironical.

793. L. 452.

794. L. 500.

265

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THE QUATRAINS OF

795
How long wilt thou oppress me, wheel on high ?
For God's sake use me with more lenity !
I 'm all afire each instant and yet thou
My burning breast with melted salt dost ply !

796

The pure face, that from soiling is quite free,
A new-come guest in this dust world must be.

Give wine ! thou co-mate of the morning draught
Ere they say " Eventide God bless to thee ! ''

797
Sphere, in thy dizzy madness lure not me !
Think of my vain boasts, thy humility ;

I weary of my grief and poverty.
And of this my own being constantly !

795. L. 480. 0.263.

796. L. 476. C. 262. "Thou co-mate," etc., the cup-bearer. Line 4
apparently means "Before they say prayers for thee, being dead."

797. L. 466. Dizzy madness, "bad-masti," intoxication.

266

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OMAR KHAYYAM

798

Heed not, Heart, warnings of thought-taking vain ;
Give up anxiety ! the wine cup drain !

Be free, yet bound as one who worships wine.
So man become and thus perfection gain.

799
Love in his pleasant toils hath taken me ;
"Since I have come, get out of this!" said he.

In short, disturbed by him, my heart so burns.
Fire fuel, fuel fire is come to be !

800

From others. Heart, to seek things banned, beware !
Live cheerily, to ease thy soul from care!
Sitting apart, endure thy grief thyself.
And with thy friend desire the cup to share!

798. L. 484. 0.267.

799. L. 465. C. 257. Line 1. lit. "Love in this affair hath caught
me most pleasantly." "Get out of this/' lit. "do thou draw thy foot
out/' i, e., Be thou beside thyself for love, and line 4, My heart is so
aflame that flame and heart are all one.

800. L. 460. L. (1882) , page 61, reads lines 1 and 2, "O, heart, seek
not of others a remedy for thyself and for the heart pains of thy sorrowful
self, cheer up!"

267

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THE QUATRAINS OF

8oi

QuafF sparkling wine with fair one at thy side.
From foes' oppression far, with sweetheart bide !

Sit with a smooth-cheeked maid and self forget ;
And doff the robe of vanity and pride !

802

Counsels of prudence O Heart, never heed !
Let self like Him from bonds of sense be freed !

Sit at the Feast of Meaning's kalenders ;
Quaff wine ! Live gaily and be free indeed !

803

Drink ! nor thy practice nor thy theory
But God's mercy and grace protecteth thee.

That stupid sect that ne'er partakes of wine
All squint-eyed cattle thou may'st count to be.

801. C. 246 in part. L. 458. C. transposes lines 1 and 2, and reads
in lines 3 and 4 as follows: '* Frequent the quarters of the intelligent And
from the worthless vulgar turn aside!''

802. C. 247. L. 459. Rise above mere materialism.

803. L. 487.

268

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OMAR KHAYYAM

804

The Feast 'tis!^ come! the rose-hued vintage drain
To murm'ring harp and lute's melodious strain !
With loved one, light of heart, a moment sit
And, heavy measure, drink and yet again !

805

O Heart ! deceivers' sophistry ne'er heed.

That pure wine mind or faith harms. If you need

Ease in your heart and vigor in your soul.
Quaff wine to music in some rose-gemmed mead !

806

Each mote on Earth's face that hath been ere now
Was once a sunlit cheek or Venus brow;

Blow the dust gently from your loved one's face.
For that was once love's cheek and ringlet too !

804. L. 560. C. 310. The word-play is on *'garan/' heavy, and
*'sabak," light, and is sufficiently obvious.

805. L. 493. **Deceivers/' lit. "the people of deceit,'* f. ^., the
Orthodox Moslems.

806. W. 501. From the Firdaus ut-Tawarikh.

268

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THE QUATRAINS OF

807

Ere at Fate's hand we drink the Draught of Pain,
To-day with one another wine we 41 drain ;

For the Death Angel in our passing hour.
To drink e'en water will no quarter deign.

808

Wine old and bitter I drink all I can.
And e'en ere Friday nights in Ramazan,

The grape itself made lawful, in the jar,
Lord, make not bitter, drinking it to ban!

809

Together clasp we hands in amity.
On Care's head set the foot of Gaiety ;

Arise we and breathe deep ere break of dawn.
For dawn will oft break when no more breathe we!

807. L. 545. C. 295. **The Draught of Pain,'* «. e,, the cup of
Death.

808. L. 548. C. 299. Ramazan is the fasting month and Adina, or
Friday, the Moslem sabbath. To drink wine at such time would be
especially impious. Omar here complains of the distinction made between
the grape and its daughter, wine.

809. L. 513. C. page 84 margin. The word-play here is on various
meaningfs of **dam,'' breath, break of day, etc. In line 3, "dami zanem,"
lit. "we strike breath," to breathe, hence to sing, possibly to sound the
** morning cry,** i, e,, to drink.

270

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OMAR KHAYYAM

8io

The zealot's coat on wine-jar tops we bind,
Ablution we Ve to tavern dust confined.

The life we lost in mosque schools, yet perchance
Within the wine-house precincts we may find !

8ii

Like fire though we mount Heaven's infinity.
Than flowing water though more pure we be.

Into the earth we go for we 're but dust.
The world 's but air ! Give wine, the while drink we !

812

O Lord ! though limitless the sins I do.
Against my youth and soul and body too,
'T is that I have entire feith in Thee
If sinning, I repent and sin anew !

810. L. 531. Ablation, a mocking reference to the permission given
to use dust in the ceremony of ablution in the absence of water for the
performance of that rite. Quatrain 383 is somewhat similar.

811. L. 541. C. 319.

812. L. 542.

271

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THE QUATRAINS OF OMAR KHAYYAM

813
I fear that since the world we '11 ne'er regain.
We '11 never gather with our friends again :

While living let us profit by to-day.
We to such moments may no more attain.

814

Though wine to Faith and Law be contrary.
From fretting o'er the past it doth free me:

Know'st Thou why wine I love thus? 'T is because
An instant firced from self I live with Thee,

815

Lord, at my low estate I 'm in distress.
With my sad heart and empty-handedncss.

Since life Thou mak'st firom naught, from naught
bring me
Into the being of Thy Holiness !

813. L. 557. C.307.

814. L. 543.

815. W. 503. From the Pirdaus ut-Tawarikh, which states that this
was Omar's last atterance in verse.

272

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MINOR AND
OBSCURE QUATRAINS

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Minor and Obscure Quatrains

The following qaatrains are given here only for completeness. Some
of them are apparently patched fragments, some are obscure in English,
partly because at)oun(ling in subtleties in which the Oriental delights.
Some illustrate word-play, a feature of Persian poetry, but all possess a
certain interest for the student of Khayyam, though many may be spurious.

8i6
Since Pleasure's steed in Thy way we have prest,
No moment known unfilled by mirth and jest,

Alas ! 't is as the door not known by us,
At some thief's haunt that we had made our nest !

817

In hand a flowing sword there is for me.
Through which will ever be my victory ;

My foe's heart constantly with envy burns.
To me a cup for wine his skull would be !

818
Blood comes forth ever from my saddened heart.
And from the eye like tear-drops it doth part.

Blood from my eyelashes no marvel is.
For underneath from thorns the rose doth start.

816. L. 501. C. 273. Line 2, lit. * 'With pleasure and mirth a moment
not filled have we known." The poet laments his folly, that in the search
for pleasure he has missed true happiness. C. transposes lines.

817. L. 8. '*Sword," i. e., wine, lit. *'a sword like water," **tigh
chu ab." Some read it **tigh juab," **a sword answers." *'Tigh" has
a wide variety of meanings, light, heat, etc. My foe is overthrown, his
head in the clay will soon become clay for my wine cup!

818. L. 370. This quatrain reminds one of C. 326. Quoth Rose,
''Thus now am I come. In truth, putting forth in darkness. It may be
mixed with blood. Since from the Rosebud's heart I come."

275

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THE QUATRAINS OF

Minor and Obscure Quatrains

819
My ill repute transcends the Heavens high,
My precious life hath thirty years passed by;

'T is little joy since youth hath passed away,
To grasp a hundred cups successively.

820
Thy curl to nestle o'er thy face desires ;
That rebel Turk uprising still inspires;

Thine eye within thine eyebrow's prayer-niche sits,
Rapt infidel! to Imamship aspires!

821
As in Reproach's vale I fain would go.
And tend in others' wrong a glance to show.

From this rule when earth's ways I see, 't is well
To draw the skirt in and the world forego.

822
He who so featly could proportion thee.
Ever hath power to crush thine enemy.

"Who flagons makes no Moslem is!" they say.
To Him who shapes the gourd thy praises be.

819. L. 171. **Heavens," lit. **throne and canopy." ''Youth/'Ut.
* 'nuptial feasts,*' i, e., the time of youth.

820. L. 162. The eye compared to the Imam or prayer-leader sitting
in the arched Mihrab or prayer-niche.

821 . L. 147. As the world's ways are those of backbiting and censure,
best keep to yourself.

822. L. 351. C. 172. Line 1, lit. ''That Being who through power
shapes head and face." Allah hath shaped the gourd for a flagon which
relieves Moslems of the need of making them.

276

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OMAR KHAYYAM

' MiKOR AKD Obscure Quatrains

823

Go not this way, thence springs Duality,
Or if not, from such wandering it may be ;

Thou 'It ne'er be He, but if thou strivest hard.
Thou 'It reach a place where thyself parts from thee.

824
He is no man whom people all despise.
Yet they count good, fearing his injuries;

The drinker who withholds a generous hand.
Is a mean chap in every drinker's eyes.

825
From this ass-tribe what dost thou profit, pray?
Why learning they'll not buy of thee purvey?

Not once a year they '11 give stream-water, but
Thine honor filch a hundred times a day!

826
I have no mate in this controversy,
My own lament my bosom friend will be;

Though since mine eye is ever filled with tears,
♦ I '11 end my grief before my grief ends me.

823. L. 347. Go not the way of the negation of Unity. Vedantic
and very obscure.

824. L. 3. C. 6. P. 86 second edition. Line 1 may be read ** He is
no man who despises people" and lines 3 and 4 '*A good fellow who is
open-handed in generosity, Good fellows hold him worthy of support.*'
These readings are given me by a Persian gentleman whose scholarship
entitles him to consideration. The Lucknow varies in lines 3 and 4 and
may support the translation in this note.

825. C. 145. L. 361. Word-play on **ab-i-jui,'* stream water, and
*'ab-i-rui,'* face water, meaning honor.

826. L. 589. C. 334. C. 324 is a different lament: **Give wine, Soul,
for my heart is desolate, 1 will bum quite the Book of Worldly Cares, And
see you pour wine when green springs from the clay. Before my clay
appears no more!"

277

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THE QUATRAINS OF

Minor and Obscure Quatrains

827
Souls melted all and hearts all blood will be;
When from behind the Veil shall truth we see?

Alas! despite thy wit the base Sphere's course
From thee doth earth bear and from thy course thee!

828
There is no place without its mystery.
The heart 'twixt great and little naught can see.

Each sect but follows in its leader's way.
Save in Love's path where leaders never be.

829
First brisk and swifr, as wind I 'd come and go
Ere my strong body weak began to grow,

From weakness now as breath of those who 're sick,
I come and go with feeble breath and slow.

830
If Saki, from thy hand my heart would go.
Like to the sea from self where would it flow?

Give to the Sufi but a single draught,
Like thin vase filled with self he 'd overflow.

827. L. 607. C. 341. C. 384 is a lament, but less hopeless: *'My
Soul with g^ef becomes weak, O, Saki! In the heart if there is this
strength, O, Saki! At cock cry pour wine from the flagon's mouth,
Since from wine keen vision comes, O, Saki."

828. L. 169. The path of love is plain and needs no leader.

829. L. 137. Apparently the description of an old man's case.

830. L. 174. The poet mentions the Sufis or Mystics but three times,
although he adopts their language and alludes to them not infrequently.
•'Overflow,** *'to head it would go,*' literally.

278

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OMAR KHAYYAM

MiKOR AND Obscure Quatrains

831
Heaven, Saki, is but foam from thy gifts' sea;
Many souls Ka'bahs in thy quarters be;

'T is glory the soul's Ka'bah to attain.
Death on its way is glory, too, for me.

832
Saki, a glance, for joy is in thy sight,
And gladdened souls from gleaning thy delight!

And our unspoken mind thy heart doth know.
The lovers* Jamshed's cup, thy heart shines bright!

833
If on earth's face of weapons I 've but one.
It is wine's price though that good name hath none;

"To-morrow," they say, "wine's price is not thine."
'T is mail and turban cloth of Miriam-spun.

834
My life a good man's sacrifice shall be,
I 'd lay my head at his feet readily.

If you would know for certain what is Hell,
A Hell on earth is evil company.

831. L. 118. The ka'bah, the principal building of the temple at
Mecca, is by Moslems regarded with peculiar reverence. '*Many," lit.
**a hundred."

832. L. 119. Jamshed's cup. See quatrain 248.

833. L. 75. *'Miriam-spun/' ''Miriam risht/' the infinitely fine
threads said to have been spun by the Virgin Mary. The probable mean-
ing of this obscure quatrain is: If I have one weapon I will use it in defence
of wine or pledge it for wine in however bad repute drinking may be, and
though after death you say I will have no means to procure wine I care
not for that. What you say to the weapon of my argument is a corslet
and wreath (a turban cloth) made of thread as filmy as that spun by the
Virgin Mary.

834. L. 240. W. 232. C. page 29 margin.

279

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THE QUATRAINS OF

Minor akd Obscure Quatraiks

835
They come whose faith rests but in fallacies,
'Twixt soul and body draw distinctions nice;

If on my head they 'd place a saw, I '11 put
The wine jar on it after this, likewise.

836
Lovers distraught and rapt are we to-day.
Wine, in the idols' street we worship pay,

And from our own existence wholly freed.
Still in the prayer-niche of ALAST we stay.

837
With thy cheeks' sweat our wine is filled, Saki,
Eyes follow, but the Eye may not reach thee.

There is no fount of grace save thy red lip,
A hundred Khizer Christs thy wine draughts be!

838
Each solace and delight God doth confer.
Is for the solitary wayfarer;

Each by divorce becomes changed as in sleep.
Ease gaining doth himself to Heaven transfer.

835. L. 313. B. 57. W. 236. Lines 3 and 4 apparently mean that
if the theologians wish to kill me with their controversies, I '11 seek my
solace in the wine jar. A punning quatrain.

836. C. 232. N. 233. L. 434. W. 272. P. 232. An allusion to the
Koran, VII, 173, and the story of God*s covenant with Adam's seed, to
whom He said, **^/a5/ubirabbikum?" *'Am I not your Lord?" and they
answered **Yea, we do bear witness." The first syllables of the phrase
are here introduced in parody of their original use.

837. L. 126. *'Eye,*' the evil eye. Khizer, see quatrain 330. Thy
wine draughts have the life giving powers of Khizer^s water and of the
Messiah's breath.

838. L. 334. True joy only in abstraction.

280

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OMAR KHAYYAM

Minor and Obscure Quatrains

839
Whene'er you find my heart grown watery,
You in its corner many a wreck will see,

If in the sea of mine eye you will plunge,
You '11 find a merman there, save lost you be.

840
That Day of this clay house the sanctified
Again the steed of their own bodies ride.

Like tulip do not moisten me with blood.
Or ris'en from thy street's dust I may abide.

841
When Nature with thy will 's in harmony.
Be just, though every breath oppresseth thee ;

Sit with the wise, for water, fire and air.
With earth too, form the base of thee and me.

842
Hashish is better for all men's heart pains.
They say, than cup and wine to lute's soft strains;

By Law one wine drop clearly better than
A hundred bang users' blood thus remains!

839. L. 738. Very obscure. A man of the sea, the apple of the eye,
become in g^rief a man of water or merman. Spurious.

840. L. 622. **That Day," i. e,, The Resurrection Day, when accord-
ing to the Moslem belief the souls seek the bodies. Do not kill me so that
I become stained as a tulip. Obscure. Which reminds us of C. 236, **Shed
not tears for innocent lovers Nor g^eving, save the blood of a repentant
heart, Nor blood of two thousand foolish zealots upon the earth. Nor a
draught spill on the clay."

841. C. 70. L. 183. Line 1, lit. **When Nature's frame an instant
suiteth thee." Whenever called on to act, be just at whatever personal
sacrifice.

842. L. 667. C. 369. See quatrain 294. **Bang," hashish. Law,
canon law.

281

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THE aUATRAINS OF

Minor and Obscure Quatrains

843
In the wine-house of Love I offer prayer,
At her cheek's lamp afire and melting there,
And with Affection's wine ablution made.
Adore the visage of my idol fair,

844
The bearer whose lips life to rubies give.
In his grief, heart, strength, and soul, food receive,

Whoe'er in his grief's deluge is not drowned,
Within some Noah's ark must cabined live.

845
Thou lurkest in the cup, O pleasing wine!
Sound Reason's feet in bonds thou dost entwine;

Whoever drinks of thee no quarter gets
Till oped his pearl in his palm placed doth shine,

846
Those known alike to old and young by name.
In streets who beg for bread and water, claim

"Shiblis are we and all of us Junaids!"
No Shiblis they, though known in Karkh to fame.

843. L. 552. C. 302. The ablution preceding^ prayer.

844. L. 167. As rubies are said to be an in^dient of a certain
exhilarating cordial, so the lips of the cupbearer enliven by their brilliant
hue the ruby itself. Grief for love of the cupbearer is strength for the
heart and food for the soul. Surely this is sufficiently extravagant.

845. L. 725. C. 411. Wine in, discretion out.

846. C. 157. L. 379. W. 220. Shibli, Junaid and Ma'ruf-i-Karkh,
the famed one of Karkh, were all saints. Karkh, a suburb of Baghdad.
This quatrain is aimed at the dervishes. L. reads, ** Those who appear as
wearers of old felt, ever restricted to a pinch of bang and two loaves," etc.

282

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OMAR KHAYYAM

Minor and Obscure Quatrains

847
Since Saki knows my sort especially,
He draws a hundred kinds of subtlety,

When I pause he gives wine of his own wont
And by the limit of myself brings me!

848
Those who to dignities themselves upraise.
At last in poverty all end their days;

"Poor! Poor!" they all cry dying; that sect too.
Which goes about in charitable ways.

849
How long shall we men's arrogance sustain?
And from base Fortune's juggling suffer pain?

Cheer up! For days of "Taraweh" have passed.
The Feast 'tis, come! while rose-hued wine we drain!

850
Saki, loud sounds the clamor of our woes;
My drunkenness beyond all limit goes;

White-haired I 'm gay, for seeing thy cheeks' down.
Though old my head, my heart Spring freshness knows!

847. L. 718. W. 494. C. page 98 margin. This quatrain while not
clear seems to be descriptive of the wiles of the cupbearer.

848. L. 298. C, 137, transposes lines 2 and 4.

849. L. 496. *'Taraweh," the ceremony of twenty or more bows or
genuflexions at the end of Ramazan. See quatrain 699.

850. L. 163. The baits of this quatrain are hardly consistent.

283

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THE QUATRAINS OF

Minor and Obscure Quatrains

851
Alas that this hound, eager, flying fast.
With which, thy mate, thou goest with the blast.

For as much as its heart to bone inclines.
Its lot the boar's teeth will be at the last.

852
The Good Guide tells where feasts of wise souls be.
And right and left of Rome and Araby.

If the unworthy say that wine's impure.
How should I list, since God calls it purity?

How long of this life's fraud and treachery.
Bearer, how long life's very dregs give me?

Till from its strife and grief, as but a draught,
I pour to earth what left of life may be.

854
Who bade thee bleed from worldly care, O heart?
In Fate's abode of coquetry to smart?

Know'st what to do? Since here *s no resting place.
As if thou 'd ne'er come hither, so depart.

851. L. 444. Obscure, apparently meaning that this **sag," dog or
hound, the body, is hurrying about in life's mad rush with its intimate,
the soul, but its ultimate lot is the fang of the boar, Death.

852. C. 99. L. 115. Good Guide, apparently the Koran or Mahomet.

853. L. 399. C. page 57 margin.

854. L. 642. So C. 374: *'Blood warms my heart with my love, the
cup O, Saki! For these worldly cares, troubles and snares O, Saki! Pour
wine for life flies and is past, Give it not to the wind but with love and
cup, O, Saki!"

284

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OMAR KHAYYAM

MiKOR AND Obscure Quatrains

855
When from the body thy bright gem doth roam,
With other sorts of beings choose thy home.

Men come and go and no one understands
When 'neath clay what doth to thy body come.

856
Alack! that gaining naught worn out are we
Shorn by the scythe of headlong Destiny !
Alas! since in the twinkling of an eye.
Unreached our wishes, naught we come to be!

857

Whenever joyous on this green are we.
And like yon green-gray steed of Heaven we see.
With green-dt)wned ones I '11 green quaff on the
green.
Or ever under green in dust we be!

858
Concerning Fortune's failures grieve thou less;
Seek grape-juice and the loved one's fond embrace;
For him come from his mother's womb to-day,
To-morrow thou 'It see in some woman's chase.

855. L. 636. C. 361. Bright gem, i. ^., the soul. Obscure.

856. L. 530. C. 289.

857. N. 309. An example of punning. The word **sabza," green,
means, in line 1, the earth, in line 2, the sun, in line 3, down-cheeked
youths, wine and the turf, and in line 4, the turf. Also ascribed to Malik
Shams uddin. I have purposely made a bald translation to illustrate
word-play.

858. N. 376. P. 372. L. 659 in part. L. begins ''Hear not the
world's speech, 'tis mere sound. Drink wine at the cupbearer's hand, thy
friend become."

285

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THE aUATRAINS OF

Minor and Obscure Quatrains

859
We are of fire, wind, water and of clay ;
In death are we too, 'mid this life's array.

When with us is the body we 're distressed,
But souls sublime when it has passed away.

860
To noble spirits, "Vain is knowledge," say;
They know all that befalls, the soul doth sway.
The King commands whatever us betides;
For all that moves in both worlds blameless they.

861
My heart, boy, than the dead is wearier!
For they 'neath clay than it more tranquil are.

Howe'er with tears of blood I wash my skirt.
My skirt than mine eyes is more stained by. far!

862
Say not, "God's grace is hard to gain, I trow!" .
Speak of repentance for 'tis naught you know;

Talk less of sugar-lipped sweet youths, for that 's
Not Islam, when one penitence should show.

859. L. 678.

860. L. 102. Both worlds, "kunain," both states of existence.
Knowledge is unavailing, God alone controls, the two worlds have no
agency or concern in what happens.

861. L. 172. Skirt, i. e,, character, reputation.

862. L. 212. *'Hakk," Truth, God in one of His aspects. Obscure.
Apparently means that he is unworthy of the name of Moslem who knows
not the power of repentance over passion.

286

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OMAR KHAYYAM

Minor and Obscure Quatrains

863
From that jar of old wine called "end in clay,"
Fill! for my heart a great desire doth sway;

Since earth beneath the clay hath great desire,
With this clay of desire do you away !

864
If thorn in Khavaran's wide waste remain.
From wand'ring lovers* blood it bears the stain;

Where'er maid, fairy-faced, rose-cheeked there be.
For us then troubles all begin again !

865
Old age bent over totters to its end.
My cheek's pomegranate flowers some color lend ;
The roof and doors and cornerstones and walls
Of Being's house to desolation tend.

866
As wind to her tress, hard 't is to attain.
And hard on Grief's steed to draw bridle-rein ;

They say the eye its own face cannot see.
Be it our eye her glance were hard to gain.

863. L. 275. '*End in clay,*' a wine jar pointed at the bottom so it
would stand in the ground. Another translation is: topped with clay.
The word-play here is on '*sar-bi-gil,'* end in clay, *'zir-i-gil,** beneath
the clav, etc. I have translated baldly to show this feature.

864. P. 48. Khavaran, a part of Khorasan.

865. L. 263. C. 120.

866. L. 486. Did Shakspeare get this idea from Omar? See Julius
Caesar, Act I, Scene 2. Cassius: '^Tell me, good Brutus, can you see
your face?" Brutus: *'No, Cassius, for the eye sees not itself but by
reflection, by some other things.'*

287

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THE QUATRAINS OF

Minor and Obscure Quatrains

867
The soul proceeds upon the dangerous way.
The body freed of good and bad 'neath clay;

Full many travellers will pass over us
Who witless of both worlds to dust decay!

868
A daily happening, thou us drunk dost see,
In ringlets snared, idolaters are we;

The turban dropped from head and cup from hand.
Head prostrate at thy feet abased we be.

869
The fruit of truth on earth can never grow.
Since in this path none rightly e'er doth go;

All feebly grasp the brittle branch: regard
To-day as past, as first to-morrow know.

870
"Thy tress-tip hath devoured many a head,"
Quoth I, "Be still, if thou art wise," she said.

Then I, "Some day of thy form I *11 partake,"
And she, "Was any of a cypress fed?"

867. L. 675. C. 373. The way of Death.

868. L. 651. C. 362.

869. B. 14. L. 64. W. 115. B. reads for **on earth" **for him."
Count to-morrow as your first day. All days are alike, success only crowns
patient endeavor, most men seek onl^ the easy task.

870. L. 157. The charmer's ringlet figures frequently in Oriental
poetry as a snare for the lover's heart or head. The cypress is the stand-
ard of comparison for elegance of figure.

288

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OMAR KHAYYAM

Minor and Obscure Quatrains

871
My highest wisdom Thy cause ne'er hath known
And my thought turns in prayer to Thee alone!

I know Thy nature is most wonderful
And baffles mortal wit since 'tis Thine own!

872
My heart to wisdom is not'closed, you say,
And but few mysteries unknown. To-day

When I view all things wisely, I perceive
That naught is known and life hath passed away.

873
Now Eden's Heaven doth but a waste remain
(A day's work should two garden plots sustain.)
To-morrow since the world is bright and fair.
How should we bring back yesterday again?

874
Pour grape juice that a beaker friends may drain
And sound sweet song and flute's melodious strain
Ere Death parts many a meeting! It may be
That They our sins will ne'er recall again!

871. C. 24. Line 4, lit. **The perplexity of Thy nature save of Thy
nature is not!" The divine nature is perplexing because it is divine.

872. C. page 51, second marginal quatrain. See quatrain 664. This
suggests C. 122, which reads as follows: '*When my heart's ardor oft was
unrestrained Methought few mysteries unsolved remained. Seventy-two
years I 've pondered every day And know none hath the true solution
gained."

873. C. 84. This quatrain is evidently patched or incorrectly
transcribed.

874. C. page 51. First marginal quatrain.

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THE QUATRAINS OF OMAR KHAYYAM

Minor and Obscure Quatrains

875
Alas! thou 'rt gone; thy grief stays in my heart
Like camp-fire left when caravan doth depart;

What *s out of sight oft leaves the heart and yet
Though gone from sight still in my soul thou art!

876
I gave, thou gav'st, I heart, thou coquetry;
Thou art, I am, thou glad, I sad for thee;

Thou tak'st, I take, thou my heart, I thy pain;
Thou doest wrong, I do bear injury !

877
How long in this unjust world shall we stay.
Passing from day to night, from night to day?

O fools, behold the cup! for from our purse
Unconsciously existence slips away!

878
O Beauty's Lamp! by stream and verdant plain
Pour wine, thy vows break, sound the zittern's strain!

Live blithely, for the murmuring water saith,
"Lo, when I *ve gone I come not back again!''

875. Prom Sir Gore Ouseley's Biographical Notices of Persian Poets.
Persian Sentences, page 383.

876. The same. Note the peculiar form of this qnatrain.

877. C. 327.

878. C. 239.

NoTB. Some one or two quatrains included may not be regarded as
obscure or trivial but are so classified because of what seem to be errors
or obscurities in the Persian text.

THE END 290

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Full text of "The quatrains of Omar Khayyām of Nishapur; translated from the Persian into English verse including quatrains now for the first time so rendered"

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