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diff --git a/38511-h/38511-h.htm b/38511-h/38511-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f724e05 --- /dev/null +++ b/38511-h/38511-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,19597 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Sufistic Quatrains of Omar Khayyam, by Omar Khayyam -- a Project Gutenberg eBook. + </title> + <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} +.p4 {margin-top: 4em;} +.p6 {margin-top: 6em;} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +hr.chap {width: 65%} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +.pagenum { + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + display: inline; + right: 3%; + font-size: x-small; + text-align: right; + color: #808080; + font-style: normal; + border: 1px solid silver; + padding: 1px 4px 1px 4px; + font-variant: normal; + font-weight: normal; + text-decoration: none; + text-indent: 0em; + } + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.right {text-align: right;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +.small {font-size: small;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.figright { + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1em; + margin-bottom: + 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px; + background-color: #EEE; + padding: 0 1em 1em 1em; +} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +.poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i2 { + display: block; + margin-left: 2em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The Sufistic Quatrains of Omar Khayyam, by Omar Khayyam + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Sufistic Quatrains of Omar Khayyam + +Author: Omar Khayyam + +Editor: Robert Arnot + +Translator: Edward Fitzgerald + Edward Henry Whinfield + J. B. Nicolas + +Release Date: January 6, 2012 [EBook #38511] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUFISTIC QUATRAINS--OMAR KHAYYAM *** + + + + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Rory OConor and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">i</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/001.jpg" width="400" height="614" alt="front page" /> +</div> + +<p class="center"><big>UNIVERSAL CLASSICS<br /> +LIBRARY</big></p> + + +<p class="center">ILLUSTRATED<br /> +WITH PHOTOGRAVURES ON<br /> +JAPAN VELLUM, ETCHINGS<br /> +HAND PAINTED INDIA-PLATE<br /> +REPRODUCTIONS, AND<br /> +FULL PAGE PORTRAITS<br /> +OF AUTHORS.</p> + + +<p class="center">M WALTER DUNNE, PUBLISHER<br /> +NEW YORK & LONDON +</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">ii</a></span></p> + + + + +<p class="center p4"><span class="smcap">Copyright</span>, 1903,<br /> + +BY<br /> + +M. WALTER DUNNE;<br /> + +PUBLISHER +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">iv</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/p001.jpg" width="400" height="438" alt="THE TOMB OF OMAR. +From an old painting by an unknown artist" /> +<span class="caption"><i>THE TOMB OF OMAR<br /> +From an old painting by an unknown artist</i></span> +</div> + +<p class="p6"> </p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="400" height="616" alt="title page" /> +</div> + + +<h1>THE SUFISTIC QUATRAINS OF<br /> + +OMAR KHAYYAM</h1> + +<p class="center">IN DEFINITIVE FORM<br /> +INCLUDING THE TRANSLATIONS OF<br /></p> + +<p class="center"><big>EDWARD FITZGERALD</big><br /> +(101 quatrains)<br /> +With Edward Heron-Allen's Analysis</p> + +<p class="center"><big>E.H. WHINFIELD</big><br /> +(500 quatrains)</p> + +<p class="center"><big>J.B. NICOLAS</big><br /> +(464 quatrains)</p> + +<p class="center">WITH PREFACES BY EACH TRANSLATOR AND A<br /> +GENERAL INTRODUCTION DEALING WITH<br /> +OMAR'S PLACE IN SUFISM, BY</p> + +<p class="center"><big>ROBERT ARNOT</big>, M.A.<br /> + +Author of "The Vine in Symbolism"</p> + +<p class="center">M. WALTER DUNNE, PUBLISHER,<br /> +NEW YORK & LONDON +</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">v</a></span></p> + + + + +<p class="center p6"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1903,</span><br /> + +BY<br /> + +M. WALTER DUNNE,<br /> + +PUBLISHER +</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">vii</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2 class="p6"><a name="ILLUSTRATIONS" id="ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Illustrations"> +<tr><td></td><td align="right">FACING<br />PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Tomb of Omar</span><br /> +From an old painting by an unknown artist.</td><td align="right"><i><a href="#Page_iv">Frontispiece</a></i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Approach To Naishapur</span><br /> +From a painting by I.R. Herbert.</td><td align="right"><a href="#THE_APPROACH_TO_NAISHAPUR">100</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Sufi Mystics Gathered for Meditation</span><br /> +From an old painting by a Pushtu artist.</td><td align="right"><a href="#Illustration_SUFI_MYSTICS_GATHERED_FOR_MEDITATION">210</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"> + +<a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">ix</a></span> +</p> + + + +<h2 class="p6"><a name="TABLE_OF_CONTENTS" id="TABLE_OF_CONTENTS"></a>TABLE OF CONTENTS</h2> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="TOC"> +<tr><td></td><td>PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">General Introduction</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_xi">xi</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Introduction to the First Edition of Edward Fitzgerald's<br /> +Translation of the Quatrains of Omar Khayyam</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Complete Fitzgerald First Edition</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_13">13</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Kuza-Nama</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Notes</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_29">29</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">An Analysis of Edward Fitzgerald's Translation (Fifth<br /> +Edition), by Edward Heron-Allen</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Preface</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Explanation of References</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Analysis of Edward Fitzgerald's Quatrains</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Appendix</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Variations Between the Second, Third and Fourth Editions<br /> +of Fitzgerald's Translation</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_115">115</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Stanzas Which Appear in the Second Edition Only</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_122">122</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Comparative Table of Stanzas in the Four Editions Of<br /> +Fitzgerald</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_124">124</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Note</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_127">127</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Quatrains of Omar Khayyam Translated by E.H.<br /> +Whinfield, M.A.</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Introduction</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_131">131</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Note</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_139">139</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">E.H. Whinfield Translation</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_141">141</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Quatrains of Omar Khayyam Translated into Prose<br /> +from the French Version of Monsieur J.B. Nicolas</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_267">267</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Preface</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_269">269</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Translation of the Nicolas Text</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_279">279</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#FOOTNOTES">Footnotes</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">xi</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2 class="p6"><a name="GENERAL_INTRODUCTION" id="GENERAL_INTRODUCTION"></a>GENERAL INTRODUCTION</h2> + + +<p>The earliest reference to Omar Khayyam dates from +the middle of the seventh century of the Hijra.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> +Mohammad Shahrazuri, author of a little-used history +of learned men, bearing the title of «Nazhet-ul-Arwah,» +devotes to Khayyam the following passage:</p> + +<p>«'Omar Al-Khayyami was a Nishapuri by birth and extraction. +He [may be regarded as] the successor of Abu +'Ali (Avicenna) in the various branches of philosophic +learning; but he was a man of reserved character and +disliked entertaining (<i>sayyik al-'atan</i>). While he was in +Ispahan he perused a certain book seven times and then +he knew it by heart. On his return to Nishapur he dictated +it [from memory] and on comparing it with the original +copy, it was found that the difference between them +was but slight. He was averse both to composition and +to teaching. He is the author of a handbook on natural +science, and of two pamphlets, one entitled ‹<i>Al-Wujud</i>› +(or ‹Real Existence›) and the other ‹<i>Al-Kawn w'al Taklif</i>.›<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> +He was learned in the law, in classical Arabic, and +in history.</p> + +<p>«One day Al-Khayyami went to see the Vezir, Abd-ur-Razzak, +the Chief of the Koran Readers. Abu-l-Hasan +Al-Ghazzali was with this latter [at the time], and the +two were discussing the disagreement of the Koran +Readers in regard to a certain verse. [As Omar entered] +the Vezir said, ‹Here we have <i>the</i> authority,› and proceeded +to ask Al-Khayyami [for his opinion] on the matter. +['Omar] enumerated the various readings of the +Readers, and explained the grounds (<i>'ilal</i>) for each one.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">xii</a></span> +He also mentioned the exceptional readings and the arguments +in favor of each, and expressed his preference +for one view in particular.</p> + +<p>«Al-Ghazzali then said: ‹May God add such men as +thee to the number of the learned! Of a truth, I did +not think any one of the Koran Readers knew the readings +by heart to this extent—much less one of the secular +philosophers.›</p> + +<p>«As for the sciences, he had mastered both mathematics +and philosophy. One day ‹the Proof of Islam›, Al-Ghazzali, +came to see him and asked him how it came +that one could distinguish one of the parts of the +sphere which revolve on the axis from the rest, although +the sphere was similar in all its parts. Al-Khayyami pronounced +his views, beginning with a certain category; +but he refrained from entering deeply into the discussion—and +such was the wont of this respected Sheykh. +[Their conversation was interrupted by] the call to mid-day +prayer, whereupon Al-Ghazzali said, ‹Truth has come +in, and lying has gone out.› 'Omar arose and went to +visit Sultan Sanjar. The latter was [at the time] a mere +child, and was suffering from an attack of smallpox. +When he came away the Vezir asked him, ‹How did +you find the child, and what did you prescribe for him?› +'Omar answered, ‹The child is in a most precarious +state.› An Ethiopian slave reported this saying to the +Sultan, and when the Sultan recovered he became inimical +to 'Omar and did not like him. Melik-Shah treated +him as a boon companion; and Shams-ul-Mulk honored +him greatly, and made him sit beside him on his throne.</p> + +<p>«It is related that ['Omar] was [one day] picking his +teeth with a toothpick of gold, and was studying the +chapter on metaphysics from [Avicenna's] ‹Book of Healing.› +When he reached the section on ‹The One and +the Many› he placed the toothpick between the two +leaves, arose, performed his prayers and made his last +injunctions. He neither ate nor drank anything [that +day]; and when he performed the last evening prayer, +he bowed himself to the ground and said as he bowed: +‹Oh, God! verily I have known Thee to the extent of my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">xiii</a></span> +power: forgive me, therefore. Verily my knowledge of +Thee is my recommendation to Thee.› And [so saying], +he died; may God have pity on him!»</p> + +<p>We may look upon Omar as a deeply learned man, +following his own convictions, who, tortured with the question +of existence, and finding no solution to life in Musulman +dogmas, worked out for himself a regular +conception of life based on Sufistic Mysticism; a man +who, without discarding belief, smiled ironically at the +inconsistencies and peculiarities of the Islam of his time, +which left many minds dissatisfied in the fourth and fifth +centuries, needing as it did vivification. It found this +in the person of Ghazzali, who in this movement assigned +the proper place to the Mystic element. Omar was a +preacher of moral purity and of a contemplative life; one +who loved his God and struggled to master the eternal, +the good, and the beautiful.</p> + +<p>In this manner also is Omar portrayed in the various +early biographical notices: a defender of «Greek Science,» +famous for his knowledge of the Koran and the Law, +and at the same time a «stinging serpent» to the dogmatic; +a wit and a mocker, a bitter and implacable enemy +of all hypocrisy; a man who, while curing others of the +wounds of worldly triviality, impurity, and sinful vanity, +himself only with almost his last breath closed the philosophic +book on «Healing» and turned with a touching +prayer to the One God, the Infinite, whom he had been +striving to comprehend with all the strength of his mind +and heart. Khayyam's lively protests and his heated +words in freedom's cause brought upon him many bitter +moments in his life and exposed him to numerous attacks +at the hands of the mullahs, especially those of the +Shiite community.</p> + +<p>Besides these, then as now (apart from hypocrites), persons +were not wanting who, failing to understand Omar, +regarded him as an unbeliever, atheist, and materialist. +But in the course of centuries the people of Persia and +India, realizing, perhaps instinctively, the injustice of former +reproaches, have taken to publishing and reading +Omar Khayyam in collections side by side with Abu-Said,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">xiv</a></span> +Abd-Allah Ansari, and Attar—that is to say, with Sufi +Mystics of the purest water, men whose moral and religious +reputations were spotless.</p> + +<p>Rightly to understand Omar some knowledge of Sufism +and its tenets is necessary. Sufism is a mystical doctrine +which had its birth on the Arabian coast, and succeeded +in implanting itself there to the point of putting a decisive +check upon the orthodox philosophy. The etymology +of the name is difficult to find. According to some, it +comes from the word <i>suf</i> (wool, a woolen garment) because +the first persons to adopt this doctrine clothed +themselves in wool.</p> + +<p>We can give, as a proof, in support of this etymology, +the fact that the Persians call their dervishes Sufis, +<i>pechmineh pôch</i> (clothed in wool). The name could also +come from the Arabic <i>safou</i> (purity) or the Greek σοφία +(wisdom). Again, some Arabic authors call by the name +of Soufa an Arabic tribe that separated themselves from +the world in the ante-Islamic period, consecrating themselves +to the keeping of the temple of Mecca. A man +who professed the Mystic principles of <i>tasawouf</i> (the +spiritual life) they called a «Sufi.»</p> + +<p>The origin of Musulman Mysticism is a question entailing +some controversy, for whoever knows the detailed +ritual and the dogmatic coldness of the Koran finds it impossible +to reconcile Islamic dogma with any idea of +Mysticism whatsoever. In vain does one seek to find an +example of Mystical teaching in this aphorism attributed +to Mahomet: «It is when he prays that the faithful one +is nearest God,» as Islamism holds to a definite separation +between the Divinity and the world, between the Creator +and the thing created. The religious customs that Mahomet +instituted and the moral action that he taught +served only to merit the good-will of the Divinity; at the +utmost he only believed that he would be permitted to +see Him face to face.</p> + +<p>Whence comes then this Mystical idea which, for so +many centuries, has occupied all the minds and absorbed all +the intellectual force of the Musulman world? Two different +origins can be given for it: the idea of emanation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">xv</a></span> +from and return to the divine essence whence it +came—what we call Neo-platonism. Added to this are +Contemplation and Annihilation, which come to it through +Persia and the Vedantic school as intermediaries, bringing +with it Pantheism, which made its way late into Sufism, +and almost solely among the Persians. Also, it could be +said that originally Sufism owed its principles to the +Alexandrian school.</p> + +<p>The Arabs, who studied and translated the greater part +of Aristotle, knew Plato only by name; but they came +under his influence and received his doctrines, strongly +impregnated with the Mysticism of the Kabbala, through +the Alexandrians and especially through Philon. To annihilate +reason, or at least to subordinate it to feeling; +to attack liberty, in order to subject the whole of life to +love; and, furthermore, the blind abandoning of self—such +is the aim of Sufism, as it is of all Mystic philosophy.</p> + +<p>The doctrine of the Sufis has been set forth in a great +number of treatises, notably that of Sohrawdi. God +alone exists; He is in everything and everything is in +Him. All beings emanate from Him, without being really +distinct from Him. The world exists for all eternity; the +material is only an illusion of the senses. Sufism is the +true philosophy of Islamism, «which is the best of religions,» +but religions have only a relative importance and +serve but to guide us toward the Reality.</p> + +<p>God is the author of the acts of the human race; it is He +who controls the will of man, which is <i>not</i> free in its action. +Like all animals man possesses an original mind, an +animal or living mind, a mind instinctive, but he has +also a human mind, breathed into him by God, and of +the same character as the original and constructive element +itself. The concomitant mind comprehends the original +element and the human mind; it extends itself over the +triple domain: animal, vegetable, and mineral. The soul, +which existed before the body, is confined in the body +as in a cage; death, then is, the object of the Sufi's desires, +since it returns him to the bosom of the Divinity. This +metempsychosis permits the soul which has not fulfilled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">xvi</a></span> +its destiny here below to be purified and worthy of a +re-union with God. This spiritual union all can strive +for ardently, but all cannot attain, because it is a product +of the grace of God.</p> + +<p>The Sufi, during his sojourn in the body, is uniquely +occupied in meditating upon his unity with God (<i>Wahdanija</i>), +the reminiscence of the names of God (<i>Zikr</i>), and the +progressive advancement in the <i>tarika</i> or journey of life, +up to his unification with God.</p> + +<p>What is the Sufi journey, then? Human life has been +likened to a voyage, where the traveler is seeking after +God. The aim of the voyage is to attain to a knowledge +of God, for human existence is a period of banishment +for the soul, which cannot return to God until it +has passed through many successive stages. The natural +state of man is called <i>nasout</i> (humanity); the disciple +should observe the law and conform to all the rites of +believers. The other stages are: the nature of the +angels (<i>malakout</i>), where one follows the way to purity, +the possession of power (<i>djabrout</i>), the degree to which +knowledge corresponds (<i>m'arifa</i>), and finally, extinction +or absorption in the Deity, the degree to which truth +corresponds. The voyager agrees to renouncement, which +is of two kinds: external and internal. The first is the +renouncement of riches and worldly honors; the second +is the renouncement of profane desires. And he should +especially guard against idolatry, which for some is the +adoration of worldly achievement, for others a too assiduous +practice of praying and fasting.</p> + +<p>To arrive at this aim, the voyager has three necessary +aids: attraction (<i>indďďdhah</i>), the act of God which +draws all men who have that tendency or inclination to +Him; devotion (<i>ibâda</i>), continuing the journey by two +roads—towards God and in God, the first limited, the +second without limit; finally, elevation (<i>ouroudi</i>). But +the voyage cannot be accomplished alone; it is necessary +to have a guide or a monitor taken from the second +class (<i>ibâda</i>). The believer who, after having been +<i>tâlib</i> (an educated man doubting the reality of God) and +<i>mourid</i> (desirous of following out his quest), becomes a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvii" id="Page_xvii">xvii</a></span> +<i>salik</i> (traveler), places himself under the authority of a +Sufi guide who teaches him to serve God until, through +divine influence, he attains to the <i>ichk</i> (love) stage. Divine +love, removing all mundane desires from his heart, +causes him to arrive at <i>zouhd</i> (isolation); he then leads +a contemplative life, passes through the <i>m'arifa</i> degree, +and awaits the direct illumination of <i>wadja</i> (ecstasy).</p> + +<p>After having received a revelation of the true nature +of God (the <i>hakika</i> stage) he arrives at the <i>wasl</i> stage +(union with God); he cannot go further; death alone remains, +by which he will arrive at the final degree, absorption +in the Divinity. The <i>Zikr</i> are only various forms +of devotion invented by the Sufi guides to develop the +spiritual life. The conduct of the disciple in the presence +of his master is determined by rules which differ +little from those imposed upon all dervishes.</p> + +<p>Some authors distinguish, in the Sufi voyage, seven +stages, corresponding to the degrees in the celestial +sphere, in order to have the soul received there after +death. But, protest metaphysicians, the soul cannot return +to a determined place, since it does not come from +a determined place. Celestial intelligence, to which corresponds +the degree of intelligence reached by man, will +absorb the soul after its separation from the body.</p> + +<p>The Sufis attribute a high antiquity to their doctrines. +They do not hesitate to refer them to as far back as +Abraham; they pretend that one of the founders of their +sect was own son-in-law to the prophet Ali, son of Abou-Tâlib. +Finally, «there came a pious woman from Jerusalem, +by the name of Rabia, whose words recall the +Christian Mysticism.»</p> + +<p>The first person to take the name of Sufi was Abou-Hachim +of Koufa. The first convent or <i>Khanakah</i> was +founded in Khorasan by Abou-Said, the Persian, although +the prophet had prohibited monkish life in Islam. Another +convent was established at Ramia, in Syria, and Saladin +founded one in Egypt. Sufism then was divided into two +schools: The Persian Bestâmi (<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 875) inclined towards +Pantheism; Djonaid, of Bagdad, preached a system reconcilable +with Musulman dogmatism. One of the most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xviii" id="Page_xviii">xviii</a></span> +celebrated doctors of this school was Halladj, burnt alive +in <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 922. They discoursed upon Sufism under the +Kalifs Al-Motazz and Al-Mohtadi, and preached it under +Al-Motamid. The principal Sufi writers are: Mohammed +Salami an Nichabouri (<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1021), El-Kochairi (<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1072), +Ghazli (<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1111), Sohrawdi (<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1234), Ferid-ed-din +Attar (<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1230), Djami (<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1492), and Ech-Cha'rani +(<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1565).</p> + +<p>This Mysticism, so sweet and so full of sentiment, +exhales itself in poesy, and is as much stamped with tenderness +and resignation as it is overflowing with sensuality +and drunkenness. The best and most illustrious of +the Persian poets are of this sect: Djelal-ed-din er-Roumi, +author of the «<i>Mesnewi</i>», Djami, author of «<i>Salaman +ou-Absa</i>», Ferid-ed-din Attar, author of «<i>Mantik-ut-tair</i>»; +S'adi, Hafiz de Chiraz, Bayazid-al-Bestami.</p> + +<p>Just as Sufis leave the true faith for its semblance, so +they also exchange the external features of all things +for the internal (the corporeal for the spiritual) and give +a spiritual significance to outward forms. They behold +objects of a precious nature in their natural character, +and for this reason, the greater part of their words have +a spiritual and visionary meaning.</p> + +<p>For instance, when, like Omar, they mention wine, +they mean a knowledge of God, which, extensively considered, +is the love of God. Wine, viewed extensively, +is also love: love and affection are here the same thing. +The wine-shop with them means the <i>murshid i kiamil</i> +(spiritual director), for his heart is said to be the depository +of the love of God; the wine-cup is the <i>telkin</i> (the +pronunciation of the name of God in a declaration of +faith as: There is no God but Allah), or it signifies the +words which flow from the <i>murshid's</i> mouth respecting +divine knowledge, and which, heard by the <i>salik</i> (the +Dervish, or one who pursues the true path), intoxicates +his soul, and divests his mind (of passions) giving him +pure, spiritual delight.</p> + +<p>The sweetheart or Beloved means the preceptor, because, +when any one sees his beloved he admires her proportions, +with a heart full of love. The Dervish beholds<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xix" id="Page_xix">xix</a></span> +the secret knowledge of God which fills the heart of his +spiritual preceptor (<i>murshid</i>), and through it receives a +similar inspiration, and acquires a full perception of all +that he possesses, just as the pupil learns from his master. +As the lover delights in the presence of his sweetheart, so +the Dervish rejoices in the company of his beloved preceptor. +The sweetheart is the object of a worldly affection; +but the preceptor commands a spiritual attachment.</p> + +<p>The curls or ringlets of the beloved are the grateful +praises of the preceptor, tending to bind the affections +of the Dervish-pupil; the moles on her face signify that +when the pupil, at times, beholds the total absence of all +worldly wants on the part of the preceptor, he also abandons +all the desires of both worlds—he, perhaps, even +goes so far as to desire nothing else in life than his preceptor; +the furrows on the brow of the beloved one, +which they compare to verses of the Koran, mean the +light of the heart of the <i>murshid</i>: they are compared to +the verses of the Koran, because the attributes of God, +in accordance with the injunction of the Prophet: «Be +ye endued with divine qualities,» are possessed by the +sheikh (or <i>murshid</i>).</p> + +<p>Perhaps I can do no better than to quote one of the +foremost authorities on Sufism<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> in regard to Omar's +teachings.</p> + +<p>«Seldom has a poet suffered from his friends and his +foes as has Omar Khayyam. ‹He has been regarded,› +says a writer, ‹as a free-thinker, a subverter of faith; an +atheist and materialist; a pantheist and a scoffer at Mysticism; +an orthodox Musulman; a true philosopher, a +keen observer, a man of learning; a <i>bon vivant</i>, a profligate, +a dissembler and a hypocrite, and a blasphemer—nay, +more, an incarnate negation of positive religion and of +all moral beliefs; a gentle nature, more given to the +contemplation of things divine than worldly enjoyments; +an epicurean sceptic; the Persian Abu-l-Ala, Voltaire, and +Heine in one.› The writer has in view the well-known +criticisms of Von Hammer, Renan, Ellis, Nicolas, Garcin<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xx" id="Page_xx">xx</a></span> +de Tassy, Whinfield, Aug. Muller, etc. He might have +added Vedder's curious misunderstanding of the ‹Beloved,› +making him a damsel and a playtoy, and the thousand +and one small ideas set forth by Omarian Societies.</p> + +<p>«All this criticism is curious because it is so completely +out of harmony with the facts of Omar's life. It is true +that no complete, authentic manuscript of Omar's is +known, and equally true that no comprehensive biography +is known; but detailed information has come down to +us from his contemporaries. From these notes enough +can be gathered to show that Omar was a great man +indeed, one who clearly and forcibly shows the four sides +of a perfect character.</p> + +<p>«A perfect character is first and fundamentally powerful. +It is based upon the One, be it in idea or in action. +Next, it is so simple and direct that all extraneous thoughts +and purposes are unknown to it. These two sides condition +one another. No power without simplicity and +no directness without power. The third side of a great +character is love or human feeling; a fullness that seeks +to draw all men to the One, and the fourth and last +characteristic is harmony or a welding together into One +of all these four. The last characteristic is, of course, +an impossibility where the others do not exist; nor can +the others attain any vividness or fullness without +love.</p> + +<p>«A perfect character is rare. We see, however, glimpses +of it here and there. Omar Khayyam was a type of +perfect character. He is full of the One; he knows of +nothing but the One; he burns to draw his fellow-men to +the One; he belongs nowhere but in the One, in whom +he indeed can be said to move, live, and have his being. +In the One he attained Wholeness, harmony. Omar's philosophy +is that of the Sufis. In that, too, he is consistent. +The one is Truth; Truth is the reality of things, Truth +burns to draw men to Itself; Truth is the Law or ‹Universe.› +His method is Symbolism, viz.: he chooses the +transparencies of Nature in order to show his hearers +how Truth or Wisdom and Love or Devotion everywhere +appear to be the reality behind ‹the magic Shadow-shapes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxi" id="Page_xxi">xxi</a></span> +that come and go.› His most prominent symbols +are Wine and Love; Roses, Springtime, and Death.</p> + +<p>«Omar's ethics are not those of Mohammedanism. He +advocates Resignation, to be sure, but not Mohammedan +fatalism as popularly understood. His morals spring from +his conception of the fullness of the One, and as such +they are in harmony with the most universal notions of +mankind. In one word, Omar's theology, philosophy, +method, and morals are Sufistic, Sufism taken in the +highest sense as the unifying notion for Wholeness, Love, +Truth, and Power. A study of Sufism will reveal the +real Omar—hitherto but little known, if known at all.</p> + +<pre> + * * * * * * * +</pre> + +<p>«No one has attempted, so far as I know, to classify the +various Sufistic systems. It is not so difficult to do so +when a key can be found to them. The best key is +that four-foldness which manifests itself in all human +character, endeavor, and work. Corresponding to the four-foldness +of character delineated above, I shall now take +the terms Life, Love, Light, and Law and say that Al-Ghazzali +and Jelaladdin represent the first and, as a +proof, point to their constant emphasis of will as being +the dominant power of existence, and the prominence +they give to moral worth. The type of Love, in the +form of poetry and feeling, is represented by Hafiz and +Jami. The third group is fully and completely filled +by Shabistani, the author of ‹Gulshan-i-Raz.› It is +Light, and its form is Philosophy, Truth, and Understanding. +The last, the fourth, sums up in a measure, +the three preceding, and is also a clearly defined group +by itself. It is Law, Order, Unity, and Reality. There +is more independence in it than in any of the others, +because it is the nearest approach known in existence +to Wholeness or Unity. It contains the opposites of existence, +both cosmic and human, viz.: the protest of the +Mystic and also his affirmation, and the new Hope he +represents.</p> + +<p>«Omar Khayyam belongs to this fourth group. I do not +say he alone fills it. But he exhibits that Independence +and Protest which is the first and outward characteristic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxii" id="Page_xxii">xxii</a></span> +of it. He is also from time to time soaring into the +realms of the Truth or Unity, in a way not found in any +other Sufi poet or doctor.</p> + +<p>«Under the garb of the Mystic's favorite method of +Doubt and Protest, the Sufi (Omar) pictures the process of +the Awakening of the Soul. That is the purpose of the +‹Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go› in the Rubaiyat +of Omar Khayyam. His pictures are sufficiently +transparent for us to see The Reality Behind.</p> + +<p>«While so much is claimed for Omar, it must not be +forgotten that it has not been said that he is the only +perfect Sufi. It is not our intention to say or to intimate +that. Omar is great enough when we attribute to him +the office of an Awakener; not merely that of a John the +Baptist, but the office of one who is himself full of the +Awakening he preaches. Such an one is a unique character, +and is truly an At-oner, one who heals all wounds +and binds up broken limbs.»</p> + + +<p class="p2">I have already stated, if not in actual words, at least +by inference, that Khayyam's philosophical and religious +opinions were in certain essential points based upon the +teaching of the Vedantas. He must have been familiar +with the general scope of their philosophy, although attaching +himself, as we have seen, to the ranks of the +Sufi Mystics. Sufism and Babism are probably the most +widely spread doctrines current in modern Persia, and +after all are but forms of Vedantic pantheism despoiled +of real significance by the effort to accommodate +themselves to the creed of Islam. We learn from El +Kifti that Khayyam «exhorted to the seeking of the +One, the Ruler, by the purification of bodily movements, +for the cleansing of the human soul,» an unmistakable +exposition of Sufi practices, although based originally +upon the customs of the Vedantic sages.</p> + +<p>He certainly did not practice asceticism and other quasi-religious +forms, which had been grafted upon the austere +simplicity of the original Vedantic creed, but he did inculcate +the necessity of acquiring «the knowledge of the +unity of the soul with God»—the one thing important—which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxiii" id="Page_xxiii">xxiii</a></span> +can only be achieved by the renouncement of desire, +the purification of the soul from the lusts of the +world, and the practice of kindliness, goodness, universal +sympathy with mankind, and the patience which +brings perfect work.</p> + +<p>That Omar was a man of many moods is evident. His +poetic faculties, acted upon by an intelligence that was +profound, and by a wit as cutting as the <i>tulwar</i> of a +Persian soldier, swayed him hither and thither upon the +sea of daily doubts and fears which are part of man's +existence. Yet, in his way, he was a beacon light, not +only in the history of Sufi Mysticism, but in the annals +of God-seeking. I can find no better yoke-fellow for him +than Luther, like whom he was indeed an Apostle of +Protest.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/025.png" width="150" height="38" alt="Robert Arnot" /> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxiv" id="Page_xxiv">xxiv</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2 class="p6">THE FIRST EDITION OF<br /> + +<big>EDWARD FITZGERALD'S TRANSLATION</big><br /> + +OF THE<br /> + +QUATRAINS OF OMAR KHAYYAM</h2> + +<hr class="chap" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">1</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2 class="p6"><a name="OMAR_KHAYYAM" id="OMAR_KHAYYAM"></a>OMAR KHAYYAM</h2> + +<p class="center">THE<br /> + +ASTRONOMER-POET OF PERSIA</p> + + +<p>Omar Khayyam was born at Naishapur in Khorassan +in the latter half of our eleventh, and died within +the first quarter of our twelfth Century. The +slender story of his life is curiously twined about that of +two other very considerable figures in their time and +country: one of whom tells the story of all three. This +was Nizam ul Mulk, Vizyr to Alp Arslan the son, and +Malik Shah the grandson, of Toghrul Beg the Tartar, who +had wrested Persia from the feeble successor of Mahmud +the Great, and founded that Seljukian Dynasty which +finally roused Europe into the Crusades. This Nizam ul +Mulk, in his «<i>Wasiyat</i>»—or «Testament»—which he +wrote and left as a memorial for future statesmen—relates +the following, as quoted in the «Calcutta Review,» +No. lix., from Mirkhond's «History of the Assassins.»</p> + +<p>«‹One of the greatest of the wise men of Khorassan +was the Imam Mowaffak of Naishapur, a man highly honoured +and reverenced—may God rejoice his soul; his +illustrious years exceeded eighty-five, and it was the universal +belief that every boy who read the Koran or studied +the traditions in his presence, would assuredly attain to +honour and happiness. For this cause did my father +send me from Tus to Naishapur with Abd-us-samad, the +doctor of law, that I might employ myself in study and +learning under the guidance of that illustrious teacher. +Towards me he ever turned an eye of favour and kindness, +and as his pupil I felt for him extreme affection<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">2</a></span> +and devotion, so that I passed four years in his service. +When I first came there, I found two other pupils of +mine own age newly arrived, Hakim Omar Khayyam, and +the ill-fated Ben Sabbah. Both were endowed with +sharpness of wit and the highest natural powers; and we +three formed a close friendship together. When the +Imam rose from his lectures, they used to join me, and +we repeated to each other the lessons we had heard. +Now Omar was a native of Naishapur, while Hasan Ben +Sabbah's father was one Ali, a man of austere life and +practice, but heretical in his creed and doctrine. One +day Hasan said to me and to Khayyam, «It is a universal +belief that the pupils of the Imam Mowaffak will attain +to fortune. Now, even if we <i>all</i> do not attain +thereto, without doubt one of us will, what then shall be +our mutual pledge and bond?» We answered, «Be it +what you please.»—«Well,» he said, «let us make a vow, +that to whomsoever this fortune falls, he shall share it +equally with the rest, and reserve no pre-eminence for +himself.»—«Be it so,» we both replied, and on those +terms we mutually pledged our words. Years rolled on, +and I went from Khorassan to Transoxiana, and wandered +to Ghazni and Cabul; and when I returned, I was invested +with office, and rose to be administrator of affairs +during the Sultanate of Sultan Alp Arslan.›</p> + +<p>«He goes on to state, that years passed by, and both +his old school-friends found him out, and came and +claimed a share in his good fortune, according to the +school-day vow. The Vizier was generous and kept his +word. Hasan demanded a place in the government, +which the Sultan granted at the Vizier's request; but, +discontented with a gradual rise, he plunged into the +maze of intrigue of an Oriental court, and, failing in +a base attempt to supplant his benefactor, he was disgraced +and fell. After many mishaps and wanderings, +Hasan became the head of the Persian sect of the <i>Ismailians</i>—a +party of fanatics who had long murmured +in obscurity, but rose to an evil eminence under the +guidance of his strong and evil will. In <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1090, he +seized the castle of Alamut, in the province of Rudbar,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">3</a></span> +which lies in the mountainous tract south of the Caspian +Sea; and it was from this mountain home he obtained +that evil celebrity among the Crusaders as the OLD +MAN OF THE MOUNTAINS, and spread terror +through the Mohammedan world; and it is yet disputed +whether the word <i>Assassin</i>, which they have left in the +language of modern Europe as their dark memorial, is +derived from the <i>hashish</i>, or opiate of hemp-leaves (the +Indian <i>bhang</i>), with which they maddened themselves to +the sullen pitch of Oriental desperation, or from the +name of the founder of the dynasty, whom we have +seen in his quiet collegiate days, at Naishapur. One of +the countless victims of the Assassin's dagger was Nizam +ul Mulk himself, the old school-boy friend.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>«Omar Khayyam also came to the Vizier to claim his +share; but not to ask for title or office. ‹The greatest +boon you can confer on me,› he said, ‹is to let me live in +a corner under the shadow of your fortune, to spread wide, +the advantages of Science, and pray for your long life +and prosperity.› The Vizier tells us, that, when he found +Omar was really sincere in his refusal, he pressed him +no further, but granted him a yearly pension of 1200 +<i>mithkals</i> of gold, from the treasury of Naishapur.»</p> + +<p>«At Naishapur thus lived and died Omar Khayyam, +‹busied,› adds the Vizier, ‹in winning knowledge of every +kind, and especially in Astronomy, wherein he attained +to a very high pre-eminence. Under the Sultanate of +Malik Shah he came to Merv, and obtained great praise +for his proficiency in science, and the Sultan showered +favours upon him.›</p> + +<p>«When Malik Shah determined to reform the calendar, +Omar was one of the eight learned men employed to do +it; the result was the <i>Jalali</i> era (so called from <i>Jalal-ud-din</i> +one of the king's names)—‹a computation of time,›<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">4</a></span> +says Gibbon, ‹which surpasses the Julian, and approaches +the accuracy of the Gregorian style.› He is also the +author of some astronomical tables, entitled ‹<i>Ziji-Malik-skahi,›»</i> +and the French have lately republished and +translated an Arabic treatise of his on algebra.</p> + +<p>«His Takhallus or poetical name (Khayyam) signifies a +Tentmaker, and he is said to have at one time exercised +that trade, perhaps before Nizam ul Mulk's generosity +raised him to independence. Many Persian poets similarly +derive their names from their occupations; thus we have +Attar, ‹a druggist,› Assar, ‹an oil presser,› etc.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> Omar +himself alludes to his name in the following whimsical +lines:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">«‹Khayyam, who stitched the tents of science,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has fallen in grief's furnace and been suddenly burned;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The shears of Fate have cut the tent ropes of his life,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the broker of Hope has sold him for nothing!›<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>«We have only one more anecdote to give of his life, +and that relates to the close; it is told in the anonymous +preface which is sometimes prefixed to his poems; it has +been printed in the Persian in the appendix to Hyde's +‹Veterum Persarum Religio,› p. 499; and D'Herbelot alludes +to it in his <i>Bibliothčque</i>, under <i>Khiam</i>:<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a>—</p> + +<p>«‹It is written in the chronicles of the ancients that +this King of the Wise, Omar Khayyam, died at Naishapur +in the year of the Hegira 517 (<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1123); in science he +was unrivalled,—the very paragon of his age. Khwajah +Nizami of Samarcand, who was one of his pupils, relates +the following story: «I often used to hold conversations +with my teacher Omar Khayyam, in a garden; and one day +he said to me, ‹My tomb shall be in a spot where the +north wind may scatter roses over it.› I wondered at +the words he spake, but I knew that his were no idle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">5</a></span> +words.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> Years after, when I chanced to revisit Naishapur, +I went to his final resting-place, and lo! it was just +outside a garden, and trees laden with fruit stretched +their boughs over the garden wall, and dropped their +flowers upon his tomb, so that the stone was hidden under +them.»›»</p> + +<p>Thus far—without fear of trespass—from the «Calcutta +Review.» The writer of it, on reading in India +this story of Omar's grave, was reminded, he says, of +Cicero's account of finding Archimedes' tomb at Syracuse, +buried in grass and weeds. I think Thorwaldsen desired +to have roses grow over him; a wish religiously fulfilled +for him to the present day, I believe. However, to return +to Omar.</p> + +<p>Though the Sultan «shower'd favours upon him,» +Omar's Epicurean audacity of thought and speech caused +him to be regarded askance in his own time and country. +He is said to have been especially hated and dreaded +by the Sufis, whose practice he ridiculed, and whose +faith amounts to little more than his own, when stript +of the Mysticism and formal recognition of Islamism +under which Omar would not hide. Their poets, including +Hafiz, who are (with the exception of Firdausi) the +most considerable in Persia, borrowed largely, indeed, of +Omar's material, but turning it to a mystical use more +convenient to themselves and the people they addressed;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">6</a></span> +a people quite as quick of doubt as of belief; as keen +of bodily sense as of intellectual; and delighting in a +cloudy composition of both, in which they could float +luxuriously between heaven and earth, and this world +and the next, on the wings of a poetical expression, that +might serve indifferently for either Omar was too +honest of heart as well as of head for this. Having +failed (however mistakenly) of finding any Providence +but destiny, and any world but this, he set about making +the most of it; preferring rather to soothe the soul +through the senses into acquiescence with things as he saw +them, than to perplex it with vain disquietude after what +they <i>might</i> be. It has been seen, however, that his +worldly ambition was not exorbitant; and he very likely +takes a humorous or perverse pleasure in exalting the +gratification of sense above that of the intellect, in which +he must have taken great delight, although it failed to +answer the questions in which he, in common with all +men, was most vitally interested.</p> + +<p>For whatever reason, however, Omar, as before said, +has never been popular in his own country, and therefore +has been but scantily transmitted abroad. The +MSS. of his Poems, mutilated beyond the average casualties +of Oriental transcription, are so rare in the East as +scarce to have reached westward at all, in spite of all +the acquisitions of arms and science. There is no copy +at the India House, none at the Bibliothčque Nationale +of Paris. We know but of one in England: No. 140 of +the Ouseley MSS. at the Bodleian, written at Shiraz, +<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1460. This contains but 158 Rubaiyat. One in the +Asiatic Society's Library at Calcutta (of which we have +a copy) contains (and yet incomplete) 516, though swelled +to that by all kinds of repetition and corruption. So +Von Hammer speaks of <i>his</i> copy as containing about +200, while Dr. Sprenger catalogues the Lucknow MS. at +double that number.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> The scribes, too, of the Oxford<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">7</a></span> +and Calcutta MSS. seem to do their work under a sort +of protest; each beginning with a tetrastich (whether +genuine or not), taken out of its alphabetical order; the +Oxford with one of apology; the Calcutta with one of expostulation, +supposed (says a notice prefixed to the MS.) +to have arisen from a dream, in which Omar's mother +asked about his future fate. It may be rendered thus—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">«Oh Thou who burn'st in Heart for those who burn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In Hell, whose fires thyself shall feed in turn;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How long be crying, ‹Mercy on them, God!›<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why, who art Thou to teach, and He to learn?»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The Bodleian quatrain pleads Pantheism by way of +Justification.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">«If I myself upon a looser Creed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have loosely strung the Jewel of Good Deed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let this one thing for my Atonement plead:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That One for Two I never did mis-read.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The reviewer,<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> to whom I owe the particulars of Omar's +life, concludes his review by comparing him with Lucretius, +both as to natural temper and genius, and as acted +upon by the circumstances in which he lived. Both indeed +were men of subtle, strong, and cultivated intellect, +fine imagination, and hearts passionate for truth and +justice; who justly revolted from their country's false +religion, and false, or foolish, devotion to it, but who +fell short of replacing what they subverted by such better +<i>hope</i> as others, with no better revelation to guide them, +had yet made a law to themselves. Lucretius, indeed, +with such material as Epicurus furnished, satisfied himself +with the theory of a vast machine fortuitously constructed, +and acting by a law that implied no legislator; and so +composing himself into a Stoical rather than Epicurean +severity of attitude, sat down to contemplate the mechanical +drama of the Universe which he was part actor in; +himself and all about him (as in his own sublime description +of the Roman Theatre) discolored with the lurid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">8</a></span> +reflex of the curtain suspended between the spectator and +the sun. Omar, more desperate, or more careless of any +so complicated system as resulted in nothing but hopeless +necessity, flung his own genius and learning with a bitter +or humorous jest into the general ruin which their insufficient +glimpses only served to reveal; and, pretending +sensual pleasure as the serious purpose of life, only <i>diverted</i> +himself with speculative problems of Deity, Destiny, +Matter and Spirit, Good and Evil, and other such +questions, easier to start than to run down, and the pursuit +of which becomes a very weary sport at last!</p> + +<p>With regard to the present translation. The original +Rubaiyat (as, missing an Arabic guttural, these <i>Tetrastichs</i> +are more musically called) are independent stanzas, +consisting each of four lines of equal, though varied, +prosody; sometimes <i>all</i> rhyming, but oftener (as here +imitated) the third line a blank. Somewhat as in the +Greek alcaic, where the penultimate line seems to lift +and suspend the wave that falls over in the last. As +usual with such kind of Oriental verse, the Rubaiyat +follow one another according to alphabetic rhyme—a +strange succession of grave and gay. Those here selected +are strung into something of an eclogue, with perhaps a +less than equal proportion of the «Drink and make-merry» +which (genuine or not) recurs over-frequently in the +original. Either way the result is sad enough: saddest +perhaps when most ostentatiously merry: more apt to +move sorrow than anger toward the old Tentmaker, who, +after vainly endeavouring to unshackle his steps from +destiny, and to catch some authentic glimpse of <span class="smcap">To-morrow</span>, +fell back upon <span class="smcap">To-day</span> (which has outlasted so +many <span class="smcap">To-morrows</span>!) as the only ground he had got to +stand upon, however momentarily slipping from under +his feet.</p> + + +<p class="p2">While the second Edition of this version of Omar was +preparing, M. Nicolas, French Consul at Resht, published +a very careful and very good edition of the text, from a +lithograph copy at Teheran, comprising 464 Rubaiyat, +with translation and notes of his own.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">9</a></span></p> + +<p>M. Nicolas, whose edition has reminded me of several +things, and instructed me in others, does not consider +Omar to be the material Epicurean that I have literally +taken him for, but a Mystic, shadowing the Deity under +the figure of wine, wine-bearer, etc., as Hafiz is supposed +to do; in short, a Sufi Poet like Hafiz and the +rest.</p> + +<p>I cannot see reason to alter my opinion, formed as it +was more than a dozen years ago<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> when Omar was first +shown me by one to whom I am indebted for all I know +of Oriental, and very much of other, literature. He admired +Omar's genius so much, that he would gladly have +adopted any such interpretation of his meaning as M. +Nicolas' if he could.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> That he could not, appears by his +paper in the «Calcutta Review» already so largely quoted; +in which he argues from the Poems themselves, as well +as from what records remain of the Poet's Life.</p> + +<p>And if more were needed to disprove M. Nicolas' theory, +there is the Biographical Notice which he himself has +drawn up in direct contradiction to the interpretation of +the Poems given in his notes. Indeed I hardly knew +poor Omar was so far gone till his apologist informed +me. For here we see that, whatever were the wine that +Hafiz drank and sang, the veritable juice of the grape it +was which Omar used, not only when carousing with his +friends, but (says M. Nicolas) in order to excite himself +to that pitch of devotion which others reached by cries +and «hurlemens.» And yet, whenever wine, wine-bearer, +etc., occur in the text—which is often enough—M. Nicolas +carefully annotates «<i>Dieu</i>,» «<i>La Divinité</i>,» etc.: so carefully +indeed that one is tempted to think that he was indoctrinated +by the Sufi with whom he read the Poems. +A Persian would naturally wish to vindicate a distinguished +countryman: and a Sufi to enrol him in his +own sect, which already comprises all the chief poets in +Persia.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">10</a></span></p> + +<p>What historical authority has M. Nicolas to show that +Omar gave himself up «<i>avec passion ŕ l'étude de la philosophie +des Soufis</i>»? The doctrines of Pantheism, Materialism, +Necessity, etc., were not peculiar to the Sufi; nor +to Lucretius before them; nor to Epicurus before him; +probably the very original irreligion of thinking men from +the first; and very likely to be the spontaneous growth +of a philosopher living in an age of social and political +barbarism, under shadow of one of the Two-and-Seventy +Religions supposed to divide the world. Von Hammer +(according to Sprenger's «Oriental Catalogue») speaks of +Omar as «a Free-thinker and <i>a great opponent of Sufism</i>»; +perhaps because, while holding much of their doctrine, +he would not pretend to any inconsistent severity of +morals. Sir W. Ouseley has written a note to something +of the same effect on the fly-leaf of the Bodleian MS. +And in two Rubaiyat of M. Nicolas' own Edition Suf +and Sufi are both disparagingly named.</p> + +<p>No doubt many of these Quatrains seem unaccountable +unless mystically interpreted; but many more as unaccountable +unless literally. Were the Wine spiritual, for +instance, how wash the Body with it when dead? Why +make cups of the dead clay to be filled with—«<i>La Divinité</i>»—by +some succeeding Mystic? M. Nicolas himself +is puzzled by some «<i>bizarres</i>» and «<i>trop Orientales</i>» +allusions and images—«<i>d'une sensualité quelquefois révoltante</i>» +indeed—which «<i>les convenances</i>» do not permit +him to translate; but still which the reader cannot but +refer to «<i>La Divinité</i>».<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> No doubt also many of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">11</a></span> +Quatrains in the Teheran, as in the Calcutta, Copies, are +spurious; such <i>Rubaiyat</i> being the common form of epigram +in Persia. But this, at best, tells as much one +way as another; nay, the Sufi, who may be considered +the scholar and man of letters in Persia, would be far +more likely than the careless epicure to interpolate what +favours his own view of the poet. I observe that very +few of the more mystical Quatrains are in the Bodleian +MS. which must be one of the oldest, as dated at Shiraz, +<span class="smcap">a.h.</span> 865, <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1460. And this, I think, especially distinguishes +Omar (I cannot help calling him by his—no, +not Christian—familar name) from all other Persian +poets: That, whereas with them the poet is lost in his +song, the man in allegory and abstraction, we seem to +have the man—the <i>bonhomme</i>—Omar himself, with all +his humours and passions, as frankly before us as if we +were really at table with him, after the wine had gone +round.</p> + +<p>I must say that I, for one, never wholly believed in +the mysticism of Hafiz. It does not appear there was +any danger in holding and singing Sufi Pantheism, so +long as the poet made his salaam to Mohammed at the +beginning and end of his song. Under such conditions +Jelaluddin, Jami, Attar, and others sang; using wine +and beauty indeed as images to illustrate, not as a mask +to hide, the Divinity they were celebrating. Perhaps +some allegory less liable to mistake or abuse had been +better among so inflammable a people: much more so +when, as some think with Hafiz and Omar, the abstract +is not only likened to, but identified with, the sensual +Image; hazardous, if not to the devotee himself, yet to +his weaker brethren; and worse for the profane in proportion +as the devotion of the initiated grew warmer. +And all for what? To be tantalized with images of +sensual enjoyment which must be renounced if one would +approximate a God, who according to the doctrine, <i>is</i> +sensual matter as well as spirit, and into whose universe +one expects unconsciously to merge after death, without +hope of any posthumous beatitude in another world to +compensate for all one's self-denial in this. Lucretius'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">12</a></span> +blind Divinity certainly merited, and probably got, as +much self-sacrifice as this of the Sufi; and the burden of +Omar's song—if not «Let us eat»—is assuredly—«Let +us drink, for to-morrow we die!» And if Hafiz meant +quite otherwise by a similar language, he surely miscalculated +when he devoted his life and genius to so +equivocal a psalmody as, from his day to this, has been +said and sung by any rather than spiritual worshippers.</p> + +<p>However, as there is some traditional presumption, +and certainly the opinion of some learned men, in favour +of Omar's being a Sufi—and even something of a saint—those +who please may so interpret his wine and cup-bearer. +On the other hand, as there is far more historical +certainty of his being a philosopher, of scientific +insight and ability far beyond that of the age and country +he lived in; of such moderate worldly ambition as becomes +a philosopher, and such moderate wants as rarely +satisfy a debauchee. Other readers may be content to +believe with me that, while the wine Omar celebrates +is simply the juice of the grape, he bragged more than +he drank of it, in very defiance perhaps of that spiritual +wine which left its votaries sunk in hypocrisy or disgust.</p> + +<p class="right"> +EDWARD FITZGERALD.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">13</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2 class="p6"><a name="THE_FITZGERALD_FIRST_EDITION" id="THE_FITZGERALD_FIRST_EDITION"></a>THE FITZGERALD FIRST EDITION</h2> + +<blockquote><p>[<i>The first Edition of the translation of Omar Khayyam, which +appeared in 1859, differs so much from those which followed, +that it has been thought better to print it in full, instead of +merely attempting to record the differences</i>.]</p></blockquote> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1I" id="FITZ1I"></a>I.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1II" id="FITZ1II"></a>II.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Dreaming when Dawn's Left Hand was in the Sky<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I heard a Voice within the Tavern cry,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Awake, my Little ones, and fill the Cup<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Before Life's Liquor in its Cup be dry.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1III" id="FITZ1III"></a>III.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Tavern shouted—«Open then the Door!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You know how little while we have to stay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, once departed, may return no more.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1IV" id="FITZ1IV"></a>IV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Now the New Year reviving old Desires,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the <span class="smcap">White Hand of Moses</span> on the Bough<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">14</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1V" id="FITZ1V"></a>V.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Iram indeed is gone with all its Rose,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But still the Vine her ancient Ruby yields,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And still a Garden by the Water blows.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1VI" id="FITZ1VI"></a>VI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And David's Lips are lock't; but in divine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">High piping Pehlevi, with «Wine! Wine! Wine!<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Red</i> Wine!»—the Nightingale cries to the Rose<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That yellow Cheek of her's to incarnadine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1VII" id="FITZ1VII"></a>VII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Winter Garment of Repentance fling:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Bird of Time has but a little way<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To fly—and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1VIII" id="FITZ1VIII"></a>VIII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And look—a thousand Blossoms with the Day<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Woke—and a thousand scatter'd into Clay:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And this first Summer Month that brings the Rose<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall take Jamshyd and Kaikobad away.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1IX" id="FITZ1IX"></a>IX.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But come with old Khayyam, and leave the Lot<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Kaikobad and Kaikhosru forgot:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let Rustum lay about him as he will,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or Hatim Tai cry Supper—heed them not.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">15</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1X" id="FITZ1X"></a>X.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">With me along some Strip of Herbage strown,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That just divides the desert from the sown,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where name of Slave and Sultan scarce is known,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And pity Sultan Mahmud on his Throne.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XI" id="FITZ1XI"></a>XI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse—and Thou<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beside me singing in the Wilderness—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Wilderness is Paradise enow.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XII" id="FITZ1XII"></a>XII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">«How sweet is mortal Sovranty!»—think some:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Others—«How blest the Paradise to come!»<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ah, take the Cash in hand and waive the Rest;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh, the brave Music of a <i>distant</i> Drum!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XIII" id="FITZ1XIII"></a>XIII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Look to the Rose that blows about us—«Lo,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Laughing,» she says, «into the World I blow:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At once the silken Tassel of my Purse<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tear, and its Treasure on the Garden throw.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XIV" id="FITZ1XIV"></a>XIV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Turns Ashes—or it prospers; and anon,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lighting a little Hour or two—is gone.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">16</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XV" id="FITZ1XV"></a>XV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And those who husbanded the Golden Grain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And those who flung it to the Winds like Rain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Alike to no such aureate Earth are turn'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As, buried once, Men want dug up again.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XVI" id="FITZ1XVI"></a>XVI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose Doorways are alternate Night and Day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Abode his Hour or two, and went his way.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XVII" id="FITZ1XVII"></a>XVII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They say the Lion and the Lizard keep<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Bahram, that great Hunter—the Wild Ass<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Stamps o'er his Head, and he lies fast asleep.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XVIII" id="FITZ1XVIII"></a>XVIII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I sometimes think that never blows so red<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Rose as where some buried Cćsar bled;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That every Hyacinth the Garden wears<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dropt in its Lap from some once lovely Head.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XIX" id="FITZ1XIX"></a>XIX.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And this delightful Herb whose tender Green<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fledges the River's Lip on which we lean—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ah, lean upon it lightly! for who knows<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen!<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">17</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XX" id="FITZ1XX"></a>XX.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah, my Belovéd, fill the Cup that clears<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">To-day</span> of past Regrets and future Fears—<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>To-morrow</i>?—Why, To-morrow I may be<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n Thousand Years.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XXI" id="FITZ1XXI"></a>XXI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Lo! some we loved, the loveliest and best<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That Time and Fate of all their Vintage prest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And one by one crept silently to Rest.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XXII" id="FITZ1XXII"></a>XXII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And we, that now make merry in the Room<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They left, and Summer dresses in new Bloom,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ourselves must we beneath the Couch of Earth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Descend, ourselves to make a Couch—for whom?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XXIII" id="FITZ1XXIII"></a>XXIII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Before we too into the Dust descend;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and—sans End!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XXIV" id="FITZ1XXIV"></a>XXIV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Alike for those who for <span class="smcap">To-day</span> prepare,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And those that after a <span class="smcap">To-morrow</span> stare,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Fools! your Reward is neither Here nor There!»<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">18</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XXV" id="FITZ1XXV"></a>XXV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of the Two Worlds so learnedly, are thrust<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like foolish Prophets forth; their Words to Scorn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are scatter'd and their Mouths are stopt with Dust.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XXVI" id="FITZ1XXVI"></a>XXVI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh, come with old Khayyam, and leave the Wise<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To talk; one thing is certain, that Life flies;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One thing is certain, and the Rest is Lies;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Flower that once has blown for ever dies.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XXVII" id="FITZ1XXVII"></a>XXVII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Myself when young did eagerly frequent<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Doctor and Saint, and heard great Argument<br /></span> +<span class="i0">About it and about: but evermore<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Came out by the same Door as in I went.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XXVIII" id="FITZ1XXVIII"></a>XXVIII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">With them the Seed of Wisdom did I sow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And with my own hand labour'd it to grow:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«I came like Water, and like Wind I go.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XXIX" id="FITZ1XXIX"></a>XXIX.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Into this Universe, and <i>why</i> not knowing,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor <i>whence</i>, like Water willy-nilly flowing:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And out of it, as Wind along the Waste,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I know not <i>whither</i>, willy-nilly blowing.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">19</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XXX" id="FITZ1XXX"></a>XXX.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What, without asking, hither hurried <i>whence?</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, without asking, <i>whither</i> hurried hence!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Another and another Cup to drown<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Memory of this Impertinence!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XXXI" id="FITZ1XXXI"></a>XXXI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And many Knots unravel'd by the Road;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But not the Knot of Human Death and Fate.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XXXII" id="FITZ1XXXII"></a>XXXII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There was a Door to which I found no Key:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There was a Veil past which I could not see<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Some little Talk awhile of <span class="smcap">Me</span> and <span class="smcap">Thee</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">There seem'd—and then no more of <span class="smcap">Thee</span> and <span class="smcap">Me</span>.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XXXIII" id="FITZ1XXXIII"></a>XXXIII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Then to the rolling Heav'n itself I cried,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Asking, «What Lamp had Destiny to guide<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her little Children stumbling in the Dark?»<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And—«A blind Understanding!» Heav'n replied.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XXXIV" id="FITZ1XXXIV"></a>XXXIV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Then to this earthen Bowl did I adjourn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My Lip the secret Well of Life to learn:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Lip to Lip it murmur'd—«While you live<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drink!—for once dead you never shall return.»<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">20</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XXXV" id="FITZ1XXXV"></a>XXXV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I think the Vessel, that with fugitive<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Articulation answer'd, once did live,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And merry-make; and the cold Lip I kiss'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How many Kisses might it take—and give!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XXXVI" id="FITZ1XXXVI"></a>XXXVI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">For in the Market-place, one Dusk of Day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I watch'd the Potter thumping his wet Clay:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And with its all obliterated Tongue<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It murmur'd—«Gently, Brother, gently, pray!»<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XXXVII" id="FITZ1XXXVII"></a>XXXVII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah, fill the Cup:—what boots it to repeat<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How Time is slipping underneath our Feet:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unborn <span class="smcap">To-morrow</span>, and dead <span class="smcap">Yesterday</span>,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why fret about them if <span class="smcap">To-day</span> be sweet!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XXXVIII" id="FITZ1XXXVIII"></a>XXXVIII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">One Moment in Annihilation's Waste,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One Moment, of the Well of Life to taste—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Stars are setting and the Caravan<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Starts for the Dawn of Nothing—Oh, make haste!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XXXIX" id="FITZ1XXXIX"></a>XXXIX.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How long, how long, in infinite Pursuit<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of This and That endeavour and dispute?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Better be merry with the fruitful Grape<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Than sadden after none, or bitter, Fruit.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">21</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XL" id="FITZ1XL"></a>XL.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">You know, my Friends, how long since in my House<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For a new Marriage I did make Carouse:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XLI" id="FITZ1XLI"></a>XLI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">For «<span class="smcap">Is</span>» and «<span class="smcap">Is-not</span>» though <i>with</i> Rule and Line<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And «<span class="smcap">Up-and-down</span>» <i>without</i>, I could define,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I yet in all I only cared to know,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Was never deep in anything but—Wine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XLII" id="FITZ1XLII"></a>XLII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And lately, by the Tavern Door agape,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Came stealing through the Dusk an Angel Shape<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bearing a Vessel on his Shoulder; and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He bid me taste of it; and 'twas—the Grape!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XLIII" id="FITZ1XLIII"></a>XLIII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Grape that can with Logic absolute<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Two-and-Seventy jarring Sects confute:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The subtle Alchemist that in a Trice<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Life's leaden Metal into Gold transmute.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XLIV" id="FITZ1XLIV"></a>XLIV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The mighty Mahmud, the victorious Lord,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That all the misbelieving and black Horde<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Fears and Sorrows that infest the Soul<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Scatters and slays with his enchanted Sword.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">22</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XLV" id="FITZ1XLV"></a>XLV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But leave the Wise to wrangle, and with me<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Quarrel of the Universe let be:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, in some corner of the Hubbub coucht,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Make Game of that which makes as much of Thee.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XLVI" id="FITZ1XLVI"></a>XLVI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">For in and out, above, about, below,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis nothing but a Magic Shadow-show,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Play'd in a Box whose Candle is the Sun,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Round which we Phantom Figures come and go.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XLVII" id="FITZ1XLVII"></a>XLVII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">End in the Nothing all Things end in—Yes—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then fancy while Thou art, Thou art but what<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou shalt be—Nothing—Thou shalt not be less.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XLVIII" id="FITZ1XLVIII"></a>XLVIII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">While the Rose blows along the River Brink,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With old Khayyam the Ruby Vintage drink:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And when the Angel with his darker Draught<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Draws up to Thee—take that, and do not shrink.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1XLIX" id="FITZ1XLIX"></a>XLIX.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Tis all a Chequer-board of Nights and Days<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hither and thither moves, and mates, and slays,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And one by one back in the Closet lays.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">23</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1L" id="FITZ1L"></a>L.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Ball no Question makes of Ayes and Noes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But Right or Left as strikes the Player goes;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And He that toss'd Thee down into the Field,<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>He</i> knows about it all—<span class="smcap">He</span> knows—HE knows!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1LI" id="FITZ1LI"></a>LI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1LII" id="FITZ1LII"></a>LII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And that inverted Bowl we call The Sky,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whereunder crawling coop't we live and die,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lift not thy hands to <i>It</i> for help—for It<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rolls impotently on as Thou or I.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1LIII" id="FITZ1LIII"></a>LIII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">With Earth's first Clay They did the Last Man's knead,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And then of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yea, the first Morning of Creation wrote<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1LIV" id="FITZ1LIV"></a>LIV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I tell Thee this—When, starting from the Goal,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Over the shoulders of the flaming Foal<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Heav'n Parwin and Mushtara they flung,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In my predestined Plot of Dust and Soul<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">24</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1LV" id="FITZ1LV"></a>LV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Vine had struck a Fibre; which about<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If clings my Being—let the Sufi flout;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of my Base Metal may be filed a Key,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That shall unlock the Door he howls without,<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1LVI" id="FITZ1LVI"></a>LVI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And this I know: whether the one True Light,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Kindle to Love, or Wrath consume me quite,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One glimpse of It within the Tavern caught<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Better than in the Temple lost outright.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1LVII" id="FITZ1LVII"></a>LVII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh, Thou, who didst with Pitfall and with Gin<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beset the Road I was to wander in,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou wilt not with Predestination round<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Enmesh me, and impute my Fall to Sin?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1LVIII" id="FITZ1LVIII"></a>LVIII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh, Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And who with Eden didst devise the Snake;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is blacken'd, Man's Forgiveness give—and take<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<pre> + * * * * * * * +</pre> + +<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">25</a></span></p> + + + + +<h3 class="p6"><a name="KUZA-NAMA" id="KUZA-NAMA"></a>KUZA-NAMA</h3> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1LIX" id="FITZ1LIX"></a>LIX.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Listen again. One evening at the Close<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Ramazan, ere the better Moon arose,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In that old Potter's Shop I stood alone<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With the clay Population round in Rows.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1LX" id="FITZ1LX"></a>LX.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And, strange to tell, among that Earthen Lot<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Some could articulate, while others not:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And suddenly one more impatient cried—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Who <i>is</i> the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?»<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1LXI" id="FITZ1LXI"></a>LXI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Then said another—«Surely not in vain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My substance from the common Earth was ta'en,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That he who subtly wrought me into Shape<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Should stamp me back to common Earth again.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1LXII" id="FITZ1LXII"></a>LXII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Another said—«Why, ne'er a peevish Boy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Would break the Bowl from which he drank in Joy;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall He that <i>made</i> the Vessel in pure Love<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Fancy, in an after Rage destroy!»<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">26</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1LXIII" id="FITZ1LXIII"></a>LXIII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">None answer'd this; but after Silence spake<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A vessel of a more ungainly Make:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«They sneer at me for leaning all awry;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What! did the Hand then of the Potter shake?»<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1LXIV" id="FITZ1LXIV"></a>LXIV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Said one—«Folks of a surly Tapster tell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And daub his Visage with the smoke of Hell;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They talk of some strict Testing of us—Pish!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He's a Good Fellow, and 'twill all be well.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1LXV" id="FITZ1LXV"></a>LXV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Then said another with a long-drawn Sigh,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«My Clay with long oblivion is gone dry:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But, fill me with the old familiar Juice,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Methinks I might recover by-and-bye!»<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1LXVI" id="FITZ1LXVI"></a>LXVI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">So while the Vessels one by one were speaking,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One spied the little Crescent all were seeking:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And then they jogg'd each other, «Brother, Brother!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hark to the Porter's Shoulder-knot a creaking!»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<pre> + * * * * * * * +</pre> + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1LXVII" id="FITZ1LXVII"></a>LXVII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah, with the Grape my fading Life provide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And wash my Body whence the Life has died,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And in a Windingsheet of Vine-leaf wrapt,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So bury me by some sweet Garden-side.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">27</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1LXVIII" id="FITZ1LXVIII"></a>LXVIII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">That ev'n my buried Ashes such a Snare<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Perfume shall fling up into the Air,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As not a True Believer passing by<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But shall be overtaken unaware.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1LXIX" id="FITZ1LXIX"></a>LXIX.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Indeed the Idols I have loved so long<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have done my Credit in Men's Eye much wrong:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have drown'd my Honour in a shallow Cup,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And sold my Reputation for a Song.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1LXX" id="FITZ1LXX"></a>LXX.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Indeed, indeed, Repentance oft before<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I swore—but was I sober when I swore?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And then and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My thread-bare Penitence apieces tore.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1LXXI" id="FITZ1LXXI"></a>LXXI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And much as Wine has play'd the Infidel,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And robb'd me of my Robe of Honour—well,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I often wonder what the Vintners buy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One half so precious as the Goods they sell.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1LXXII" id="FITZ1LXXII"></a>LXXII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Alas, that Spring should vanish with the Rose!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That Youth's sweet-scented Manuscript should close!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The nightingale that in the Branches sang,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ah, whence, and whither flown again, who knows!<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">28</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1LXXIII" id="FITZ1LXXIII"></a>LXXIII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah, Love! could thou and I with Fate conspire<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Would not we shatter it to bits—and then<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1LXXIV" id="FITZ1LXXIV"></a>LXXIV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah, Moon of my Delight who know'st no wane,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Moon of Heav'n is rising once again:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How oft hereafter rising shall she look<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through this same Garden after me—in vain!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ1LXXV" id="FITZ1LXXV"></a>LXXV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And when Thyself with shining Foot shall pass<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Among the Guests Star-scatter'd on the Grass,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And in thy joyous Errand reach the Spot<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where I made one—turn down an empty Glass!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="right"> +TAMAM SHUD.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">29</a></span></p> + + + + +<h3 class="p6"><a name="NOTES" id="NOTES"></a>NOTES.</h3> + + +<p>(Stanza <span class="smcap">II</span>.) The «<i>False Dawn</i>»; <i>Subhi kazib</i>, a transient Light +on the Horizon about an hour before the <i>Subhi sadik</i>, or True Dawn; +a well-known Phenomenon in the East.</p> + +<p>(<span class="smcap">IV</span>.) New Year. Beginning with the Vernal Equinox, it must be +remembered; and (howsoever the old Solar Year is practically superseded +by the clumsy <i>Lunar</i> Year that dates from the Mohammedan Hegira) +still commemorated by a Festival that is said to have been appointed +by the very Jamshyd whom Omar so often talks of, and whose yearly +Calendar he helped to rectify.</p> + +<p>«The sudden approach and rapid advance of the Spring,» says +Mr. Binning,<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> «are very striking. Before the Snow is well off the +Ground, the Trees burst into Blossom, and the Flowers start forth +from the Soil. At <i>Now Rooz</i> [<i>their</i> New Year's Day] the Snow was +lying in patches on the Hills and in the shaded Valleys, while the +Fruit-trees in the Gardens were budding beautifully, and green Plants +and Flowers springing up on the Plains on every side—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">‹And on old Hyems' Chin and icy Crown<br /></span> +<span class="i0">An odorous Chaplet of sweet Summer buds<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is, as in mockery, set›—<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Among the Plants newly appeared I recognised some old Acquaintances +I had not seen for many a Year: among these, two varieties +of the Thistle—a coarse species of Daisy like the ‹Horse-gowan›—red +and white Clover—the Dock—the blue Corn-flower—and that +vulgar Herb the Dandelion rearing its yellow crest on the Banks of +the Water-courses.» The Nightingale was not yet heard, for the Rose +was not yet blown; but an almost identical Blackbird and Wood-pecker +helped to make up something of a North-country Spring.</p> + +<p>«The White Hand of Moses.» Exodus iv. 6; where Moses draws +forth his Hand—not, according to the Persians, «<i>leprous as Snow,</i>» +—but <i>white</i>, as our May-blossom in Spring perhaps. According to +them also the Healing Power of Jesus resided in His Breath.</p> + +<p>(<span class="smcap">V</span>.) Iram, planted by King Shaddad, and now sunk somewhere +in the Sands of Arabia. Jamshyd's Seven-ring'd Cup was typical of +the 7 Heavens, 7 Planets, 7 Seas, etc., and was a <i>Divining Cup</i>.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">30</a></span></p> + +<p>(<span class="smcap">VI</span>.) <i>Pehlevi</i>, the old Heroic <i>Sanskrit</i> of Persia. Hafiz also speaks +of the Nightingale's <i>Pehlevi</i>, which did not change with the People's.</p> + +<p>I am not sure if the fourth line refers to the Red Rose looking +sickly, or to the Yellow Rose that ought to be Red; Red, White, and +Yellow Roses all common in Persia. I think that Southey in his +«Common-Place Book,» quotes from some Spanish author about the +Rose being White till 10 o'clock; «<i>Rosa Perfecta</i>» at 2; and «<i>perfecta +incarnada</i>» at 5.</p> + +<p>(<span class="smcap">X</span>.) Rustum, the «Hercules» of Persia, and Zal his Father, +whose exploits are among the most celebrated in the Shahnama. +Hatim Tai, a well-known type of Oriental generosity.</p> + +<p>(<span class="smcap">XIII</span>.) A Drum—beaten outside a Palace.</p> + +<p>(<span class="smcap">XIV</span>.) That is, the Rose's Golden Centre.</p> + +<p>(<span class="smcap">XVIII</span>.) Persepolis: call'd also <i>Takht.i-Jamshyd</i>—<span class="smcap">The Throne +of Jamshyd</span>, «<i>King Splendid,</i>» of the mythical <i>Peshdadian</i> Dynasty, +and supposed (according to the Shahnama) to have been founded +and built by him. Others refer it to the Work of the Genie King, +Jan Ibn Jan—who also built the Pyramids—before the time of Adam.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bahram Gur</span>—<i>Bahram of the Wild Ass</i>—a Sassanian Sovereign—had +also his Seven Castles (like the King of Bohemia!) each +of a different Colour; each with a Royal Mistress within; each of +whom tells him a Story, as told in one of the most famous Poems of +Persia, written by Amir Khusraw: all these Seven also figuring (according +to Eastern Mysticism) the Seven Heavens; and perhaps the +Book itself that Eighth, into which the mystical Seven transcend, and +within which they revolve. The Ruins of Three of those Towers +are yet shown by the Peasantry; as also the swamp in which Bahram +sunk like the Master of Ravenswood while pursuing his <i>Gur</i>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Palace that to Heav'n his pillars threw,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Kings the forehead on his threshold drew—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I saw the solitary Ringdove there,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And «Coo, coo, coo,» she cried; and «Coo, coo, coo.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This Quatrain Mr. Binning found, among several of Hafiz and +others, inscribed by some stray hand among the ruins of Persepolis. +The Ringdove's ancient <i>Pehlevi Coo, Coo, Coo</i>, signifies also in Persian, +«<i>Where? Where? Where?</i>» In Attar's «Bird-parliament» she +is reproved by the Leader of the Birds for sitting still, and for ever +harping on that one note of lamentation for her lost Yusuf.</p> + +<p>Apropos of Omar's Red Roses in Stanza xix., I am reminded of +an old English superstition, that our Anemone Pulsatilla, or purple +«Pasque Flower» (which grows plentifully about the Fleam Dyke, +near Cambridge), grows only where Danish blood has been spilt.</p> + +<p>(<span class="smcap">XXI</span>.) A thousand years to each Planet.</p> + +<p>(<span class="smcap">XXXI</span>.) Saturn, Lord of the Seventh Heaven.</p> + +<p>(<span class="smcap">XXXII</span>.) <span class="smcap">Me-and-Thee</span>: some dividual Existence or Personality +distinct from the Whole.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">31</a></span></p> + +<p>(<span class="smcap">XXXVII</span>.) One of the Persian Poets—Attar, I think—has a pretty +story about this. A thirsty Traveller dips his hand into a Spring +of Water to drink from. By and by comes another who draws up +and drinks from an earthen Bowl, and then departs, leaving his Bowl +behind him. The first Traveller takes it up for another draught; but +is surprised to find that the same Water which had tasted sweet +from his own hand tastes bitter from the earthen Bowl. But a Voice—from +Heaven, I think—tells him the clay from which the Bowl is +made was once <i>Man</i>; and, into whatever shape renewed, can never +lose the bitter flavour of Mortality.</p> + +<p>(<span class="smcap">XXXIX</span>.) The custom of throwing a little Wine on the ground before +drinking still continues in Persia, and perhaps generally in the +East. Mons. Nicolas considers it «<i>un signe de libéralité, et en +męme temps un avertissement que le buveur doit vider sa coupe +jusqu' ŕ la derničre goutte</i>.» Is it not more likely an ancient Superstition; +a Libation to propitiate Earth, or make her an Accomplice in +the illicit Revel? Or, perhaps, to divert the Jealous Eye by some +sacrifice of superfluity, as with the Ancients of the West? With Omar +we see something more is signified; the precious Liquor is not lost, +but sinks into the ground to refresh the dust of some poor Wine-worshipper +foregone.</p> + +<p>Thus Hafiz, copying Omar in so many ways: «When thou drinkest +Wine pour a draught on the ground. Wherefore fear the Sin +which brings to another Gain?»</p> + +<p>(<span class="smcap">XLIII</span>.) According to one beautiful Oriental Legend, Azrael accomplishes +his mission by holding to the nostril an Apple from the +Tree of Life.</p> + +<p>This and the two following Stanzas would have been withdrawn, +as somewhat <i>de trop</i>, from the Text, but for advice which I least +like to disregard.</p> + +<p>(<span class="smcap">LI</span>.) Prom Mah to Mahi; from Fish to Moon.</p> + +<p>(<span class="smcap">LVI</span>.) A Jest, of course, at his Studies. A curious mathematical +Quatrain of Omar's has been pointed out to me; the more curious +because almost exactly parallel'd by some Verses of Bishop Donne's, +that are quoted in Izaak Walton's Lives! Here is Omar: «You and +I are the image of a pair of compasses; though we have two heads +(sc. our <i>feet</i>) we have one body; when we have fixed the centre for +our circle, we bring our heads (sc. feet) together at the end.» Dr. +Donne:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If we be two, we two are so<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As stiff twin-compasses are two;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy Soul, the fixt foot, makes no show<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To move, but does if the other do.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And though thine in the centre sit,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet when my other far does roam,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thine leans and hearkens after it,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And grows erect as mine comes home.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">32</a></span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Such thou must be to me, who must<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like the other foot obliquely run;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy firmness makes my circle just,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And me to end where I begun.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>(<span class="smcap">LIX</span>.) The Seventy-two Religions supposed to divide the World, +<i>including</i> Islamism, as some think: but others not.</p> + +<p>(<span class="smcap">LX</span>.) Alluding to Sultan Mahmud's Conquest of India and its +dark people.</p> + +<p>(<span class="smcap">LXVIII</span>.) <i>Fanusi khiyal</i>, a Magic-lantern still used in India; the +cylindrical Interior being painted with various Figures, and so lightly +poised and ventilated as to revolve round the lighted Candle within.</p> + +<p>(<span class="smcap">LXX</span>.) A very mysterious Line in the Original:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>O danad O danad O danad O——</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>breaking off something like our Wood-pigeon's Note, which she is +said to take up just where she left off.</p> + +<p>(<span class="smcap">LXXV</span>.) Parwin and Mushtari—The Pleiads and Jupiter.</p> + +<p>(<span class="smcap">LXXXVII</span>.) This Relation of Pot and Potter to Man and his Maker +figures far and wide in the Literature of the World, from the time +of the Hebrew Prophets to the present; when it may finally take the +name of «Pot theism,» by which Mr. Carlyle ridiculed Sterling's +«Pantheism.» <i>My</i> Sheikh, whose knowledge flows in from all quarters, +writes to me—</p> + +<p>«Apropos of old Omar's Pots, did I ever tell you the sentence I +found in Bishop Pearson on the Creed? ‹Thus are we wholly at the +disposal of His will, and our present and future condition framed and +ordered by His free, but wise and just, decrees. <i>Hath not the potter +power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto +honour, and another unto dishonour?</i> (Rom. ix. 21.) And can that +earth-artificer have a freer power over his <i>brother potsherd</i> +(both being made of the same metal), than God hath over him, who, +by the strange fecundity of His omnipotent power, first made the clay +out of nothing, and then him out of that?›»</p> + +<p>And again—from a very different quarter—«I had to refer the +other day to Aristophanes, and came by chance on a curious Speaking-pot +story in the <i>Vespć</i>, which I had quite forgotten.</p> + +<p> +Φιλοκλέων. Ἄκουε, μὴ φεῦγ'· ἐν Συβάρει γυνή ποτε 1. 1435<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">κατέαξ' ἐχῖνον.</span><br /> +<br /> +Κατήγορος. Ταῦτ' ἐγὼ μαρτύρομαι.<br /> +<br /> +Φι. Οὑχῖνος οὖν ἔχων τιν' ἐπεμαρτύρατο·<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Εἶθ' ἡ Συβαρῖτις εἶπεν, εἰ ναὶ τὰν κόραν</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">τὴν μαρτυρίαν ταύτην ἐάσας, ἐν τάχει</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">ἐπίδεσμον ἐπρία, νοῦν ἂν εἶχες πλείονα.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>«The Pot calls a bystander to be a witness to his bad treatment. +The woman says, ‹If, by Proserpine, instead of all this «testifying»<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">33</a></span> +(comp. Cuddie and his mother in «Old Mortality!») you would buy +yourself a rivet, it would show more sense in you!› The Scholiast +explains <i>echinus</i> as ἀγγος τι ἐκ κεράμον.»</p> + +<p>One more illustration for the oddity's sake from the «Autobiography +of a Cornish Rector,» by the late James Hamley Tregenna. +1871.</p> + +<p>«There was one old Fellow in our Company—he was so like a +Figure in the ‹Pilgrim's Progress› that Richard always called him +the ‹<span class="smcap">Allegory</span>,› with a long white beard—a rare Appendage in those +days—and a Face the colour of which seemed to have been baked +in, like the Faces one used to see on Earthenware Jugs. In our +Country-dialect Earthenware is called ‹<i>Clome</i>›; so the Boys of the +Village used to shout out after him—‹Go back to the Potter, old +Clome-face, and get baked over again.› For the ‹Allegory,› though +shrewd enough in most things, had the reputation of being <i>saift-baked</i>, +<i>i.e.</i>, of weak intellect.»</p> + +<p>(<span class="smcap">XC</span>.) At the Close of the Fasting Month, Ramazan (which makes +the Musulman unhealthy and unamiable), the first Glimpse of the +New Moon (who rules their division of the Year) is looked for with +the utmost Anxiety, and hailed with Acclamation. Then it is that +the Porter's Knot may be heard—toward the <i>Cellar</i>. Omar has +elsewhere a pretty Quatrain about the same Moon—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">«Be of Good Cheer—the sullen Month will die,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And a young Moon requite us by and by:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Look how the Old one, meagre, bent, and wan<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With Age and Fast, is fainting from the Sky!»<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">35</a></span></div></div> + + + + +<h2 class="p6"> +<small>AN ANALYSIS OF</small><br /> +<br /> +EDWARD FITZGERALD'S TRANSLATION<br /> +<br /> +<small>OF THE</small><br /> +<br /> +QUATRAINS OF OMAR KHAYYAM<br /> +<br /> +<small>(<i>Fifth Edition</i>)</small><br /> +<br /> +By EDWARD HERON-ALLEN<br /> +</h2> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">37</a></span></p> + + + + +<h3 class="p6"><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h3> + + +<p>The object with which this volume has been compiled +has been to set at rest, once and for ever, the vexed +question of how far Edward FitzGerald's incomparable +poem may be regarded as a translation of the Persian +originals, how far as an adaptation, and how far as +an original work. In the Introduction to my recently +published translation of the Ouseley MS. in the Bodleian +Library at Oxford, and more particularly in the Essay +which terminates the second edition of that work, I have +dwelt at considerable length upon the history of Edward +FitzGerald's poem and the influences of various Oriental +works which are traceable in it. As it is doubtful whether +the present volume will reach the hands of, or at any rate be +critically considered by, any students of the poem who +have not already had access to my former work, I do not +think that it would be either expedient or useful to repeat +in this place the information which is collected there, +but a short history of the major portion of Edward FitzGerald's +material is necessary, for the purpose of showing +why this question of translation, adaptation, or original +composition should have been a question open to lengthy +argument, and why it has been impossible to set it at +rest until the present time, when forty years have elapsed +since first Edward FitzGerald's poem attracted the attention +of those great scholars and poets who rescued it, as +recounted in the threadbare anecdote, from the oblivion +of the penny box.</p> + +<p>The influence of the Ouseley MS. upon the poem forms +the subject of the volume to which I have referred, and, +save in so far as it recurs in the parallels which give excuse<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">38</a></span> +for the present work, may be dismissed, but the +doubts which have sprung up as to the extent to which +Edward FitzGerald took, as his editor, Mr. Aldis Wright, +says, «great liberties with the original,» have arisen in +consequence of the vicissitudes which have befallen the +rest of the material from which the poet worked during +the construction of his first edition. We know that Prof. +Cowell made a copy of the Ouseley MS. for Edward +FitzGerald just before he went to India in August, 1856. +In another letter he says «I got a copy made for him +from the one MS. in the Bengal Asiatic Society's Library +at Calcutta soon after I arrived in November, 1856. It +reached FitzGerald June 14th, 1857, as I learn by a note +in his writing. Some time after this I sent him a copy +of that rare Calcutta printed edition which I got from my +Munshi.» To possess oneself therefore of full information +as to what material Edward FitzGerald really worked +from in making the original edition of his poem, it was +necessary to consult, line by line, and word by word, the +Calcutta MS. (noted as No. 1548 in the Bengal Asiatic +Society's Library) and the Calcutta <i>printed</i> edition of 1836,—in +addition, of course, to the Ouseley MS. Prof. Cowell +most generously placed at my disposal his copy of the +Calcutta MS., but, as he himself has recorded, the copy +was made by an inferior scribe in a hand which is exceedingly +difficult to read. I therefore communicated +with Mr. A.T. Pringle, Director of Indian Records in +the Home Department at Calcutta, himself a keen and +critical student of Omar Khayyam, with a view to getting +either a photographic reproduction, or a clean copy of +this MS. made for me. Careful search and widely spread +enquiry brought to light the fact that the MS. was lost, +stolen, or strayed, so that Prof. Cowell's copy was the +only record left of this portion of Edward FitzGerald's +material. This copy I sent out to India, and had copied +by a good writer, a copy being made at the same time to +replace that which had been stolen.</p> + +<p>I next addressed myself to the discovery of «that rare +Calcutta <i>printed</i> edition,» of whose existence, after searching +in vain every European State library and many others,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">39</a></span> +and every library in India of which I could learn, I began +to have grave doubts, thinking that Prof. Cowell had +inadvertently confused it with an edition <i>lithographed</i> +simultaneously at Calcutta and Teheran in 1836. In the +summer, however, when I had given up all hope, one of +Mr. Pringle's clerks picked up a copy of the long sought +book in the Bazar at Calcutta, printed from type at Calcutta +in 1836. A circumstance that greatly adds to the +interest of this discovery, whilst at the same time it very +greatly lessened my labours, lies in the fact that this edition +is evidently printed from the lost Calcutta MS. itself, +both introduction and quatrains being identical in readings +and sequence. A few quatrains, including the repetitions, +forming part of the MS. and nearly all those +written in the margins of the MS. are omitted, but nearly +all of these are added as an appendix to the book, the +printer explaining in a short note that they were found +in a <i>bayaz</i> (or book of extracts), and were added in that +place instead of in their <i>diwan</i> (or alphabetical) order on +account of their more than ordinarily antinomian tendency. +A very interesting question arises hereon, whether these +latter were printed into the book from the margins of the +MS. after being purposely or accidentally omitted, <i>or</i> +whether they were written on to the margin of the MS. +from this book at some date between 1836 and 1856. I +think that the former is the more likely explanation, but +in the absence of the MS. this question cannot be solved.</p> + +<p>I find myself therefore in the interesting position of +having the whole of FitzGerald's material before me; +and though (so perfectly did Edward FitzGerald identify +himself with his author's habit of mind) many other +MSS. contain quatrains that closely resemble his marvellous +paraphrase, there is nothing written by or attributed +to Omar Khayyam which served FitzGerald for inspiration +in making his first edition, other than what is to be +found in the three, or rather two, texts above referred +to. I have spoken already (and at length, in the Terminal +Essay to my former volume) of the influences exerted +by other Oriental poets upon his work, and especially +that of the Mantik ut-tair, or Parliament of Birds of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">40</a></span> +Ferid ud din Attar; where it was direct or exclusive I +have set it down in the parallels which follow. The result +of my observations may be summarised as follows:</p> + +<p>Of Edward FitzGerald's quatrains, forty-nine are faithful +and beautiful paraphrases of single quatrains to be +found in the Ouseley or Calcutta MSS., or both.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> + +<p>Forty-four are traceable to more than one quatrain, +and therefore may be termed «composite» quatrains.</p> + +<p>Two are inspired by quatrains found by FitzGerald +only in Nicolas' text.</p> + +<p>Two are quatrains reflecting the whole spirit of the +original poem.</p> + +<p>Two are traceable exclusively to the influence of the +Mantik ut-tair of Ferid ud din Attar.</p> + +<p>Two quatrains primarily inspired by Omar were influenced +by the Odes of Hafiz.</p> + +<p>And three, which appeared only in the first and second +editions and were afterwards suppressed by Edward FitzGerald +himself, are not—so far as a careful search +enables me to judge—attributable to any lines of the +original texts. Other authors may have inspired them, +but their identification is not useful in this case.</p> + +<p>The «fillip,» so to speak, given to FitzGerald's interest +in the ruba'iyat, by the publication of Monsieur J.B. +Nicolas' text and translation of 464 «<i>Les Quatrains de +Khčyam</i>» (Paris, 1867), must not be lost sight of, and +may be held responsible for many, if not most of the +variations and additions that differentiate the second, +third, and fourth editions from the first. This volume, +as FitzGerald himself records in his Introduction to the +second and subsequent editions, «reminded him of several +things and instructed him in others.» Two of FitzGerald's +later quatrains at least (Nos. 46 and 98) come from that +text, and these I have never seen in any MS. text; and, +in seeking the parallels to the present volume, I have +collated exactly 5,235 ruba'iyat in the original Persian.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">41</a></span> +I have appended to every Persian ruba'i in the following +pages, references to the texts in which I have found the +same ruba'i, in the identical form, or more or less varied, +and it will be observed that, for the most part, the +ruba'iyat which inspired FitzGerald are those which have +so appealed to the Oriental mind as to be represented in +nearly all the MSS. and texts under examination. The +Ouseley MS. being the first text that occupied FitzGerald's +attention, where his inspirational lines occur +both in that MS. and the Calcutta MS., I have given the +Ouseley MS. version, noting any important variations to +be found in the Calcutta MS. It will be observed that +FitzGerald's tendency, after the second edition, was to +eliminate quatrains which were merely suggested by the +general tone and sentiment of the original poem, and +not the reflection or translation of particular and identifiable +ruba'iyat. The reader is especially recommended, +when studying these parallels, to turn to the corresponding +quatrain in the first edition, for FitzGerald often +diverged further from the originals in making his subsequent +variations—notably, for instance, in the first and +forty-eighth quatrains.</p> + +<p>With regard to my own translations of the originals in +the following pages, I may remark that the excessive +baldness of the translation is intentional, for I deemed it +better to put before the lovers of FitzGerald's poem the +closest and most unpolished English rendering, rather +than to attempt to clothe the literal meaning of the originals +in graceful phraseology.</p> + +<p>I desire to record in this place my most cordial thanks, +for the invaluable assistance they have given me in the +preparation of this volume, to Mr. A.T. Pringle, Professor +E.B. Cowell, and Dr. E. Denison Ross, and to Mr. Aldis +Wright, Edward FitzGerald's literary executor, and his +publishers Messrs. Macmillan, for their very kind permission +to reproduce in this volume the poem which has +brought it into existence.</p> + +<p class="right"> +EDWARD HERON-ALLEN.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">42</a></span></p> + + + + +<h3 class="p6"><a name="EXPLANATION_OF_THE_REFERENCES_IN_THE" id="EXPLANATION_OF_THE_REFERENCES_IN_THE"></a>EXPLANATION OF THE REFERENCES IN THE +FOLLOWING PARALLELS</h3> + + +<p>The following are the alternative texts and translations +referred to in the following parallels:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>O.—The Ouseley MS. No. 140 in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, +dated <span class="smcap">a.h.</span> 865 (<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1460), containing 158 ruba'iyat. A facsimile +and translation with notes, etc., were published by H.S. +Nichols, Ltd. (London, 1898).</p> + +<p>C.—The Calcutta MS. No. 1548 in the Bengal Asiatic Society's Library +at Calcutta, containing 510 ruba'iyat. The original has +been lost or stolen, but a copy has been made from the copy +made for Edward FitzGerald at the instance of Prof. Cowell.</p> + +<p>L.—The Lucknow lithograph. The edition referred to is that of +<span class="smcap">a.h.</span> 1312 (<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1894), containing 770 ruba'iyat.</p> + +<p>W.—The text and metrical translation published by E.H. Whinfield +(London, Trübner, 1883), containing 500 ruba'iyat.</p> + +<p>N.—The text and prose translation published by J.B. Nicolas (Paris, +Imprimerie Impériale, 1867), containing 464 ruba'iyat.</p> + +<p>S.P.—The text lithographed at St. Petersburg, <span class="smcap">a.h.</span> 1308 (<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1888), +containing 453 ruba'iyat. Almost identical with N.</p> + +<p>B.—A collection of poems lithographed at Bombay, <span class="smcap">a.h.</span> 1297 (<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> +1880), containing 756 ruba'iyat of Omar. Almost identical +with L.</p> + +<p>B. ii.—The MS. in the Public Library at Bankipur, dated <span class="smcap">a.h.</span> 961-2 +(<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1553-4), containing 604 ruba'iyat.</p> + +<p>P.—The MS. in the Bibliothčque Nationale, Paris. Supplément +Persan, No. 823, ff. 92-113. Dated <span class="smcap">a.h.</span> 934 (<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1527), containing +349 ruba'iyat.</p> + +<p>P. ii.—Seven ruba'iyat written upon blank pages of MS. of the +Diwan of Emad. Dated <span class="smcap">a.h.</span> 786 (<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1384). Bibliothčque +Nationale, Paris. Supplément Persan, No. 745. The handwriting +is of the end of the 9th or beginning of the 10th century +of the Hijrah.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">43</a></span></p> + +<p>P. iii.—Six ruba'iyat written in a handwriting of the 11th century +of the Hijrah, on fol. 104 of a MS. collection of poems. Bibliothčque +Nationale, Paris. Supplément Persan, No. 793.</p> + +<p>P. iv.—The MS. in the Bibliothčque Nationale, Paris. Supplément +Persan, No. 826, ff. 391-394. Dated <span class="smcap">a.h.</span> 937 (<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1530), containing +76 ruba'iyat.</p> + +<p>P. v.—The MS. in the Bibliothčque Nationale, Paris. Ancien +Fonds., No. 349, ff. 181-210. Dated <span class="smcap">a.h.</span> 920 (<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1514), containing +213 ruba'iyat.</p> + +<p>T.—The MS. in the Library of the Nawab of Tonk. Apparently +copied about <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1840 principally from C., containing 369 ruba'iyat.</p> + +<p>E.C.—The quatrains translated by Prof. E.B. Cowell in his article +in the «Calcutta Review,» No. 59, March, 1858, p. 149.</p> + +<p>De T.—The ten quatrains translated from the Ouseley MS. by Garcin +de Tassy in his «<i>Note sur les Ruba'iyat d'Omar Khaďyām.</i>» +(Paris, Imprimerie Impériale, 1857.)</p> + +<p>V.—The metrical translation by John Payne, published by the Villon +Society (London, 1898), containing 845 quatrains.</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">44</a></span></p> + + + + +<h3 class="p6"><a name="ANALYSIS_OF" id="ANALYSIS_OF"></a>ANALYSIS OF<br /> +EDWARD FITZGERALD'S QUATRAINS</h3> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5I" id="FITZ5I"></a>I.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Wake! For the Sun, who scatter'd into flight<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Stars before him from the Field of Night,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drives Night along with them from Heav'n, and strikes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Sultan's Turret with a Shaft of Light.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This version of the opening quatrain is gradually +evolved through the four editions. The quatrain, which, +in the first edition runs:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And lo! the Hunter of the East has caught<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>is inspired by C. 134.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Sun casts the noose of morning upon the roofs,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Kai Khosru of the day, he throws a stone into the bowl:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drink wine! for the Herald of the Dawn, rising up,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hurls into the days the cry of «Drink ye!»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>:<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a>L. 235, B. 232, C. 134, P. 320, T. 138.—W. 233, V. 242.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">45</a></span></p> +<p>It is not surprising that Mr. Aldis Wright, in his editorial +note at the end of Messrs. Macmillan's definitive +edition (London, 1890), states that «the first stanza is +entirely his own,» for, in this precise form the ruba'i is +only to be found in the Calcutta MS. and in a recently +discovered MS. copied largely from it and belonging to +the Nawab of Tonk. The matter rests upon the word +«stone» in the second line. The word means «to fling a +stone into a cup or pot,» which is the signal for «striking +camp» among tribes of nomad Arabs. All the other +texts I have seen read wine for stone which has made +the translators (Whinfield and Payne) properly render the +passage «pours <i>wine</i> into the cup.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5II" id="FITZ5II"></a>II.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Before the phantom of False morning died,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Methought a Voice within the Tavern cried,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«When all the Temple is prepared within,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Why nods the drowsy Worshipper outside?»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The inspiration for this quatrain is to be found in C. 5:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There came one morning a cry from our tavern:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Ho! our crazy, tavern-haunting profligate<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Arise! that we may fill the measure with wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Ere they fill up our measure (of life).»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: L. 1, B. 1, C. 5, B. ii. 1, T. 3.—W. 1, N. 1, V. 1.</p> + +<p>In FitzGerald's quatrain there is traceable the influence +of one of the odes of Hafiz, translated by Prof. Cowell +(in «Fraser's Magazine,» September, 1854), which he +greatly admired. The lines in question run:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The morning dawns and the cloud has woven a canopy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The morning draught, my friends, the morning draught!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">46</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is strange that at such a season<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They shut up the wine tavern! Oh, hasten!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have they still shut up the door of the tavern?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Open, oh thou Keeper of the Gates!<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The influence of these lines is carried on into the next +quatrain.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5III" id="FITZ5III"></a>III.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Tavern shouted—«Open then the Door!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You know how little while we have to stay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, once departed, may return no more.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The inspiration for this quatrain is found in four +ruba'iyat of the Calcutta MS., viz.: 641, 207 (ll. 3 and 4), +273, 247.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">It is the hour for the morning draught, and the cock-crow, O Saki,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Here are we, and the wine, and the street of the vintners, O Saki,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What time is this for devotions? Be silent, O Saki,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let be the traditions,<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> and drink to the dregs, O Saki.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: L. 685, B. 676, C. 461, S.P. 448, B. ii. 599.—W. 483, N. 454, +V. 737.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Thou must drink wine, and gratify the pleasures of thy heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is clear that so long (and no longer) thou wilt remain in this world.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: L. 281, B. 277, C. 207.—V. 285.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">47</a></span></p><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Essence of Delight! Arise, it is the dawn!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Softly, softly drink wine, and play the harp<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For those who are asleep do not find much,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And none of those who are gone will ever come back.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: L. 431, B. 427, P. 289, C. 273, B. ii. 307, T. 173, P. v. 163.—N. 235,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">V. 469.</span><br /></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">It is the dawn! Arise, O strange boy!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fill up the crystal cup with ruby wine.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For this moment (of existence) that is lent thee in this corner of mortality<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou may'st seek long, but thou shalt not find it again.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: L. 402, B. 398, P. 224, S.P. 213, C. 247, B. ii. 282, P. iv. +21.—N. 214, V. 425.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5IV" id="FITZ5IV"></a>IV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Now the New Year reviving old Desires,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the <span class="smcap">White Hand of Moses</span> on the Bough<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is translated from two ruba'iyat in the +Ouseley MS., 13 and 80.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Now that there is a possibility of happiness for the world,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Every living heart<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> has yearnings towards the desert,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Upon every bough is the appearance of Moses' hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In every breeze is the exhalation of Jesus' breath.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: P. 194, O. 13.—W. 116.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">48</a></span></p><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Now is the time when by the spring breezes<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> the world is adorned,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And in hope of rain it opens its eyes,<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">The hands of Moses appear like froth upon the bough,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the breath of Jesus comes forth from the earth.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 80, L. 272, B. 268, C. 204, S.P. 186, P. 157.—W. 201, +N. 186, V. 276.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5V" id="FITZ5V"></a>V.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Iram indeed is gone with all his Rose,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But still a Ruby kindles in the Vine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And many a Garden by the Water blows.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This is a very composite quatrain, which cannot be +claimed as a translation of all, or the main part of any, +of the C. or O. quatrains. All the texts, as indeed all +Persian poetry, are filled with references of which we +find an echo here. In the authorities at our disposal, +Jamshyd is referred to in C. 254. The Ruby in the Wine +occurs in O. 39, 87, 149, and in C. 296, 304, 413, and 460. +The Garden by the Water occurs in O. 151 (C. 415), and +in C. 44 and 417. I have never found any reference +to the Garden of Iram in quatrains attributed to Omar +Khayyam.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5VI" id="FITZ5VI"></a>VI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And David's lips are lockt; but in divine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">High-piping Pehlevi, with «Wine! Wine! Wine!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Red Wine!»—the Nightingale cries to the Rose<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That sallow cheek of hers to 'incarnadine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain (eliminating the reference to David<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a>) is +translated from O. 67.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">49</a></span></p><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">It is a pleasant day, and the weather is neither hot nor cold;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The rain has washed the dust from the faces of the roses;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The nightingale in the Pehlevi tongue<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> to the yellow<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> rose<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cries ever: «Thou must drink wine!»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 67, L. 291, B. 287, S.P. 153, P. 230.—W. 174, N. 153, V. 294.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5VII" id="FITZ5VII"></a>VII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your Winter-garment of Repentance fling:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Bird of Time has but a little way<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To flutter—and the Bird is on the Wing.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This is another composite quatrain, and the similarity of +its sentiment to that of No. 94 (<i>post</i>) makes it somewhat +difficult to allocate the parallels to it. The first two lines +come from two quatrains in C. 431 and 460 (ll. 1 and 2).</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Every day I resolve to repent in the evening,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Repenting of the brimful goblet, and the cup;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">(But) now that the season of roses has come, I cannot grieve,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Give penitence for repentance<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> in the season of roses, O Lord!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 431, L. 655, B. 647, B. ii. 510.—W. 425, V. 704.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The flowers are blooming, bring wine, O Saki,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Abandon the practices of the zealot, O Saki.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 460, L. 684, B. 675, B. ii. 540.—V. 736.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">50</a></span></p><p>The image of the flight of time permeates the whole +of the quatrains. The precise image that FitzGerald +uses in ll. 3 and 4 I find in the 24th distich of the Mantik +ut-tair of Ferid ud din Attar.</p> + +<p>The bird of the sky flutters along its appointed path.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5VIII" id="FITZ5VIII"></a>VIII.*<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Whether at Naishapur or Babylon,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whether the Cup with sweet or bitter run,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Wine of Life keeps oozing drop by drop,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Leaves of Life keep falling one by one.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is taken mainly from O. 47 (C. 123). It +does not occur in the first edition, and FitzGerald was +evidently «reminded of it» by Nicolas, in whose reading +of the text, alone, the town of Naishapur is mentioned +instead of Balkh. Balkh and Babylon are constantly +interchanged in Persian <i>belles lettres</i>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Since life passes; what is Baghdad and what is Balkh?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When the cup is full, what matter if it be sweet or bitter?<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drink wine, for often, after thee and me, this moon<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Will pass on from the last day of the month to the first, and from the first to the last.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 47, L. 299, B. 226, C. 123, S.P. 105, P. 51, T. 99.—W. +134, N. 105, E.C. 2, V. 236.</p> + +<p>If closer reference for line 3 be required, it may be +found in N. 18, ll. 3 and 4.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">51</a></span></p><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Whether our Saki holds the neck of the bottle in his hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or the soul of wine oozes over the rim of the cup.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: L. 35, B. 32, S.P. 18.—W. 21, N. 18, V. 33.</p> + +<p>«The leaves of life» recur constantly either as leaves +of a tree, or of a book. FitzGerald's inspiration comes +from C. 377, ll. 1 and 2. (<i>Vide</i> also <i>sub.</i> No. 9.)</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">At the moment when I flee from destiny,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And fall like the leaf of the vine, from the branch.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 377, L. 574, B. 567, S.P. 265, B. ii. 353, T. 249.—W. +309, N. 266, V. 614.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5IX" id="FITZ5IX"></a>IX.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Each Morn a thousand Roses brings, you say;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yes, but where leaves the Rose of Yesterday?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And this first Summer month that brings the Rose<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall take Jamshyd and Kaikobad away.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain owes its origin to three separate ruba'iyat, +viz.: O. 135 (ll. 3 and 4) C. 500 (ll. 1 and 2), C. 481 +(ll. 3 and 4).</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Sit in the shade of the rose, for, by the wind, many roses<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have been scattered to earth and have become dust.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 135, L. 671, B. 663, S.P. 366, B. ii. 483, T. 277.—W. +414, N. 370, V. 720.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">By the coming of Spring and the return of December<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">The leaves of our life are continually folded.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 500, L. 745, B. 731, P. 242, S.P. 397, B. ii. 531.—W. +444, N. 402, V. 797.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">52</a></span></p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">For it has flung to earth a hundred thousand Jams and Kais,<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">This coming of the first-summer-month and departing of the month December.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 481, L. 712, B. 701, S.P. 449, P. 216, B. ii. 603.—W. +484, N. 455, V. 764.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5X" id="FITZ5X"></a>X.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Well, let it take them! What have we to do<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With Kaikobad the Great, or Kaikhosru?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let Zal<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> and Rustum bluster as they will,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or Hatim call to supper—heed not you.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The first two lines of this quatrain echo two fragments +from the MSS. O. 139 (ll. 3 and 4), and C. 57 (ll. 1 +and 2).</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The cup is a hundred times better than the kingdom of Feridun,<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">The tile that covers the jar is better than the crown of Kai Khosru.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 136, L. 650, B. 642, S.P. 378, P. 246, B. ii. 511, P. v. +178.—N. 382, V. 609.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">One draught of wine is better than the Empire of Kawus,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And is better than the Throne of Kobad and the Empire of Tus.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 57, L. 122, B. 119, S.P. 61, P. 297.—W. 64, N. 61, V. 121.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">53</a></span></p><p>The last two lines are translated from C. 503 (ll. 3 and 4).</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Bow not thy neck though Rustum son of Zal be thy foe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Be not grateful though Hatim Tai befriend thee.<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 503, L. 746, B. 732. S.P. 411, P. 150, B. ii. 552, P. iv. +23.—W. 455, N. 416, V. 798.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XI" id="FITZ5XI"></a>XI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">With me along the strip of Herbage strown<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That just divides the desert from the sown,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where name of Slave and Sultan is forgot—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Peace to Mahmud on his golden Throne!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XII" id="FITZ5XII"></a>XII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread—and Thou<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beside me singing in the Wilderness—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This pair of quatrains must be considered together. +They owe their origin to O. 155 and O. 149.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If a loaf of wheaten bread be forthcoming,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A gourd of wine, and a thigh-bone of mutton,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And then, if thou and I be sitting in the wilderness,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That were a joy not within the power of any Sultan.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 155, C. 474, L. 697, B. 688, S.P. 442, P. 229, B. ii. 591. +T. 292, P. iv. 24, P. v. 109.—W. 479, N. 448, V. 749.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I desire a flask of ruby wine and a book of verses<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Just enough to keep me alive,<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> and half a loaf is needful,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And then, that thou and I should sit in the wilderness,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is better than the kingdom of a Sultan.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 149, S.P. 408.—W. 452, N. 413, E.C. 13.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">54</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XIII" id="FITZ5XIII"></a>XIII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Some for the Glories of This World; and some<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sigh for the Prophet's Paradise to come;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ah, take the Cash, and let the Credit go<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor heed the rumble of a distant Drum!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The original of this quatrain is found in O. 34.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They say that the Garden of Eden is pleasant with houris:<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>I</i> say that the juice of the grape is pleasant.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hold fast this cash and keep thy hand from that credit,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For the noise of drums, brother, is pleasant from afar.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 34, C. 51, L. 95, B. 91, P. iii. 3, P. 323, P. v. 36.—W. 108, V. 95.</p> + +<p>C. 156 is almost identical in sentiment:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They say that there will be heaven and the Fount of Kausar,<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">That there, there will be pure wine and honey and sugar,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fill up the wine-cup and place it in my hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">(For) ready cash is better than a thousand credits.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 156, L. 297, B. 293, S.P. 169, B. ii. 223, T. 141.—N. 169, V. 300.</p> + +<p>C. 288 reproduces the same image, and we have a +parallel for ll. 1 and 2 in ll. 1 and 2 of C. 225.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Mankind are fallen from vain imagining into pride,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And are consumed in the search after houris and palaces.<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 225, L. 279, B. 275, S.P. 167, T. 163.—W. 184, N. 167, V. 283.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">55</a></span></p><p>O. 40 may also be cited for the closeness of its parallel +both to this, and to the preceding quatrain:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I know not whether he who fashioned me<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Appointed me to dwell in heaven or in dreadful hell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">(But) some food, and an adored one, and wine<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> upon the green bank of a field—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All these three are present cash to me: thine be the promised heaven!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 40, L. 89, B. 85, C. 107, S.P. 92, T. 84, P. v. 176.—W. +94, N. 92, V. 89.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XIV" id="FITZ5XIV"></a>XIV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Look to the blowing Rose about us—«Lo,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Laughing,» she says, «into the world I blow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At once the silken tassel of my Purse<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tear, and its Treasure on the Garden throw.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is translated from C. 383</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The rose said: I brought a gold-scattering hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Laughing, laughing, have I blown into the world,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I snatched the noose-string from off the head of my purse and I am gone!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I flung into the world all the ready money that I had.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 383 <i>only</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XV" id="FITZ5XV"></a>XV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And those who husbanded the Golden grain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And those who flung it to the winds like Rain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Alike to no such aureate Earth are turn'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As, buried once, Men want dug up again.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The inspiration for this quatrain comes from O. 68.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">56</a></span></p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ere that fate makes an attack upon thy head<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Give orders that they bring thee rose-coloured wine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou art not treasure, O heedless dunce! that thee<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They hide in the earth and then dig up again.<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 68, C. 151, L. 277, B. 273, S.P. 156, P. 336, P. v. 11.—W. 175, +N. 156, E.C. 31, V. 281.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XVI" id="FITZ5XVI"></a>XVI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Turns Ashes—or it prospers; and anon,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lighting a little hour or two—is gone.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The inspiration for this quatrain is to be found in C. +266.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O heart! Suppose all this world's affairs were within your power,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the whole world from end to end as you desire it,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And then, like snow in the desert, upon its surface<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Resting for two or three days, understand yourself to be gone!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 266, L. 420, B. 416, P. 144, B. ii. 260, T. 168.—V 443.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XVII" id="FITZ5XVII"></a>XVII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose Portals are alternate Night and Day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Abode his destined Hour, and went his way.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain owes its origin to C. 95.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">57</a></span></p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This worn caravanserai which is called the world<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is the resting-place of the piebald horse of night and day;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is a pavilion which has been abandoned by an hundred Jamshyds;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is a palace that is the resting-place of an hundred Bahrams.<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 95, L. 203, B. 200, S.P. 67, P. 120, B. ii. 42, T. 79 and 357.—W. +70, N. 67, V. 199.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XVIII" id="FITZ5XVIII"></a>XVIII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They say the Lion and the Lizard keep<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Bahram, that great Hunter—the Wild Ass<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Stamps o'er his Head, but cannot break his Sleep.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The original of this quatrain is C. 99.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In that palace where Bahram grasped the wine-cup;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The foxes whelp, and the lions take their rest;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bahram who was always catching (<i>gur</i>) wild asses,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To-day behold that the (<i>gur</i>) grave has caught Bahram.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 99, L. 210, B. 207, S.P. 69, P. 48 and 139, B. ii. 51, T. 82 and +294, P. iv. 12, P. v. 156.—W. 72, N. 69, V. 205.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XIX" id="FITZ5XIX"></a>XIX.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I sometimes think that never blows so red<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Rose as where some buried Cćsar bled<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That every Hyacinth the Garden wears<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dropt in her Lap from some once lovely Head.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The original of this quatrain is found in O. 43.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">58</a></span></p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Everywhere that there has been a rose or tulip bed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It has come from the redness of the blood of a king;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Every violet shoot that grows from the earth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is a mole<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> that was (once) upon the cheek of a beauty.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 43, C. 47, L. 110, B. 106, B. ii. 105, T. 304, P. v. 159.—W. +104, E.C. 4, V. 109.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XX" id="FITZ5XX"></a>XX.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And this reviving Herb whose tender Green<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fledges the River-lip on which we lean—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ah, lean upon it lightly! for who knows<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The original of this quatrain was C. 44.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">All verdure that grows upon the margin of a stream,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You may say, grows from the lip of one angel-natured;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beware not to set foot contemptuously upon the verdure,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For that verdure grows from the clay of one tulip-cheeked.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 44, L. 62, B. 59, S.P. 59, P. 64, T. 349, P. iv. 20.—W. 62, +N. 59, V. 61.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XXI" id="FITZ5XXI"></a>XXI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah, my Belovéd, fill the Cup that clears<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">To-day</span> of past Regrets and future Fears:<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>To-morrow!</i>—Why, To-morrow I may be<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n thousand Years.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is translated from C. 348.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">59</a></span></p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Come, O friend! and let us not suffer anguish concerning the morrow.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let us take advantage of these few ready-money moments,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When, to-morrow, we depart from the face of the earth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We shall be equal with those who went seven thousand years ago.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 348, L. 546, B. 540, S.P. 268, P. 122, B. ii. 351, T. 233, P. v. +96.—W. 312, N. 269, V. 586.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XXII" id="FITZ5XXII"></a>XXII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">For some we loved, the loveliest and the best<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That from his Vintage rolling Time hath prest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And one by one crept silently to rest.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The inspiration for this quatrain is found in C. 185.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">All my sympathetic friends have left me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One by one they have sunk low at the foot of Death.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the fellowship of souls they were cup-companions,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A turn or two before me they became drunk.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 185, L. 381, B. 377, P. ii. 4, B. ii. 141.—W. 219, V. 379.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XXIII" id="FITZ5XXIII"></a>XXIII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And we, that now make merry in the Room<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They left, and Summer dresses in new bloom,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ourselves must we beneath the Couch of Earth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Descend—ourselves to make a Couch—for whom?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The main inspiration of this quatrain comes from C. +388.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">60</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Arise, and do not sorrow for this fleeting world,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Be at peace, and pass through the world with happiness.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If the nature of the world were constant<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The turn of others would not have descended to you yourself.<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 388, L. 585, B. 578, S.P. 322, P. 159 and 178, B. ii. 430, T. +264, P. iv. 29 and 62.—W. 366, N. 325, V. 632.</p> + +<p>Combined with the suggestion contained in this ruba'i, +we find the echo of a sentiment that recurs continually +in the originals, <i>e.g.</i>, C. 82 (ll. 3 and 4) and O. 129 (ll. 3 +and 4).</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This verdure, which for the present is my pleasure-ground<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Until the verdure (springing) from my clay shall become a pleasure-ground—for whom?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 82, L. 191, B. 188, S.P. 70, P. 305, B. ii. 36, T. 63 and 351.—W. 73, +N. 70, V. 187.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Sit upon the greensward, O Idol, for it will not be long<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere that greensward shall grow from my dust and thine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 129, C. 416, L. 634, B. 626, S.P. 345, P. 47, B. ii. 464, P. v. +131—W. 390, N. 348, E.C. 3, V. 683.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XXIV" id="FITZ5XXIV"></a>XXIV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Before we too into the Dust descend;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dust into Dust, and under Dust to lie,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and—sans End!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The inspiration for this quatrain is found in the following +(O. 76 and 35).</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">61</a></span></p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Do not allow sorrow to embrace thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor an idle grief to occupy thy days,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Forsake not the book and the lover's lips and the green bank of the field,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere that the earth enfold thee in its bosom.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 76, C. 173, L. 315, B. 311, P. 189, B. ii. 233, T. 121, P. v. 39.—de +T. 9, V. 317.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Drink wine, for thou wilt sleep long beneath the clay<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Without an intimate, a friend, a comrade, or a mate.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 35, C. 80, L. 188, B. 185, P. 284, T. 60.—W. 107, V. 184.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XXV" id="FITZ5XXV"></a>XXV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Alike for those who for <span class="smcap">To-day</span> prepare,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And those that after some <span class="smcap">To-morrow</span> stare,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Fools! your Reward is neither Here nor There.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The inspiration for this quatrain is in C. 396.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Some are immersed in contemplation of doctrine and faith,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Others stand stupefied between doubt and certainty,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Suddenly a Muezzin, from his lurking place, cries out<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«O Fools! the Road<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> is neither here nor there.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 396, L. 591, B. 584, S.P. 324, P. iii. 6, P. 65.—W. 376, N. +337, V. 638.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XXVI" id="FITZ5XXVI"></a>XXVI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of the Two Worlds so wisely—they are thrust<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like foolish Prophets forth; their Words to scorn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are scatter'd, and their Mouths are stopt with dust.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is taken from O. 140 and C. 236.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">62</a></span></p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Those, O Saki, who have gone before us,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have fallen asleep, O Saki, in the dust (or <i>khwab</i> sleep) of self-esteem,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Go thou and drink wine, and hear the truth from me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whatever they have said, O Saki, is but wind!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 140, C. 453, L. 687, B. 678, S.P. 380, P. 260, B. ii. 525, T. +279, P. v. 22.—W 428, N. 384, V. 739.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Those who are the cream of the existence of mankind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Spur the Burak of their thoughts up to the highest heaven,<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the study of your being, like heaven itself<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their heads are turned, and overset, and spinning.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 236, L. 326, B. 322, S.P. 120, T. 155, W. 147, N. 120, V. 328.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XXVII" id="FITZ5XXVII"></a>XXVII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Myself when young did eagerly frequent<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Doctor and Saint, and heard great argument<br /></span> +<span class="i0">About it and about: but evermore<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Came out by the same door wherein I went.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XXVIII" id="FITZ5XXVIII"></a>XXVIII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">With them the seed of Wisdom did I sow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And with mine own hand wrought to make it grow;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«I came like Water, and like Wind I go.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>These two quatrains must be considered together. They +are inspired by O. 121, C. 281, and O. 72.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">For a while, when young, we frequented a teacher,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For a while we were contented with our proficiency;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Behold the end of the discourse:—what happened to us?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We came like water and we went like wind.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 121, L. 544, B. 538, B. ii. 420, P. v. 99.—W 353, V. 584.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">63</a></span></p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Being (once) a falcon, I flew from the World of mystery,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That from below I might soar to the heights above;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But, not finding there any intimate friend,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I came out by the same door wherein I went.<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 281, L. 429, B. 425, S.P. 224, P. 30, B. ii. 295, T. 184.—W. +264, N. 225, V. 467.</p> + +<p>A quatrain that probably contributed to FitzGerald's +verse is:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">No one has solved the tangled secrets of eternity,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No one has set foot beyond the orbit (of human under-standing),<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Since, so far as I can see, from tyro to teacher,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Impotent are the hands of all men born of women.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 72, C. 176, L. 357, B. 353, S.P. 175, B. ii. 211, P. v. 210—W. +190, N. 175, V. 356.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XXIX" id="FITZ5XXIX"></a>XXIX.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Into this Universe, and <i>Why</i> not knowing<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor <i>Whence</i>, like Water willy-nilly flowing;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And out of it, as Wind along the Waste,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I know not <i>Whither</i>, Willy-nilly blowing.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The inspiration for this quatrain is to be found in the +following: C. 235 and O. 20 (ll. 1 and 2).</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">He first brought me in confusion into existence,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What do I gain from my life save my amazement at it?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We went away against our will, and we know not what was<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The purpose of this coming, and going, and being.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 235, L. 324, B. 320, S.P. 117, T. 153.—W. 145, N. 117, +V. 326.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">64</a></span></p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Like water in a great river and like wind in the desert,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Another day passes out of the period of my existence.<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 20, C. 23 and 55, L. 84, B. 80, S.P. 22, P. ii. 2, P. 162, +B. ii. 24 and 88, T. 22 and 305, P. v. 140 and 186, W. 26, N. 22 and +42, V. 83.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XXX" id="FITZ5XXX"></a>XXX.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What, without asking, hither hurried <i>Whence</i>?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, without asking, <i>Whither</i> hurried hence!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh, many a Cup of this forbidden Wine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Must drown the memory of that insolence!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain owes its origin to two ruba'iyat in O., +viz., 21 and 151.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Seeing that my coming was not in my power at the Day of Creation,<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And that my undesired departure hence is a purpose fixed (for me),<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Get up and gird well thy loins, O nimble cup-bearer,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For I will wash down the misery of the world in wine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 21, C. 49, L. 94, B. 90, B. ii. 86, P. v. 123.—W. 110, V. 94.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Had I charge of the matter I would not have come,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, likewise, could I control my going, how should I have gone?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There could have been nothing better than that in this world<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I had neither come, nor gone, nor lived?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 157, C. 494, L. 732, B. 720, P. 88, B. ii. 590 and 593, P. +iv. 17, P. v. 130.—W. 490, E.C. 30, N. 450, V. 785.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">65</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XXXI" id="FITZ5XXXI"></a>XXXI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And many a Knot unravel'd by the Road;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But not the Master-knot of Human Fate.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is translated from C. 314.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">From the Nadir of the earthly globe, up to the Zenith of Saturn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I solved all the problems of heaven;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I escaped from the bondage of all trickery and deceit,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All obstacles were removed save only the Bond of Fate.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 314, L. 491, B. 487, B. ii. 338, T. 215.—W. 303, V. 531.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XXXII" id="FITZ5XXXII"></a>XXXII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There was the Door to which I found no Key;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There was the Veil through which I might not see:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Some little talk awhile of <span class="smcap">Me</span> and <span class="smcap">Thee</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">There was—and then no more of <span class="smcap">Thee</span> and <span class="smcap">Me</span>.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The main inspiration of this quatrain is found in C. 387.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Neither thou nor I know the secret of Eternity,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And neither thou nor I can de-cypher this riddle;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There is a talk behind the Curtain<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> of me and thee<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But when the Curtain falls neither thou nor I are there.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 387, L. 581, B. 574, P. 33, B. ii. 421, T. 260.—W. 389, V. 628.</p> + +<p>We also see in the quatrain the influence of O. 29 and +C. 193, ll. 1 and 2.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">66</a></span></p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">No one can pass behind the Curtain (that veils) the secret,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The mind of no one is cognizant of what is there:<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><i>Ref.:</i> O. 29, C. 56, L. 61, B. 58, S.P. 43, P. 63, B. ii. 103, P. v. 188.—W. 47, +N. 44, V. 60.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">No one can pass behind the Curtain of Fate<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No one is master of the Secret of Destiny.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><i>Ref.:</i> C. 193, L. 345, B. 341, S.P. 177, B. ii. 212.—W 192, N. 177, +V. 346.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XXXIII" id="FITZ5XXXIII"></a>XXXIII.*</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Earth could not answer; nor the seas that mourn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In flowing Purple, of their Lord forlorn;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor rolling Heaven, with all his Signs reveal'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And hidden by the sleeve of Night and Morn.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This is the quatrain (not No. 31 as stated by Mr. Aldis +Wright in his Editorial Note) taken by Edward FitzGerald +from the Mantik ut-tair of Ferid ud din Attar. +The story which inspired it begins at distich No. 972, +and is as follows:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">An observer of spiritual things approached the sea<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And said «O sea, why are you blue?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why do you wear the robe of mourning?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There is no fire, why do you boil?»<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sea made answer to that good-hearted one,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«I weep for my separation from the Friend,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Since by reason of my impotence I am not worthy of Him,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I have made my robe blue on account of my sorrow for Him.»<br /></span> +</div></div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">67</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XXXIV" id="FITZ5XXXIV"></a>XXXIV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Then of the <span class="smcap">Thee</span> in <span class="smcap">Me</span> who works behind<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Veil, I lifted up my hands to find<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A lamp amid the Darkness; and I heard,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As from Without—«<span class="smcap">The Me within Thee Blind</span>!»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>That Edward FitzGerald was not following any particular +ruba'iyat of the original MSS. is clearly indicated +by the great variation observable in the forms that this +quatrain successively assumed in the first, second and +third editions. It suggests an exposition of the Sufi doctrine +of the emanation of the mortal Creature from God +the Creator, and his reabsorption into God. There is a +quatrain in L. (No. 641) and in B. ii. (No. 457) which +is akin to it, but FitzGerald was not acquainted with +these texts. (It is No. 400 in W.) I have no doubt that +FitzGerald's 34th quatrain was suggested to him by two +intricate passages in the Mantik ut-tair, commencing respectively +at distich 3090 and distich 3735. The first of +these may be translated:</p> + +<p>«The Creator of the World spoke thus to David from +behind the Curtain of the Secret: ‹For everything in the +world, good or bad, visible or invisible, thou canst find +a substitute, but for Me, thou canst find neither substitute +nor equal. Since nothing can be substituted for Me, +do not cease to abide in Me. I am thy Soul, destroy +not thou thy Soul, I am necessary to thee, O thou my +servant. Seek not to exist apart from Me.›»</p> + +<p>The second passage reads: «Since long ago, really, I +am thee, and thou art Me, we two are but One. Art +thou Me, or am I thee? is there any duality in the +matter? Either I am thee, or thou art Me, or thou, +thou art thyself. Since thou art Me and I am thee for +ever, our two bodies are One: Salutation!»</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">68</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XXXV" id="FITZ5XXXV"></a>XXXV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Then to the Lip of this poor earthen Urn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I lean'd, the Secret of my Life to learn;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Lip to Lip it murmur'd—«While you live,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Drink!—for, once dead, you never shall return.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is translated from O. 100:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In great desire I pressed my lips to the lip of the jar,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To enquire from it how long life might be attained;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It joined its lip to mine and whispered,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Drink wine! for to this world thou returnest not.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 100, C. 283, L. 446, B. 442, P. 99, B. ii. 303, T. 185, P. +v. 193.—W. 274, E.C. 25, V. 482.</p> + +<p>C. 489 is a mystic and doctrinal quatrain containing +the same injunction.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Drink wine! for I have told you a thousand times<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There is no returning for you; when you are gone, you are <i>gone</i>!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 489, L. 723, B. 712, S.P. 385, B. ii. 526, P. iv. 67, P. v. +104—W. 431, N. 389, V. 775.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XXXVI" id="FITZ5XXXVI"></a>XXXVI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I think the Vessel, that with fugitive<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Articulation answer'd, once did live,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And drink; and Ah! the passive Lip I kiss'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How many Kisses might it take—and give!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The inspiration for this quatrain occurs in O. 9.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This jug was once a plaintive lover, as I am,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And was in pursuit of one of comely face;<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">This handle that thou seest upon its neck<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is an arm that once lay around the neck of a friend.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 9, C. 48 and 426, L. 81, B. 77, S.P. 28, P. 108, B. ii. 28, +P. v. 142.—W. 32, N. 28, E.C. 5, V. 80.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">69</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XXXVII" id="FITZ5XXXVII"></a>XXXVII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">For I remember stopping by the way<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To watch a Potter thumping his wet Clay;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And with its all-obliterated Tongue<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It murmur'd—«Gently, Brother, gently, pray!»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The original of this quatrain is O. 89.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I saw a potter in the bazaar yesterday,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He was violently pounding some fresh clay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And that clay said to him in mystic language,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«I was once like thee—so treat me well.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 89, C. 261, L. 411, B. 407, S.P. 210, P. 100, B. ii. 274, P. +iv. 71, P. v. 198.—W. 252, N. 211, V. 434.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XXXVIII" id="FITZ5XXXVIII"></a>XXXVIII.*</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And has not such a Story from of Old<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Down Man's successive generations roll'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of such a clod of saturated Earth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cast by the maker into Human mould?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain, which is in the nature of a reflection +upon the three preceding ones, conveys an idea which is +constantly recurrent in the ruba'iyat. Edward FitzGerald +himself records, in a note, that, in composing this quatrain, +he had in mind a very beautiful story in the Mantik +ut-tair of the water of a certain well which, ordinarily +sweet, became bitter when drawn in a vessel made from +clay which once had been a man. For its inclusion in this +poem FitzGerald had the support of two (among many) +quatrains from C. 475 and 488.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I pondered over the workshop of a potter;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the shadow of the wheel I saw that the master, with his feet,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Made handles and covers for goblets and jars,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Out of the skulls of kings and the feet of beggars.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 475, L. 698, B. 689, S.P. 426, P. 103, B. ii. 576.—W. +466, N. 431, V. 750.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">70</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I made my way into the (abode of the) potters of the age,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Every moment shewed some new skill with clay;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I saw, though men devoid of vision saw it not,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My ancestors' dust on the hands of every potter.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 488, L. 721, B. 710, P. 101, B. ii. 543.—W 493, V. 773.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XXXIX" id="FITZ5XXXIX"></a>XXXIX.*</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And not a drop that from our Cups we throw<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For Earth to Drink of, but may steal below<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To quench the fire of Anguish in some Eye<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There hidden—far beneath and long ago.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is taken from ll. 1 and 2 of O. 81</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Every draught that the Cup-bearer scatters upon the earth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Quenches the fire of anguish in some burning eye.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 81, C. 180, L. 367, B. 363, S.P. 188, P. 231, B. ii. 241, +P. v. 187.—W. 203, N. 188, V. 366.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XL" id="FITZ5XL"></a>XL.*</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">As then the Tulip for her morning sup<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Heav'nly Vintage from the soil looks up,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Do you devoutly do the like, till Heav'n<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To Earth invert you—like an empty Cup.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The original of this quatrain is C. 37.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Like a tulip in the spring uplift your cup;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If you get a (happy) opportunity with a moon-faced one,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drink wine with cheerfulness, for this worn-out sky<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Will suddenly invert you to the level of the earth.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 37, L. 136, B. 133, S.P. 39, B. ii. 84, T. 40 and 311.—W +44, N. 40, V. 135.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">71</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XLI" id="FITZ5XLI"></a>XLI.*</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Perplext no more with Human or Divine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To-morrow's tangle to the winds resign,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And lose your fingers in the tresses of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Cypress-slender Minister of Wine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The sentiment of this quatrain is very recurrent. I +think that FitzGerald's first inspiration comes from O. 73.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Set limits to thy desire for worldly things and live content,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sever the bonds of thy dependence upon the good and bad of life,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Take wine in hand and (play with) the curls of a loved one; for quickly<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All passeth away—and these few days will not remain.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 73, C. 179, L. 256, B. 253, S.P. 176.—W. 191, N. 176, +V. 262.</p> + +<p>Ll. 3 and 4 of O. 118 suggest the quatrain also.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Let us cease to strive after our long delaying hope<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And play with long ringlets and the handle of the lute.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 118, L. 571, B. 564, S.P. 293, B. ii. 391.—W. 332, N. +294, V. 611.</p> + +<p>Ll. 1 and 2 of O. 131 are also in point:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Flee from the study of all sciences—'tis better thus,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And twine thy fingers in the curly locks of a loved one—'tis better thus.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 131, C. 443, L. 670, B. 662, S.P. 356, P. 296, B. ii. 480, +T. 276, P. v. 158.—W. 426, N. 359, V. 719.</p> + +<p>FitzGerald was probably «reminded of» these by Nicolas +whose quatrains 48, 155, and 359 (C. 443) convey +the same idea.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">72</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XLII" id="FITZ5XLII"></a>XLII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">End in what All begins and ends in—Yes;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Think then you are <span class="smcap">To-day</span> what <span class="smcap">Yesterday</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">You were—<span class="smcap">To-morrow</span> you shall not be less.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The inspiration for this quatrain is contained in the +following, O. 102 and C. 412.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Khayyam, if thou art drunk with wine,<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> be happy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If thou reposest with one tulip-cheeked, be happy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Since the end of all things is that thou wilt be naught,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whilst thou art, imagine that thou art not—be happy!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 102, C. 291, L. 454, B. 450, S.P. 241, P. 202, B. ii. 322, +T. 192 and 296, P. iv. 26, P. v. 5.—W. 282, N. 242, V. 493.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Remember not the day that has passed away from thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Be not hard upon the morrow that has not come,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Think not about thine own coming or departure,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drink wine <i>now</i>, and fling not thy life to the winds.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 412, L. 619, B. 611, P. 116, B. ii. 444, P. v. 121.—V. 666.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XLIII" id="FITZ5XLIII"></a>XLIII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">So when that Angel of the darker Drink<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At last shall find you by the river-brink,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, offering his Cup, invite your Soul<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Forth to your Lips to quaff—you shall not shrink.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain owes its origin to C. 256.<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">73</a></span></p><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In the circle of the firmament, whose depths are invisible,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There is a cup which, in due time, they will cause all to drink;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When thy turn comes, do not utter lamentations,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drink wine gaily for it has come to be thy turn.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 256, L. 408, B. 404, B. ii. 273.—W. 254, V. 431.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XLIV" id="FITZ5XLIV"></a>XLIV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Why, if the Soul can fling the Dust aside,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And naked on the Air of Heaven ride,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Were't not a Shame—were't not a Shame for him<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In this clay carcase crippled to abide?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is translated from O. 145.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh Soul! if thou canst purify thyself from the dust of the body,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou, naked spirit, canst soar in the heavens,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Empyrean is thy sphere—let it be thy shame,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That thou comest and art a dweller within the confines of earth.<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 145, C. 447, L. 707, B. 697, S.P. 389, P. 111, B. ii. 523.—W. 436, +N. 394, E.C. 7, V. 759.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XLV" id="FITZ5XLV"></a>XLV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Tis but a Tent where takes his one day's rest<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A Sultan to the realm of Death addrest;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Sultan rises, and the dark Ferrash<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Strikes, and prepares it for another Guest.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is translated from C. no. 110.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">74</a></span></p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Khayyam! thy body surely resembles a tent;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The soul is a Sultan and the halting-place is the perishable world,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The ferrash of fate, preparing for the next halting-place,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Will overthrow this tent when the Sultan has arisen.<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 110, L. 100, B. 96, S.P. 80, B. ii. 95, T. 86, P. v. 172.—W. +82, N. 80, V. 100.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XLVI" id="FITZ5XLVI"></a>XLVI.*</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And fear not lest Existence closing your<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Account, and mine, should know the like no more;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Eternal Saki from that Bowl has pour'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Millions of Bubbles like us, and will pour.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>FitzGerald was indebted for this quatrain to N. 137. +The original ruba'i is not in O. or C.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Khayyam! although the pavilion of heaven<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has spread its tent and closed the door upon all discussion,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the goblet of existence, like bubbles of wine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Eternal Saki brings to light a thousand Khayyams.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: N. 137,<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> W. 161, V. 397.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XLVII" id="FITZ5XLVII"></a>XLVII.*</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When You and I behind the Veil are past,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh, but the long, long while the World shall last,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which of our Coming and Departure heeds<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As the Sea's self should heed a pebble-cast.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In this quatrain FitzGerald is «reminded of» O. 26 +and 51 by N. 123.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">75</a></span></p><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Know this—that from thy soul thou shalt be separated,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou shalt pass behind the Curtain of the Secrets of God.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 26, C. 83, L. 192, B. 189, S.P. 85, B. ii. 110, T. 64, P. v. J +34.—W. 87, N. 85, V. 188.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My coming was of no profit to the heavenly sphere,<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And by my departure nothing will be added to its beauty and dignity.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 51, C. 129, L. 232, B. 229, S.P. 157, P. 55, B. ii. 158, T. +104.—W. 176, N. 157, E.C. 17, V. 239.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh! how long we shall be no more, and the world will continue to exist,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It will continue to exist without fame or sign of us,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Long ago we existed not, and (the world) was none the worse for it,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Afterwards, when we have ceased to exist, it will be all the same.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: N. 123, W. 150, V. 395.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XLVIII" id="FITZ5XLVIII"></a>XLVIII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A Moment's Halt—a momentary taste<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of <span class="smcap">Being</span> from the Well amidst the waste—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Lo!—the phantom Caravan has reach'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The <span class="smcap">Nothing</span> it set out from—Oh, make haste!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>We must consider here the form in which this quatrain +first made its appearance in the edition of 1859:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">One Moment in Annihilation's Waste,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One Moment, of the Well of Life to taste—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The stars are setting, and the Caravan<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Starts for the Dawn of Nothing—Oh, make haste!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The inspiration for this richly varied quatrain comes +from O. 60.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">76</a></span></p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This caravan of life passes by mysteriously;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mayest thou seize the moment that passes happily!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cup-bearer, why grieve about the to-morrow of thy patrons?<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Give us a cup of wine, for the night wanes.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 60, C. 135, L. 245, B. 242, P. 223, S.P. 106, B. ii. 146, +T. 139.—W. 136, N. 106, V. 251.</p> + +<p>Ll. 3 and 4 of C. 368 may also be quoted:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">(Man is) a toil-stricken being, fashioned in the clay of affliction,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He tasted of Earth for a time and passed away.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 368, L. 566, B. 559, S.P. 301, B. ii. 404, T. 242.—W. +338, N. 302, V. 606.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XLIX" id="FITZ5XLIX"></a>XLIX.*</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Would you that spangle of Existence spend<br /></span> +<span class="i0">About <span class="smcap">the Secret</span>—quick about it, Friend!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A Hair perhaps divides the False and True—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And upon what, prithee, may life depend?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5L" id="FITZ5L"></a>L.*</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A Hair perhaps divides the False and True;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yes; and a single Alif were the clue—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Could you but find it—to the Treasure-house,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And peradventure to <span class="smcap">The Master</span> too;<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This pair of quatrains must also be considered together. +The idea contained in them is, I think, collected from C. +482 and 19, and from O. 28.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh Boy! since thou art learned in all secrets,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why grieve so much after vain cares?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If things will not shape themselves according to thy desire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At any rate be happy in this moment of thy existence.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 482, L. 714, B. 703, S.P. 414, B. ii. 560.—W. 458, N. 419, V. 766.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">77</a></span></p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">From the state of infidelity to that of faith is but a breath,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And from a state of doubt to that of certainty is but a breath,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hold thou dear this one precious moment,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For of the outcome of our being there is but a moment.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 19, L. 131, B. 127, S.P. 20, B. ii. 22, T. 20.—W. 24, N. +20, V. 130.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My Heart said to me: «I have a longing for inspired knowledge,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Teach me if thou art able,»<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I said the Alif. My Heart said: «Say no more.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If One is in the house, one letter is enough.»<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 28.—W. 109.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LI" id="FITZ5LI"></a>LI.*</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Whose secret Presence, through Creation's veins<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Running Quicksilver-like eludes your pains;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Taking all shapes from Mah to Mahi; and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They change and perish all—but He remains;<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In this quatrain FitzGerald has made a masterly conversion +of C. 72.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">That Moon which is by nature skilled in metamorphosis<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is sometimes animal and sometimes vegetable,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Do not imagine that it will become non-existent—away with thought!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is always possessed of its essence though its qualities cease to be.<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 72, L. 179, B. 176, S.P. 73, B. ii. 31, T. 51.—W. 75, N. 73, V. 175.</p> + +<p>C. 40 may also be cited.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">78</a></span></p><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Place wine in my hand for my heart is aglow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And this fleet-footed existence is like quicksilver.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Arise! for the wakefulness of good fortune turns to slumber;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Know thou that the fire of youth is (fugitive) like water.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 40, L. 63, B. 60, S.P. 54, T. 45.—W. 57, N. 54, V. 62.</p> + +<p>«From Mah to Mahi»—<i>i.e.</i>, from Moon to Fish is a +common Oriental metaphor for universality. See FitzGerald's +note on this subject, and the Terminal Essay to +my former volume, p. 309.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LII" id="FITZ5LII"></a>LII.*</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A moment guess'd—then back behind the Fold<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Immerst of Darkness round the Drama roll'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which, for the Pastime of Eternity,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He doth Himself contrive, enact, behold.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is translated from C. 479.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Hidden sometimes thou shewest thy face to none,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sometimes thou appearest in the forms of created beings,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou exhibitest this spectacle to thyself.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou art thyself both the real thing seen and the spectator.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 479, L. 705, B. 695, S.P. 437.—W. 475, N. 443, V. 757.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LIII" id="FITZ5LIII"></a>LIII.*</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But if in vain, down on the stubborn floor<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Earth, and up to Heav'n's unopening Door,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You gaze <span class="smcap">To-day</span>, while You are You—how then<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">To-morrow</span>, when You shall be You no more?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The original of this quatrain is C. 24.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">79</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If the heart understood the secret of existence as it <i>is</i>,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In death it would know all the secrets of God:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If to-day thou knowest nothing, being <i>with</i> thyself,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What wilt thou know to-morrow when thou abandonest thyself?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 24, L. 78, B. 74, S.P. 49, P. 85, B. ii. 106, T. 25.—W. 52, N. +49. V. 77.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LIV" id="FITZ5LIV"></a>LIV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Waste not your Hour, nor in the vain pursuit<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of this and That endeavour and dispute;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Better be jocund with the fruitful Grape<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Than sadden after none, or Bitter, Fruit.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The inspiration for this quatrain comes from O. 50 and +O. 107:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Those who are the slaves of intellect and hair-splitting,<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have perished in bickerings about existence and non-existence;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Go, thou dunce! and choose (rather) grape juice,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For the ignorant from (eating) dry raisins, have become (like) unripe grapes (themselves).<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 50, L. 262, T. 102, P. v. 164.—W. 216, V. 267.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How long this talk about the eternity to come, and the eternity past?<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now is the time of joy, there is no substitute for wine!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Both theory and practice have passed beyond my ken,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">(But) Wine unties the knot of every difficulty.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 107, C. 312, L. 489, B. 485, B. ii. 341, T. 213, P. v. 207.—W. +304, V. 259.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">80</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LV" id="FITZ5LV"></a>LV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">You know, my friends, with what a brave Carouse<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I made a Second Marriage in my house;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is translated from C. 175.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I will fill a one-maund goblet with wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I will enrich myself with two half-maunds of wine:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">First I will thrice pronounce the divorce from learning and faith,<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And then I will take the daughter of the vine<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> to spouse.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 175, L. 267, B. 263, P. 288, P. v. 209.—V. 271.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LVI" id="FITZ5LVI"></a>LVI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">For «<span class="smcap">Is</span>» and «<span class="smcap">Is-not</span>» though with Rule and Line<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And «<span class="smcap">Up-and-down</span>» by Logic I define,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of all that one should care to fathom, I<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Was never deep in anything but—Wine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is translated from O. 120:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I know the outwardness of existence and non-existence,<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">I know the inwardness of all that is high and low;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nevertheless let me be ashamed of<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> my own knowledge<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If I recognise any degree higher than drunkenness.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 120, L. 523, B. 518, S.P. 299, P. 265, B. ii. 409, P. v. 38.—W. +336, N. 300, V. 563.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">81</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LVII" id="FITZ5LVII"></a>LVII.*</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah, but my Computations, People say,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Reduced the Year to better reckoning?—Nay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Twas only striking from the Calendar<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unborn To-morrow and dead Yesterday.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain owes its inspiration to C. 381 and O. 20, +ll. 3 and 4:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My enemies erroneously have called me a philosopher,<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">God knows I am not what they have called me;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But, as I have come into this nesting place of sorrow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the end I am in a still worse plight, for I know not who I am.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 381, L. 580, B. 573, B. ii. 383, T. 259.—W. 350, V. 619.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Never has grief lingered in my mind concerning two days,<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">The day that has not yet come, and the day that is past.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 20, C. 23 and 55, L. 84, S.P. 22, B. 80, P. 162, B. ii. 24 and +88, P. ii. 2, T. 22 and 305, P. v. 140 and 186.—W. 26, N. 22 and 42, V. 83.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LVIII" id="FITZ5LVIII"></a>LVIII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And lately, by the Tavern Door agape,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Came shining through the Dusk an Angel Shape<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bearing a vessel on his Shoulder; and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He bid me taste of it; and 'twas—the Grape!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is a refined version of C. 297.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">82</a></span></p><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Yesterday, whilst drunk, I was passing a tavern,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I saw a drunken old man bearing a vessel on his shoulder.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I said, «Old man, does not God make thee ashamed?»<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He replied, «God is merciful, go, drink wine!»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 297, L. 462, B. 458, S.P. 243, P. 278, T. 197.—W. 284, +N. 244, V. 501.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LIX" id="FITZ5LIX"></a>LIX.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Grape that can with Logic absolute<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Two-and-Seventy jarring Sects confute;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sovereign Alchemist that in a trice<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Life's leaden metal into Gold transmute;<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is translated from O. 77.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Drink wine, that will banish thine abundant woes.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And will banish thought of the Seventy-two Sects;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Avoid not the Alchemist,<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> from whom<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou takest one draught, and he banishes a thousand calamities.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 77, C. 165, L. 305, B. 301, S.P. 179, P. 283, T. 112, +P. v. 152.—W. 194, V. 308.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LX" id="FITZ5LX"></a>LX.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The mighty Mahmud, Allah-breathing Lord,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That all the misbelieving and black Horde<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Fears and Sorrows that infest the Soul<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Scatters before him with his whirlwind Sword.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This reference to Mahmoud the Ghasnavide, who made +war upon the black infidels of Hindostan, comes from an +apologue in the Mantik ut-tair of Ferid ud din Attar, +(beginning at distich 3117). The last two lines come +from O. 81, ll. 3 and 4.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">83</a></span></p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Praise be to God! thou realizest that wine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is a juice that frees thy heart from a hundred pains.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 81, C. 180, L. 367, B. 363, S.P. 188, P. 231, B. ii. 241, P. v. +187.—W. 203, N. 188, V. 366.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXI" id="FITZ5LXI"></a>LXI.*</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Why, be this Juice the growth of God, who dare<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Blaspheme the twisted tendril as a Snare?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A Blessing, we should use it, should we not?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And if a Curse—Why, then, Who set it there?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The inspiration for this quatrain is contained in O. 75.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I drink wine, and everyone drinks who, like me, is worthy of it;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My wine-drinking is but a small thing to Him;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">God knew on the Day of Creation, that I should drink wine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If I do not drink wine God's knowledge would be ignorance.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 75, C. 202, L. 356, B. 352, S.P. 182, P. 324, B. ii. 234, T. 129, +P. v. 181.—W. 197, N. 182, V. 355.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXII" id="FITZ5LXII"></a>LXII.*</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I must abjure the Balm of Life, I must,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Scared by some After-reckoning ta'en on trust,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or lured with Hope of some Diviner Drink,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To fill the Cup—when crumbled into Dust!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is taken from C. 505 and O. 143, ll. 3 and 4.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They say, «Do not drink wine for thou wilt suffer for it,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On the Day of Rewards thou wilt be cast into the fire.»<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That is so; but what is worth both the worlds<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is the moment when thou art elated with wine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 505, L. 748, B. 734, P. 250, B. ii. 587.—V. 800.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">84</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Make thyself a heaven here with wine and cup,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For at that place where heaven is, thou mayst arrive, or mayst not.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 143, C. 495. L. 733, B. 721, S.P. 379, P. 209, B. ii. 529, P. v. +129.—W. 427, N. 383, V. 786.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXIII" id="FITZ5LXIII"></a>LXIII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One thing at least is certain—<i>This</i> Life flies;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One thing is certain and the rest is Lies;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Flower that once has blown for ever dies.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The inspiration for this quatrain comes from O. 35 of +which ll. 1 and 2 are quoted as parallel to quatrain No. +24 <i>ante</i>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Take care that thou tellest not this hidden secret to anyone<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The tulips that are withered will never bloom again.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 35, C. 80, L. 188, B. 185, P. 284, T. 60.—W. 107, V. 184.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXIV" id="FITZ5LXIV"></a>LXIV.*</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Strange, is it not? that of the myriads who<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Before us pass'd the door of Darkness through,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not one returns to tell us of the Road,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which to discover we must travel too.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This is a constantly recurring image in the ruba'iyat. +C. 36 and 270 may be cited:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I have travelled far in a wandering by valley and desert,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It came to pass I wandered in all quarters of the world,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I have not heard from anyone who came from that road,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The road he has travelled, no traveller travels again.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 36, L. 57, B. 54. T. 39.—W. 129, V. 56.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">85</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Of all the travellers upon this long road,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where is he that has returned, that he may tell us the secret?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Take heed that in this mansion (by way of metaphor)<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou leavest nothing, for thou wilt not come back.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 270, L. 424, B. 420, S.P. 216, P. 121, B. ii. 286, P. v. 9.—W. 258, +N. 217, V. 462.</p> + +<p>C. 211 and 277 contain the same image.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXV" id="FITZ5LXV"></a>LXV.*</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Revelations of Devout and Learn'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who rose before us, and as Prophets burn'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are all but Stories, which, awoke from Sleep,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They told their comrades, and to Sleep return'd.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is translated from C. 127.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Those who have become oceans of excellence and cultivation,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And from the collection of their perfections have become lights of their fellows,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have not made a road out of this dark night,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They have told a fable and have gone to sleep.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 127, L. 261, B. 258, P. 86, T. 101.—W. 209, N. 464, +V. 266.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXVI" id="FITZ5LXVI"></a>LXVI.*</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I sent my Soul through the Invisible,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Some letter of that After-life to spell:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And by and by my Soul return'd to me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And answer'd, «I myself am Heav'n and Hell»:<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is inspired by O. 15.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">86</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Already on the Day of Creation, beyond the heavens, my soul<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Searched for the Tablet and Pen, and for heaven and hell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At last the Teacher said to me with His enlightened judgment,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Tablet and Pen, and heaven and hell, are within thyself.»<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 15, L. 59, B. 56, P. 114, B. ii. 69, P. v. 79—W. 114, +V. 58.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXVII" id="FITZ5LXVII"></a>LXVII.*</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Heav'n but the Vision of fulfill'd Desire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Hell the Shadow from a Soul on fire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cast on the Darkness into which Ourselves,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So late emerged from, shall so soon expire.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The inspiration for this verse comes from O. 33.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The heavenly vault is a girdle (cast) from my weary body.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Jihun<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> is a water-course worn by my filtered tears,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hell is a spark from my useless worries,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Paradise is a moment of time when I am tranquil.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 33, C. 90, L. 199, B. 196, S.P. 90, P. 148, T. 70, P. v. +183.—W. 92, N. 90, V. 195.</p> + +<p>FitzGerald's verse was evidently also influenced by +distich 1866 of the Mantik ut-tair.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Heaven and hell are reflections, the one of thy goodness, and the other of thy wrath.<br /></span> +</div></div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">87</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXVIII" id="FITZ5LXVIII"></a>LXVIII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We are no other than a moving row<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Round with the Sun-illumined Lantern held<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In Midnight by the Master of the Show;<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is translated from O. 108.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This vault of heaven beneath which we stand bewildered,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We know to be a sort of magic-lantern:<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Know thou that the sun is the flame and the universe is the lamp,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We are like figures that revolve in it.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 108, C. 332, L. 505, B. 501, S.P. 266, P. 40, B. ii. 356, +P. iv. 34.—W. 310, N. 267, E.C. 28, de T. 10, V. 545.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXIX" id="FITZ5LXIX"></a>LXIX.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But helpless Pieces of the Game He plays<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Upon this Chequer-board of Nights and Days;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hither and thither moves, and checks, and slays,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And one by one back in the Closet lays.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is translated from O. 94.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To speak plain language, and not in parables,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We are the pieces and heaven plays the game,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We are played together in a baby-game upon the chess-board of existence,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And one by one we return to the box of non-existence.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 94, C. 280, L. 443, B. 439, S.P. 230, P. 31, B. ii. 291, +T. 183, P. v. 10.—W. 270, N. 231, E.C. 27, V. 480.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">88</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXX" id="FITZ5LXX"></a>LXX.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Ball no question makes of Ayes and Noes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But Here or There as strikes the Player goes;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And He that toss'd you down into the Field,<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>He</i> knows about it all—<span class="smcap">HE</span> knows—HE knows!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is translated from C. 422.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O thou who art driven like a ball by the mallet of Fate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Go to the right or take the left, but say nothing;<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">For He who set thee running and galloping<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He knows, he knows, he knows, he——.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 422, L. 633, B. 625, P. 167, B. ii. 462, T. 274.—W. 401, +V. 682.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXXI" id="FITZ5LXXI"></a>LXXI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The origin of this quatrain is to be found in O. 31</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">From the beginning<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> was written what shall be;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unhaltingly the Pen (writes) and is heedless of good and bad;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On the First Day He appointed everything that must be—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Our grief and our efforts are vain.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 31, C. 87, L. 195, B. 192, S.P. 31, B. ii. 60, T. 67, P. v. +211.—W. 35, N. 31, V. 191.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">89</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXXII" id="FITZ5LXXII"></a>LXXII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And that inverted Bowl they call the Sky,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whereunder crawling coop'd we live and die,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lift not your hands to <i>It</i> for help—for It<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As Impotently moves as you or I.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The inspiration for this quatrain comes from O. 134, +ll. 1 and 2, and O. 41.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This heavenly vault is like a bowl fallen upside down,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Under which all the wise have fallen helpless.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 134, C. 435, L. 657, B. 649, S.P. 360, P. 34, B. ii. 481, +P. v. 154.—W. 408, N. 363, V. 706.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The good and the bad that are in man's nature,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The happiness and misery that are predestined for us,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Do not impute them to the heavens, for, in the way of Wisdom,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Those heavens are a thousandfold more helpless than thou art.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 41, C. 62, L. 80, B. 76, S.P. 95, P. 45.—W. 96, N. 95, +V. 79.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXXIII" id="FITZ5LXXIII"></a>LXXIII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">With Earth's first Clay They did the Last Man knead,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And there of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the first Morning of Creation wrote<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In this quatrain we trace the influence of O. 31 (quoted +in the parallel to quatrain No. 71, <i>ante</i>) and of O. 95.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">90</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh, heart! since, in this world, truth itself is hyperbole,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why art thou so disquieted with this trouble and abasement?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Resign thy body to destiny and adapt thyself to the times,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For, what the Pen has written, it will not re-write for thy sake.<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 95, L. 430, B. 426, S.P. 215, P. 59, B. ii. 292.—W. 257, +N. 216, E.C. 15, V. 468.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXXIV" id="FITZ5LXXIV"></a>LXXIV.*</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Yesterday</span> <i>This</i> Day's Madness did prepare;<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">To-morrow's</span> Silence, Triumph, or Despair:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drink! for you know not whence you came, nor why<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drink! for you know not why you go, nor where.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The first half of this quatrain comes from O. 152 and +the second half from O. 26, ll. 3 and 4.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Be happy! they settled thy business yesterday,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And beyond the reach of all thy longings is yesterday,<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Live happily, for without any importunity on thy part yesterday,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They appointed with certainty what thou wilt do to-morrow—yesterday!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 152, C. 473, L. 702, B. ii. 564, P. v. 196.—W. 489, V. 754.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Be happy!—thou knowest not whence thou hast come:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drink wine!—thou knowest not whither thou shalt go.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 26, C. 83, L. 192, B. 189, S.P. 85, B. ii. 110, T. 64, P. v. +34.—W 87, N. 85, V. 188.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">91</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXXV" id="FITZ5LXXV"></a>LXXV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I tell you this—When, started from the Goal,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Over the flaming shoulders of the Foal<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Heav'n, Parwin and Mushtari they flung,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In my predestined Plot of Dust and Soul.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is translated from C. 147.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">On that day when they saddled the wild horses of the Sun,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And settled the laws of Parwin and Mushtari,<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">This was the lot decreed for me from the Diwan of Fate:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How can I sin? (my sins) are what Fate allotted me as my portion.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 147, L. 286, B. 282, S.P. 110.—W. 140, N. 110, V. 289.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXXVI" id="FITZ5LXXVI"></a>LXXVI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Vine had struck a fibre; which about<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If clings my Being—let the Dervish flout;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of my Base metal may be filed a Key,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That shall unlock the Door he howls without.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The sentiment of this quatrain is contained in C. 143.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Since Eternity itself was He created me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the first he dictated to me the lesson of love,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At that time a small filing of the dust of my heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He made into a key of the treasure-house of substance.<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 143, L. 311, B. 307, P. 81, T. 134.—V. 314.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">92</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXXVII" id="FITZ5LXXVII"></a>LXXVII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And this I know; whether the one True Light<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Kindle to Love, or Wrath-consume me quite,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One Flash of It within the Tavern caught<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Better than in the Temple lost outright.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is translated from O. 2.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If I talk of the mystery with Thee in a tavern,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is better than if I make my devotions before the Mihrab<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> without Thee.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O Thou, the first and last of all created beings,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Burn me an Thou wilt, cherish me an Thou wilt.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 2, C. 272, L. 427, B. 423, S.P. 221, P. 7, B. ii. 294, T. 172.—W. 262, +N. 222, V. 465.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXXVIII" id="FITZ5LXXVIII"></a>LXXVIII.*</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What! out of senseless Nothing to provoke<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A conscious Something to resent the yoke<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of unpermitted Pleasure, under pain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of everlasting Penalties, if broke!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It is not easy to deal with this and the three following +quatrains separately, the sentiments of all four being +closely interchangeable and largely identical. To avoid +confusion, however, I have attempted the task. There +are some scores of ruba'iyat that may be said to have +contributed their imageries to the quatrain. The main +sources of the first of them seem to be C. 85 and N. 226:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">God, when he fashioned the clay of my body,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Knew by my making what would come of it;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">(Since) there is no sin of mine without his order<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why should he seek to burn me at the Day of Resurrection?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 85, L. 194, B. 191, S.P. 99, P. 18, T. 66.—W. 100, N. 99, V. 190.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">93</a></span></p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Thou knowest that abstinence from that (sin) is impossible,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Having (nevertheless) ordered and ordained abstinence from it;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thus between the order and the prohibition we stand helpless,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We mortals are helpless at the permission to slant<br /></span> +<span class="i0">(the cup) but not to spill (its contents).<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: N. 226, L. 442, B. 438, S.P. 225, P. 317, B. ii. 297, T. 180.—W. +265, V. 479.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXXIX" id="FITZ5LXXIX"></a>LXXIX.*</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What! from his helpless Creature be repaid<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pure Gold for what he lent him dross-allay'd—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sue for a Debt he never did contract,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And cannot answer—Oh the sorry trade!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain would seem to be specially inspired by +C. 201 and 433, which are so much alike (ll. 2, 3, and 4 +are practically identical in both) that one or the other is +obviously the addition of a later scribe.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When they mixed the earth of my shaping-mould,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They produced an hundred wonders from me;<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">I cannot be better than I am,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For this is how I was turned out of the crucible.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 201, L. 355, B. 351, T. 128.—W. 221, V. 354.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXXX" id="FITZ5LXXX"></a>LXXX.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh Thou, who didst with pitfall and with gin<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beset the Road I was to wander in,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou wilt not with Predestined Evil round<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Enmesh, and then impute my Fall to Sin!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">94</a></span></p><p>This quatrain is translated from O. 148.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In a thousand places on the road I walk, Thou placest snares,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou say'st «I will catch thee if thou settest foot in them,»<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In no smallest thing is the world independent of Thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou orderest all things, and (yet) callest me rebellious!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 148, B. ii. 546.—W. 432, N. 390.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXXXI" id="FITZ5LXXXI"></a>LXXXI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And ev'n with Paradise devise the Snake:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is blacken'd—Man's forgiveness give—and take!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<pre> + * * * * * * * +</pre> + +<p>This is a very composite quatrain, round which some +controversy has raged. Professor Cowell has given the +weight of his authority to the statement that «there is +no original for the line about the snake.» This is true +in so far as that the image does not occur in Omar, but +FitzGerald had seen it in an important apologue in the +Mantik ut-tair (beginning at distich 3229) in which +we read of the presence of the Snake (Iblis) in Paradise, +at the moment of the creation of Adam, and in the +course of which, Satan himself addresses God thus:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If malediction comes from Thee, there comes also mercy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The created thing is dependent upon Thee since Destiny is in Thy hands;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If malediction be my lot, I do not fear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There must be poison, everything is not antidote.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The influence of the following is traceable in the quatrains, +C. 115, C. 286, and C. 510:</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">95</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I am a disobedient slave, where is Thy mercy?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My heart is dark, where is Thy light and clearness?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If, for serving Thee, Thou givest me heaven,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This a reward, but Thy grace and Thy gifts—where are they?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 115, L. 217, B. 214, S.P. 91, P. 23.—W. 93, N. 91, V. 211.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh! Thou who knowest the secrets of the hearts of all,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Protector of all in their hours of helplessness:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh, Lord! grant me repentance and accept my excuses,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh! Thou who grantest repentance and acceptest the excuses of all.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 286, L. 449, B. 445, S.P. 235, B. ii. 308, T. 188.—W. 276, +N. 236, V. 488.</p> + +<p>Professor Cowell attributes FitzGerald's quatrain to the +above ruba'i. <i>Vide</i> the Editorial Note previously referred to.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The manager of the affairs of the dead and living art thou,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou art the keeper of this unstable heaven;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Though I am wicked, thou art my Master,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who can sin, seeing that thou art the Creator (of all)?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 510, L. 700, B. 691, S.P. 431, P. 2, B. ii. 584.—W. 471, N. +436, V. 753.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXXXII" id="FITZ5LXXXII"></a>LXXXII.<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">As under cover of departing Day<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Slunk hunger-stricken Ramazan away,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Once more within the Potter's house alone<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I stood, surrounded by the Shapes of Clay.<br /></span> +</div></div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">96</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXXXIII" id="FITZ5LXXXIII"></a>LXXXIII.*</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Shapes of all Sorts and Sizes, great and small,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That stood along the floor and by the wall;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And some loquacious Vessels were; and some<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Listen'd, perhaps, but never talk'd at all.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center">LXXXVII (<i>post</i>).</p> + +<p>FitzGerald constructed these three quatrains from O. 103.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I went last night into the workshop of a potter,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I saw two thousand pots, some speaking, and some silent;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Suddenly one of the pots cried out aggressively:—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Where are the pot-maker, and the pot-buyer, and the pot-seller?»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 103, C. 301, L. 470, B. 466, S.P. 242, P. 102, B. ii. 323, T. +202 and 297, P. v. 37.—W. 283, N. 243, E.C. 26, V. 509.</p> + +<p>It will be observed that the reading of quatrain 87, l. 4, +in the third edition of FitzGerald is close to this original. +«Who makes—Who buys—Who sells—Who is the Pot?»</p> + +<p>«Hunger stricken Ramazan» is described in C. 198.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They say that the moon of Ramazan<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> shines out again<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Henceforth one cannot linger over the wine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At the end of Sha'ban I will drink so much wine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That during Ramazan I may be found drunk until the festival (arrives).<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 198, L. 352, B. 348, S.P. 172, P. 347, B. ii. 216, T. 125.—W. 188, +N. 172, V. 351. See also the quatrain from the «Notes,» p. 155.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">97</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXXXIV" id="FITZ5LXXXIV"></a>LXXXIV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Said one among them—«Surely not in vain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My substance of the common Earth was ta'en<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And to this Figure moulded, to be broke,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or trampled back to shapeless Earth again.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The sentiment of this quatrain is traceable in C. 293.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There is a cup which wisdom loud acclaims,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And for its beauty gives it a hundred kisses on the brow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Such a sweet cup, this Potter of the World<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Makes, and then shatters it upon the ground.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 293, L. 456, B. 452, B. ii. 321, T. 194.—W. 290, V. 495.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXXXV" id="FITZ5LXXXV"></a>LXXXV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Then said a Second—«Ne'er a peevish Boy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Would break the Bowl from which he drank in joy;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And he that with his hand the Vessel made<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Will surely not in after Wrath destroy.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The inspiration for this quatrain comes from O. 19.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The elements of a cup which he has put together,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their breaking up a drinker cannot approve;<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">All these heads and feet—with his finger-tips,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For love of whom did he make them?—for hate of whom did he break them?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 19, C. 64, L. 40, S.P. 37, P. ii. 7, P. 95, B. ii. 77, T. 309.—W. +42, N. 38, V. 220.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXXXVI" id="FITZ5LXXXVI"></a>LXXXVI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">After a momentary silence spake<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Some Vessel of a more ungainly make;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«They sneer at me for leaning all awry:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What! did the Hand then of the Potter shake?»<br /></span> +</div></div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">98</a></span></p> +<p>This quatrain is a perfect reflection and companion of +all these Kuza Nama quatrains, but I have not found a +ruba'i in O. or C. which can be pointed out as having +directly inspired<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> it. It must, I think, be considered +together with No. 88.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXXXVII" id="FITZ5LXXXVII"></a>LXXXVII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Whereat some one of the loquacious Lot—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I think a Sufi pipkin—waxing hot—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«All this of Pot and Potter—Tell me, then,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who is the Potter pray, and who the Pot?»<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center">LXXXVII. <i>Ante sub</i> LXXXIII.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXXXVIII" id="FITZ5LXXXVIII"></a>LXXXVIII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">«Why,» said another, «Some there are who tell<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of one who threatens he will toss to Hell<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The luckless Pots he marr'd in making—Pish!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He's a Good Fellow, and 'twill all be well.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The inspiration for this quatrain, and I think for No. +86, comes from C. 69 and C. 159:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Since the Director set in order the elements of natures,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For what cause does He again disperse them into loss and deficiency?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If they are good, why should He break them?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And if they turn out bad, well, why is there any blame to these forms?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 69, L. 103, B. 99, P. 94, B. ii. 107.—W. 126, V. 103.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">99</a></span></p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They say that at the resurrection there will be much searching,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And that that excellent Friend will be hasty;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nothing but good ever came from the Unalloyed Goodness,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Be happy! for the upshot will be all right!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 159, L. 316, B. 312, S.P. 178, P. 197.—W. 193, N. 178, +V. 318.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5LXXXIX" id="FITZ5LXXXIX"></a>LXXXIX.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">«Well,» murmured one, «Let whoso make or buy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My Clay with long Oblivion is gone dry:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But fill me with the old familiar Juice,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Methinks I might recover by and by.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is inspired by C. 188 and O. 116:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">At that moment when the plant of my existence shall be rooted up,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And its branches scattered in all directions;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If then they make a flagon of my clay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When they fill it with wine it will live again.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 188, S.P. 115.—N. 115.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When I am abased beneath the foot of Destiny,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And am rooted up from the hope of life,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Take heed that thou makest nothing but a goblet of my clay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Haply when it is full of wine I may revive.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 116, C. 345, L. 539, B. 534, S.P. 289, P. 227, B. ii. 385, +T. 230, P. v. 146.—W. 330, N. 290, V. 579.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">100</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XC" id="FITZ5XC"></a>XC.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">So while the Vessels one by one were speaking,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The little Moon look'd in that all were seeking:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And then they jogg'd each other, «Brother! Brother!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now for the Porter's shoulder-knot a-creaking!»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<pre> + * * * * * * * +</pre> + +<p>This quatrain which concludes the Kuza Nama is inspired +by the concluding quatrain of O. 158.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The month of Ramazan passes and Shawwal comes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The season of increase, and joy, and storytellers comes;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now comes that time when «Bottles upon the shoulder!»<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They say—for the porters come and are back to back.<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 158.—W. 218.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XCI" id="FITZ5XCI"></a>XCI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah, with the Grape my fading life provide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And wash the Body whence the Life has died,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And lay me, shrouded in the living Leaf,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By some not unfrequented Garden-side.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain owes its inspiration to C. 12.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When I am dead wash me with wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Say my funeral service with pure wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If thou wishest that thou shouldst see me on the resurrection-day<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou must seek me in the earth of the tavern threshold.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 12, L. 13, B. 12, S.P. 7, P. 299, B. ii. 9, T. 12.—W 6, N. 7, +V. 11</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="THE_APPROACH_TO_NAISHAPUR" id="THE_APPROACH_TO_NAISHAPUR"></a> +<img src="images/p131.jpg" width="500" height="343" alt="THE APPROACH TO NAISHAPUR. +From a painting by I.R. Herbert" /> +<span class="caption"><i>THE APPROACH TO NAISHAPUR<br /> +From a painting by I.R. Herbert</i></span> +</div> + + + +<p>O. 69 may also be quoted:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Take heed to stay me with the wine-cup,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And make this amber<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> face like a ruby;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When I die, wash me with wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And out of the wood of the vine make the planks of my coffin.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 69, C. 158, L. 308, B. 304, S.P. 109, P. 212, B. ii. 199, +T. 143, P. v. 153.—W. 139, N. 109, V. 311.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XCII" id="FITZ5XCII"></a>XCII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">That ev'n my buried Ashes such a snare<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Vintage shall fling up into the Air<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As not a True-believer passing by<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But shall be overtaken unaware.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is translated from C. 16.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I will drink so much wine that this aroma of wine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall rise from the earth when I am beneath it;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So that when a drinker shall pass above my body,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He shall become drunk and degraded from the aroma of my potations.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 16, L. 28, B. 26, S.P. 14, B. ii. 11.—W. 17, N. 14, V. 27.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XCIII" id="FITZ5XCIII"></a>XCIII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Indeed the Idols I have loved so long<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have done my credit in this World much wrong;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have drown'd my Glory in a shallow Cup,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And sold my Reputation for a Song.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The inspiration for this quatrain comes from C. 170.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">102</a></span></p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When my mood inclined to prayer and fasting,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I said that all my salvation was attained;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Alas! that those Ablutions<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> are destroyed by my pleasures,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And that Fast of mine is annulled by half a draught of wine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 170, L. 366, B. 362, S.P. 162, P. 343, B. ii. 207, T. 118.—W. +180, N. 162, V. 365.</p> + +<p>The last line is suggested by O. 22.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XCIV" id="FITZ5XCIV"></a>XCIV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Indeed, indeed, Repentance oft before<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I swore—but was I sober when I swore?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And then and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My thread-bare Penitence apieces tore.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is inspired by C. 431.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Every day I resolve to repent in the evening,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Making repentance of the brimful goblet and cup;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now that the season of roses<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> has come, I cannot grieve<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Give penitence for repentance in the season of roses, O Lord!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 431, L. 655, B. 647 B. ii. 510.—W. 425, V. 704.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XCV" id="FITZ5XCV"></a>XCV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And much as Wine has play'd the Infidel,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And robb'd me of my Robe of Honour—Well,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I wonder often what the Vintners buy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One half so precious as the stuff they sell.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">103</a></span></p><p>The original of this quatrain is O. 62.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Although wine has rent my veil (of reputation),<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So long as I have a soul I will not be separated from wine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I am in perplexity concerning vintners, for they—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What will they buy that is better than what they sell?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 62, C. 196, L. 350, B. 346, P. 311, B. ii. 167, T. 123, P. +iv. 63, P. v. 202.—W. 208, N. 463, E.C. 11, V. 350.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XCVI" id="FITZ5XCVI"></a>XCVI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Yet Ah, that Spring should vanish with the Rose!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That Youth's sweet-scented manuscript should close!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Nightingale that in the branches sang,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ah whence, and whither flown again, who knows!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is translated from C. 223.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Alas! that the book of youth is folded up?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And that this fresh purple spring is winter-stricken;<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">That bird of joy, whose name is Youth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Alas! I know not when it came nor when it went.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 223, L. 332, B. 328, S.P. 128, B. ii. 155, T. 161.—W. +155, N. 128, V. 334.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XCVII" id="FITZ5XCVII"></a>XCVII.*</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Would but the Desert of the Fountain yield<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One glimpse—if dimly, yet indeed, reveal'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To which the fainting Traveller might spring,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As springs the trampled herbage of the field!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is inspired by C. 509.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">104</a></span></p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh! would that there were a place of repose,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or that we might come to the end of the road;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Would that from the heart of earth, after a hundred thousand years,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We might all hope to blossom again like the verdure.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 509, L. 768, B. 754, S.P. 395, B. ii. 522.—W. 442, N. 400, +V. 820.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XCVIII" id="FITZ5XCVIII"></a>XCVIII.*</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Would but some wingéd Angel ere too late<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Arrest the yet unfolded Roll of Fate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And make the stern Recorder otherwise<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Enregister, or quite obliterate!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain in its original form in the second edition +was closer to the original Persian.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh if the World were but to re-create,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That we might catch ere closed the Book of Fate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And make the Writer on a fairer leaf<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Inscribe our names, or quite obliterate!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It owes its inspiration to N 457.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I would that God should entirely alter the world,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And that he should do it now, that I might see him do it;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And either that he should cross my name from the Roll,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or else raise my condition from want to plenty.<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: N. 457, S.P. 451.—W. 486, V. 841.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">105</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5XCIX" id="FITZ5XCIX"></a>XCIX.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah, Love! could you and I with Him conspire<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Would not we shatter it to bits—and then<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<pre> + * * * * * * * +</pre> + +<p>This quatrain is translated from C. 395.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Had I, like God, control of the heavens,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Would I not do away with the heavens altogether,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Would I not so construct another heaven from the beginning<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That, being free, one might attain to the heart's desire?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 395, L. 594, B. 587, S.P. 337, P. 98, B. ii, 450, T. 268.—W. +379, N. 340, V. 641.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5C" id="FITZ5C"></a>C.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Yon rising moon that looks for us again—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How oft hereafter will she wax and wane;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How oft hereafter rising look for us<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through this same Garden—and for <i>one</i> in vain.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain in its various forms is inspired by O. 5.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Since no one will guarantee thee a to-morrow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Make thou happy now this lovesick heart;<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drink wine in the moonlight, O Moon, for the moon<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall seek us long and shall not find us.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 5, C. 7, L. 5, S.P. 8, P. 219, B. 4, B. ii. 8, T. 6, P. v. +168.—W. 7, N. 8, E.C. 5, V. 4.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">106</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ5CI" id="FITZ5CI"></a>CI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And when like her, Oh Saki, you shall pass<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Among the Guests Star-scatter'd on the Grass,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And in your joyous errand reach the spot<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where I made One—turn down an empty Glass!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is taken from O. 83 and 84.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Friends when ye hold a meeting together,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It behoves ye warmly to remember your friend;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When ye drink wholesome wine together,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And my turn comes, turn (a goblet) upside down.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><i>Ref</i>.: O. 83.—W. 234, V. 459.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Friends, when with consent ye make a tryst together,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And take delight in one another's charms,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When the Cup-bearer takes (round) in his hand the Mugh<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Remember a certain helpless one in your benediction.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 84, L. 290, B. 286, S.P. 191, P. 226, B. ii. 245.—W. 205, +N. 192, V. 293.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">107</a></span></p> + + + +<h3 class="p6"><a name="APPENDIX" id="APPENDIX"></a>APPENDIX.</h3> + + +<p>In addition to the quatrains composing the final form +in which we know his poem, there are a few stray +quatrains scattered about Edward FitzGerald's Introduction +and Notes. There are also two quatrains which appeared +in the first edition only, and nine that appeared in the +second edition only. I do not think that this work would +be complete without an attempt to identify these quatrains +in the original texts which inspired them.</p> + + +<p class="center">IN THE INTRODUCTION.<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Page 4.</span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Khayyam, who stitched the Tents of Science,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has fallen in Grief's furnace and been suddenly burned;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The shears of Fate have cut the tent-ropes of his life,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the Broker of Hope has sold him for nothing!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The quatrain upon p. 4 is a literal translation by Prof. +Cowell of O. 22.</p> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 22, C. 59, L. 74, B. 70, S.P. 81, P. 205, B. ii. 94, T. 307, +P. iv. 65, P. v. 195.—W. 83, N. 81, V. 73.</p> + + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Page 7.</span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh, Thou who burn'st in Heart for those who burn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In Hell, whose fires thyself shall feed in turn;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How long be crying, «Mercy on them, God!»<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why, who art Thou to teach, and He to learn?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The quatrain upon p. 7 is FitzGerald's rendering of +C. I.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">108</a></span></p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O, burnt one (born) of the burnt! destined in turn to burn,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And oh, thou! from whom the fires of Hell shall blaze,<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a><br /></span> +<span class="i0">How long wilt thou keep saying, «Have mercy upon Omar!»<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wilt <i>thou</i> be a teacher of mercy to <i>God</i>?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 1, L. 769, B. 755, S.P. 453, P. ii. 1, B. ii. 537, T. 1.—W. +488, N. 459, V. 821.</p> + + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Page 7.</span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If I myself upon a looser Creed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have loosely strung the Jewel of Good deed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let this one thing for my Atonement plead.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That One for Two I never did misread.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The quatrain on p. 7 is FitzGerald's rendering of O. 1.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If I have never threaded the pearl<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> of thy service,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And if I have never wiped the dust of sin from my face,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nevertheless, I am not hopeless of thy mercy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For the reason that I have never said that One was Two.<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 1, C. 274, L. 423, B. 419, P. 4, S.P. 228, B. ii. 302, P. +iv. 8.—W. 268, N. 229, V. 461.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">109</a></span></p> + + +<h3 class="center"><a name="IN_THE_NOTES" id="IN_THE_NOTES"></a>IN THE NOTES.</h3> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZXVIII" id="FITZXVIII"></a>XVIII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Palace that to Heav'n his pillars threw,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Kings the forehead on his threshold drew—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I saw the solitary Ringdove there,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And «Coo, coo, coo!» she cried, and «Coo, coo, coo.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The quatrain in the note to quatrain No. 18 is translated +from C. 419.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">That palace that reared its pillars up to heaven,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Kings prostrated themselves upon its threshold;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I saw a dove that, upon its battlements,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Uttered its cry: «Where, where, where, where?»<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 419, L. 627, B. 619, S.P. 347, P. 140, B. ii. 459, P. iv. +13.—W. 392, N. 350, V. 677.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZXC" id="FITZXC"></a>XC.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Be of Good Cheer—the sullen Month will die,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And a young Moon requite us by and by:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Look how the Old one, meagre, bent, and wan<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With Age and Past, is fainting from the Sky!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The quatrain in the note to quatrain No. 90 is translated +from C. 218.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Be happy! for the moon of thy festival will come,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The means of mirth will all be propitious;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This moon has become lean, bent-figured and thin,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou may'st say that it will sink under this trouble.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 218, B. ii. 186.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">110</a></span></p> + + + +<h3><a name="IN_THE_FIRST_EDITION" id="IN_THE_FIRST_EDITION"></a>IN THE FIRST EDITION.</h3> + + +<p class="center">XXXIII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Then to the rolling Heav'n itself I cried,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Asking, «What Lamp had Destiny to guide<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Her little Children stumbling in the Dark?»<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And—«A blind Understanding» Heav'n replied.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center">XLV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But leave the Wise to wrangle, and with me<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The quarrel of the Universe let be;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, in some corner of the Hubbub coucht,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Make Game of that which makes as much of Thee.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center">XXXVII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah! fill the Cup—what boots it to repeat<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How Time is slipping underneath our Feet?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unborn To-morrow and dead Yesterday.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why fret about them if To-day be sweet?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In the first edition we find quatrain No. 33, which, +like its distant cousin in the fourth edition (No. 34), +appears to have no near parallel in the texts. No. 45 +is a quatrain in a like predicament, and it may be for +this reason that FitzGerald dropped it out of all subsequent +editions.</p> + +<p>The only other quatrain peculiar to the first edition +is No. 37. This would appear to have been inspired by +ll. 3 and 4 of O. 20, quoted in the parallels to quatrain +No. 57 and by O. 17, ll. 3 and 4.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Nothing thou canst say of yesterday, that is past, is sweet;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Be happy and do not speak of yesterday, for to-day is sweet.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 17, C. 84, L. 193, B. 190, P. 126, B. ii. 59, T. 65 and 352, +P. iv. 68, P. v. 62.—W 112, E.C. 6, V. 189.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">111</a></span></p> + + + + +<h3><a name="IN_THE_SECOND_EDITION" id="IN_THE_SECOND_EDITION"></a>IN THE SECOND EDITION.</h3> + + +<p>The quatrains peculiar to the second edition are as +follows:</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ2XIV" id="FITZ2XIV"></a>XIV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Were it not Folly, Spider-like to spin<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Thread of present Life away to win—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What? for ourselves, who know not if we shall<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Breathe out the very Breath we now breathe in!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is inspired by O. 136.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How long shall I grieve about what I have or have not,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And whether I shall pass this life light-heartedly or not?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fill up the wine-cup, for I do not know<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That I shall breathe out the breath that I am drawing in.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 136, C. 504 and 427, L. 740, B. 726, S.P. 362, P. 207, +B. ii. 484, P. v. 64.—W. 411, N. 366, V. 730.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ2XXVIII" id="FITZ2XXVIII"></a>XXVIII.</p> + +<p>This was replaced by No. 63 in the fourth and fifth +editions, taken from the same original.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ2XLIV" id="FITZ2XLIV"></a>XLIV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Do you, within your little hour of Grace,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The waving Cypress in your Arms enlace,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Before the Mother back into her arms<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fold, and dissolve you in a last embrace.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The sentiment of this quatrain is traceable in C. 189, +ll. 1 and 2, and in C. 195.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">112</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Be happy! for the time will come<br /></span> +<span class="i0">(When) all bodies will be hidden in the earth.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 189, L. 393, B. 389, S.P. 160, B. ii. 203.—N. 160, V. 390.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My whole mood is in sympathy with rosy cheeks,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My hand is always grasping the wine cup;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I exact from every part (of me) its allotted function,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere that those parts (of me) be mingled with the all.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 195, L. 349, B. 345, S.P. 163, P. 287, B. ii. 206, T. 122.—W. +181, N. 163, V. 349.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ2LXV" id="FITZ2LXV"></a>LXV.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If but the Vine and Love-abjuring Band<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are in the Prophet's Paradise to stand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Alack, I doubt the Prophet's Paradise<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Were empty as the hollow of one's Hand.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain is inspired by O. 127 and by C. 60.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To drink wine and consort with a company of the beautiful<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is better than practising the hypocrisy of the zealot;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If the lover and the drunkard are doomed to hell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then no one will see the face of heaven.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 127, L. 608, B. 601, S.P. 339, P. 330, B. ii. 453, P. v. +151.—W. 381, N. 342, V. 655.</p> + +<p>FitzGerald was evidently «reminded of» this by N. 64 +which is C. 60.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They say that drunkards will go to hell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is a repugnant creed, the heart cannot believe it;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If drunken lovers are doomed to hell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To-morrow heaven will be bare like the palm of one's hand.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 60, L. 158, B. 155, S.P. 64, T. 308, P. v. 29.—W. 67, +N 64, V. 156.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">113</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ2LXXVII" id="FITZ2LXXVII"></a>LXXVII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">For let Philosopher and Doctor preach<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of what they will, and what they will not,—each<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is but one Link in an eternal Chain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That none can slip, or break, or over-reach.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>For this quatrain I can find neither authority nor inspiration.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ2LXXXVI" id="FITZ2LXXXVI"></a>LXXXVI.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Nay, but, for terror of his wrathful Face,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I swear I will not call Injustice Grace;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not one Good Fellow of the Tavern but<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Would kick so poor a Coward from the place.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>I think the inspiration for this must have been C. 8.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">No man is he whom his fellow men spurn,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And (at the same time) for fear of his malice number among the good;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If a drunkard shows reluctance in generosity,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All his fellow drunkards hold him to be a mean fellow.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: C. 8, L. 3, B. ii. 15, T. 9.—V. 416.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ2XC" id="FITZ2XC"></a>XC.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And once again there gather'd a scarce heard<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whisper among them; as it were, the stirr'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ashes of some all but extinguisht Tongue,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which mine ear kindled into living Word.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This was a fourth quatrain evolved out of O. 103. <i>Vide</i> +quatrains Nos. 82, 83, and 87 <i>ante</i>.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">114</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ2XCIX" id="FITZ2XCIX"></a>XCIX.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Whither resorting from the vernal Heat<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall Old Acquaintance Old Acquaintance greet,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Under the Branch that leans above the Wall<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To shed his Blossom over head and feet.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain, interpolated after No. 91 of the fourth +edition (= No. 98 of the second edition), is an elaboration +founded upon the story told by Nizam ul-Mulk and recorded +by FitzGerald in his Introduction.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="FITZ2CVII" id="FITZ2CVII"></a>CVII.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Better, oh better, cancel from the Scroll<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Universe one luckless Human Soul,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Than drop by drop enlarge the Flood that rolls<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hoarser with Anguish as the Ages roll.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This quatrain, interpolated after the quatrain which +became No. XCVIII. in the fourth edition, was no doubt +inspired by N. 457 (<i>q.v. sub</i> No. 98 <i>ante</i>) and by O. 54.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What the Pen has written never changes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And grieving only results in deep affliction;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Even through all thy life thou weepest tears of blood,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not one drop becomes increased beyond what it is.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><i>Ref.</i>: O. 54, B. ii. 144.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">115</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2 class="p6"><a name="VARIATIONS" id="VARIATIONS"></a>VARIATIONS<br /> + +<small>BETWEEN THE SECOND, THIRD AND FOURTH EDITIONS OF +FITZGERALD'S TRANSLATION OF</small><br /> + +OMAR KHAYYAM</h2> + + +<p>STANZA</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">I.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Wake! For the Sun behind yon Eastern height<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has chased the Session of the Stars from Night;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, to the field of Heav'n ascending, strikes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Sultan's Turret with a Shaft of Light.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In the first draft of ed. 3 the first and second +lines stood thus</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Wake! For the Sun before him into Night<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A Signal flung that put the Stars to flight.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">II.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Why lags the drowsy Worshipper outside?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">V.</span> In edd. 2 and 3:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But still a Ruby gushes from the Vine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">IX.</span> In edd. 2 and 3:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Morning a thousand Roses brings, you say.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">X.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Let Rustum cry «To Battle!» as he likes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or Hatim Tai «To Supper!»—heed not you<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In ed. 3:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Let Zal and Rustum thunder as they will.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">116</a></span></div></div> + +<p>STANZA</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">XII.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Here with a little Bread beneath the Bough,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse—and Thou, etc.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">XIII.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah, take the Cash, and let the Promise go,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor heed the music of a distant Drum!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">XX.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And this delightful Herb whose living Green.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">XXII.</span> In edd. 2 and 3:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">That from his Vintage rolling Time has prest.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">XXVI.</span> In edd. 2 and 3.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Of the Two Worlds so learnedly, are thrust.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">XXVII.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Came out by the same door as in I went.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">XXVIII.</span> In edd. 2 and 3.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And with my own hand wrought to make it grow.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">XXX.</span> In ed. 2.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah, contrite Heav'n endowed us with the Vine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To drug the memory of that insolence!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">XXXI.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And many Knots unravel'd by the Road.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">XXXII.</span> In edd. 2 and 3:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There was the Veil through which I could not see.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">XXXIII.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Nor Heav'n, with those eternal Signs reveal'd.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">XXXIV.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Then of the <span class="smcap">Thee in Me</span> who works behind<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Veil of Universe I cried to find<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A Lamp to guide me through the darkness; and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Something then said—«An Understanding blind.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">XXXV.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I lean'd, the secret Well of Life to learn.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">117</a></span></div></div> + +<p>STANZA</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">XXXVI.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And drink; and that impassive Lip I kiss'd.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">XXXVIII.</span> In ed. 2 the only difference is «For» instead of +«And» in the first line; but in the first +draft of ed. 3 the stanza appeared +thus:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">For, in your Ear a moment—of the same<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Poor Earth from which that Human Whisper came,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The luckless Mould in which Mankind was cast<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They did compose, and call'd him by the name.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In ed. 3 the first line was altered to—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Listen—a moment listen!—Of the same, etc.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">XXXIX.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">On the parcht herbage but may steal below.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">XL.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">As then the Tulip for her wonted sup<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Heavenly Vintage lifts her chalice up,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Do you, twin offspring of the soil, till Heav'n<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To Earth invert you like an empty Cup.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In the first draft of ed. 3 the stanza is the +same as in edd. 3 and 4, except that +the second line is—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Of Wine from Heav'n her little Tass lifts up.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">XLI.</span> In ed. 2 and the first draft of ed. 3:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh, plagued no more with Human or Divine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To-morrow's tangle to itself resign.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">XLII.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And if the Cup you drink, the Lip you press,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">End in what All begins and ends in—Yes;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Imagine then you <i>are</i> what heretofore<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You <i>were</i>—hereafter you shall not be less.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The first draft of ed. 3 agrees with edd. 3 and +4, except that the first line is—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And if the Cup, and if the Lip you press.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">118</a></span></div></div> + +<p>STANZA</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">XLIII.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">So when at last the Angel of the drink<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Darkness finds you by the river-brink,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, proffering his Cup, invites your Soul<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Forth to your Lips to quaff it—do not shrink.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In the first draft of ed. 3 the only change +made was from «proffering» to «offering,» +but in ed. 3 the stanza assumed +the form in which it also appeared in +ed. 4. The change from «the Angel» +to «that Angel» was made in MS. by +FitzGerald in a copy of ed. 4.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">XLIV.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Is't not a shame—is't not a shame for him<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So long in this Clay suburb to abide!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">XLV.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But that is but a Tent wherein may rest.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">XLVI.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And fear not lest Existence closing <i>your</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Account, should lose, or know the type no more.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">XLVII.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">As much as Ocean of a pebble-cast.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In ed. 3:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">As the <span class="smcap">Sev'n Seas</span> should heed a pebble-cast.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">XLVIII.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">One Moment in Annihilation's Waste,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One Moment, of the Well of Life to taste—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Stars are setting, and the Caravan<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Draws to the Dawn of Nothing—Oh make haste.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In the first draft of ed. 3 the third line originally +stood:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Before the starting Caravan has reach'd<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>the rest of the stanza being as in edd. +3 and 4.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">119</a></span></p> + +<p>STANZA</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">XLIX.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A Hair, they say, divides the False and True.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The change from «does» to «may» in the last +line was made by FitzGerald in MS.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">L.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A Hair, they say, divides the False and True.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">LII.</span> In edd. 2 and 3:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">He does Himself contrive, enact, behold.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">LIII.</span> In the first draft of ed. 3:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To-morrow, when You shall be You no more.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">LIV.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Better be merry with the fruitful Grape.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">LV.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">You know, my Friends, how bravely in my House<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For a new Marriage I did make Carouse.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">LVII.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Have squared the Year to Human Compass, eh?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If so, by striking from the Calendar.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">LXII.</span> In ed. 2</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When the frail Cup is crumbled into Dust!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">LXIII.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Flower that once is blown for ever dies.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">LXV.</span> In edd. 2 and 3:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They told their fellows, and to Sleep return'd.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">LXVI.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And after many days my Soul return'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And said, «Behold, Myself am Heav'n and Hell.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">LXVII.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And Hell the Shadow of a Soul on fire.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">LXVIII.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Of visionary Shapes that come and go<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Round with this Sun-illumin'd Lantern held.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">LXIX.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Impotent Pieces of the Game He plays.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">LXX.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But Right or Left as strikes the Player goes.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">120</a></span></div></div> + +<p>STANZA</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">LXXII.</span> In ed. 2 and the first draft of ed. 3:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And that inverted Bowl we call The Sky.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In edd. 2 and 3:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">As impotently rolls as you or I.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">LXXIX.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Pure Gold for what he lent us dross-allay'd.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">LXXXI.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">For all the Sin the Face of wretched Man<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is black with—Man's Forgiveness give—and take!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">LXXXIII.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And once again there gather'd a scarce heard<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whisper among them; as it were, the stirr'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ashes of some all but extinguisht Tongue<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which mine ear kindled into living Word.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">LXXXIV.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My Substance from the common Earth was ta'en,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That He who subtly wrought me into Shape<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Should stamp me back to shapeless Earth again?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">LXXXV.</span> In ed. 2</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Another said—«Why, ne'er a peevish Boy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Would break the Cup from which he drank in Joy;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall He that of His own free Fancy made<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Vessel, in an after-rage destroy!»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">LXXXVI.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">None answer'd this, but after silence spake.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">LXXXVII.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Thus with the Dead as with the Living, <i>What?</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And <i>Why?</i> so ready, but the <i>Wherefor</i> not,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One on a sudden peevishly exclaim'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Which is the Potter, pray, and which the Pot?»<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">121</a></span></div></div> + +<p>STANZA</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">LXXXVIII.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Said one—«Folks of a surly Master tell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And daub his Visage with the Smoke of Hell;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They talk of some sharp Trial of us—Pish!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He's a Good Fellow, and 'twill all be well.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 5em;">In the first draft of ed. 3. the stanza begins:</span><br /></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">«Why,» said another, «Dismal people tell<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of an old Savage who will toss to Hell<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The luckless Pots,» etc.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">LXXXIX.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">«Well,» said another, «Whoso will, let try.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">XC.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">One spied the little Crescent all were seeking.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">XCI.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And wash my Body whence the Life has died.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">XCIII.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Have done my credit in Men's eye much wrong.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">XCV.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">One half so precious as the ware they sell.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">XCVII.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Toward which the fainting Traveller might spring.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">XCVIII.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh if the World were but to re-create,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That we might catch ere closed the Book of Fate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And make The Writer on a fairer leaf<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Inscribe our names, or quite obliterate!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">XCIX.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah Love! could you and I with Fate conspire.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">C.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But see! The rising Moon of Heav'n again<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Looks for us, Sweet-heart, through the quivering Plane:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How oft hereafter rising will she look<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Among those leaves—for one of us in vain!<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">122</a></span></div></div> + +<p>STANZA</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">CI.</span> In ed. 2:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And when Yourself with silver Foot shall pass.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In the first draft of ed. 3 «Foot» is changed to +«step.»</p> + +<p>In ed. 3:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And in your blissful errand reach the spot.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center">STANZAS WHICH APPEAR IN THE +SECOND EDITION ONLY</p> + +<p> +<span class="smcap">XIV.</span> Were it not Folly, Spider-like to spin<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">The Thread of present Life away to win—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">What? for ourselves, who know not if we shall</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Breathe out the very Breath we now breathe in!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">XX</span>. (This stanza is quoted in the note to stanza <span class="smcap">XVIII</span>.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">in the third and fourth editions.)</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">XXVIII</span>. Another Voice, when I am sleeping, cries,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">«The Flower should open with the Morning skies.»</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">And a retreating Whisper, as I wake—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">«The Flower that once has blown for ever dies.»</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">XLIV</span>. Do you, within your little hour of Grace,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">The waving Cypress in your Arms enlace,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Before the Mother back into her arms</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Fold, and dissolve you in a last embrace.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">LXV</span>. If but the Vine and Love-abjuring Band<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Are in the Prophet's Paradise to stand,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Alack, I doubt the Prophet's Paradise</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Were empty as the hollow of one's Hand.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">LXXVII</span>. For let Philosopher and Doctor preach<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Of what they will, and what they will not—each</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Is but one Link in an eternal Chain</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">123</a></span><span style="margin-left: 4em;">That none can slip, or break, or over-reach.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">LXXXVI</span>. Nay, but, for terror of his wrathful Face,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">I swear I will not call Injustice Grace,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Not one Good Fellow of the Tavern but</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Would kick so poor a Coward from the place.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">XC</span>. And once again there gather'd a scarce heard<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Whisper among them; as it were, the stirr'd</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Ashes of some all but extinguisht Tongue,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Which mine ear kindled into living Word.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>(In the third and fourth editions stanza LXXXIII. takes the +place of this.)</p> + +<p> +<span class="smcap">XCIX</span>. Whither resorting from the vernal Heat<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Shall Old Acquaintance Old Acquaintance greet,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Under the Branch that leans above the Wall</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">To shed his Blossom over head and feet.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>(This was retained in the first draft of ed. 3.)</p> + +<p> +<span class="smcap">CVII</span>. Better, oh better, cancel from the Scroll<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Of Universe one luckless Human Soul,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Than drop by drop enlarge the Flood that rolls</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Hoarser with Anguish as the Ages Roll.</span><br /> +</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">124</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2 class="p6"><a name="QUATRAINS_OF_OMAR_KHAYYAM" id="QUATRAINS_OF_OMAR_KHAYYAM"></a>QUATRAINS OF OMAR KHAYYAM</h2> + + +<p class="center">COMPARATIVE TABLE OF STANZAS IN THE<br /> +FOUR<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> EDITIONS OF FITZGERALD</p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Stanzas"> +<tr><td align="left">Ed. 1</td><td align="left">Ed. 2</td><td align="left">Edd. 3 and 4</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">I</td><td align="left">I</td><td align="left">I</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">II</td><td align="left">II</td><td align="left">II</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">III</td><td align="left">III</td><td align="left">III</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">IV</td><td align="left">IV</td><td align="left">IV</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">V</td><td align="left">V</td><td align="left">V</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">VI</td><td align="left">VI</td><td align="left">VI</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">VII</td><td align="left">VII</td><td align="left">VII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">VIII</td><td align="left">IX</td><td align="left">IX</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">IX</td><td align="left">X</td><td align="left">X</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">X</td><td align="left">XI</td><td align="left">XI</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XI</td><td align="left">XII</td><td align="left">XII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XII</td><td align="left">XIII</td><td align="left">XIII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XIII</td><td align="left">XV</td><td align="left">XIV</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XIV</td><td align="left">XVII</td><td align="left">XVI</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XV</td><td align="left">XVI</td><td align="left">XV</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XVI</td><td align="left">XVIII</td><td align="left">XVII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XVII</td><td align="left">XIX</td><td align="left">XVIII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XVIII</td><td align="left">XXIV</td><td align="left">XIX</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XIX</td><td align="left">XXV</td><td align="left">XX</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XX</td><td align="left">XXI</td><td align="left">XXI</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XXI</td><td align="left">XXII</td><td align="left">XXII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XXII</td><td align="left">XXIII</td><td align="left">XXIII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XXIII</td><td align="left">XXVI</td><td align="left">XXIV</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XXIV</td><td align="left">XXVII</td><td align="left">XXV</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XXV</td><td align="left">XXIX</td><td align="left">XXVI</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XXVI</td><td align="left">LXVI</td><td align="left">LXIII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XXVII</td><td align="left">XXX</td><td align="left">XXVII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XXVIII</td><td align="left">XXXI</td><td align="left">XXVIII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XXIX</td><td align="left">XXXII</td><td align="left">XXIX</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XXX</td><td align="left">XXXIII</td><td align="left">XXX<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">125</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XXXI</td><td align="left">XXXIV</td><td align="left">XXXI</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XXXII</td><td align="left">XXXV</td><td align="left">XXXII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XXXIII</td><td align="left">XXXVII</td><td align="left">XXXIV</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XXXIV</td><td align="left">XXXVIII</td><td align="left">XXXV</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XXXV</td><td align="left">XXXIX</td><td align="left">XXXVI</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XXXVI</td><td align="left">XL</td><td align="left">XXXVII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XXXVII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XXXVIII</td><td align="left">XLIX</td><td align="left">XLVIII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XXXIX</td><td align="left">LVI</td><td align="left">LIV</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XL</td><td align="left">LVII</td><td align="left">LV</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XLI</td><td align="left">LVIII</td><td align="left">LVI</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XLII</td><td align="left">LX</td><td align="left">LVIII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XLIII</td><td align="left">LXI</td><td align="left">LIX</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XLIV</td><td align="left">LXII</td><td align="left">LX</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XLV</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XLVI</td><td align="left">LXXIII</td><td align="left">LXVIII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XLVII</td><td align="left">XLV</td><td align="left">XLII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XLVIII</td><td align="left">XLVI</td><td align="left">XLIII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XLIX</td><td align="left">LXXIV</td><td align="left">LXIX</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">L</td><td align="left">LXXV</td><td align="left">LXX</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">LI</td><td align="left">LXXVI</td><td align="left">LXXI</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">LII</td><td align="left">LXXVIII</td><td align="left">LXXII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">LIII</td><td align="left">LXXIX</td><td align="left">LXXIII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">LIV</td><td align="left">LXXXI</td><td align="left">LXXV</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">LV</td><td align="left">LXXXII</td><td align="left">LXXVI</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">LVI</td><td align="left">LXXXIII</td><td align="left">LXXVII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">LVII</td><td align="left">LXXXVII</td><td align="left">LXXX</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">LVIII</td><td align="left">LXXXVIII</td><td align="left">LXXXI</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">LIX</td><td align="left">LXXXIX</td><td align="left">LXXXII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">LX</td><td align="left">XCIV</td><td align="left">LXXXVII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">LXI</td><td align="left">XCI</td><td align="left">LXXXIV</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">LXII</td><td align="left">XCII</td><td align="left">LXXXV</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">LXIII</td><td align="left">XCIII</td><td align="left">LXXXVI</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">LXIV</td><td align="left">XCV</td><td align="left">LXXXVIII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">LXV</td><td align="left">XCVI</td><td align="left">LXXXIX</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">LXVI</td><td align="left">XCVII</td><td align="left">XC</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">LXVII</td><td align="left">XCVIII</td><td align="left">XCI</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">LXVIII</td><td align="left">C</td><td align="left">XCII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">LXIX</td><td align="left">CI</td><td align="left">XCIII<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">126</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">LXX</td><td align="left">CII</td><td align="left">XCIV</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">LXXI</td><td align="left">CIII</td><td align="left">XCV</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">LXXII</td><td align="left">CIV</td><td align="left">XCVI</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">LXXIII</td><td align="left">CVIII</td><td align="left">XCIX</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">LXXIV</td><td align="left">CIX</td><td align="left">C</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">LXXV</td><td align="left">CX</td><td align="left">CI</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">VIII</td><td align="left">VIII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">XIV</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td></td><td align="left">Note on</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">XX</td><td align="left">XVIII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">XXVIII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">XXXVI</td><td align="left">XXXIII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">XLI</td><td align="left">XXXVIII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">XLII</td><td align="left">XXXIX</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">XLIII</td><td align="left">XL</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">XLIV</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">XLVII</td><td align="left">XLVI</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">XLVIII</td><td align="left">XLVII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">L</td><td align="left">XLIX</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">LI</td><td align="left">L</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">LII</td><td align="left">LI</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">LIII</td><td align="left">LII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">LIV</td><td align="left">LIII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">LV</td><td align="left">XLI</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">LIX</td><td align="left">LVII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">LXIII</td><td align="left">LXI</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">LXIV</td><td align="left">LXII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">LXV</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">LXVII</td><td align="left">LXIV</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">LXVIII</td><td align="left">LXV</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">LXIX</td><td align="left">XLIV</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">LXX</td><td align="left">XLV</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">LXXI</td><td align="left">LXVI</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">LXXII</td><td align="left">LXVII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">LXXVII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">LXXX</td><td align="left">LXXIV</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">LXXXIV</td><td align="left">LXXVIII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">LXXXV</td><td align="left">LXXIX<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">127</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">LXXXVI</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">XC</td><td align="left">LXXXIII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">XCIX</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">CV</td><td align="left">XCVII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">CVI</td><td align="left">XCVIII</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">CVII</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + + +<h3 class="p6"><a name="NOTE" id="NOTE"></a>NOTE</h3> + + +<p>It must be admitted that FitzGerald took great liberties with the +original in his version of Omar Khayyam. The first stanza is entirely +his own, and in stanza <span class="smcap">XXXI</span>. of the fourth edition (<span class="smcap">XXXVI</span>. in the second) +he has introduced two lines from Attar. (See «Letters,» p. 251.) +In stanza <span class="smcap">LXXXI</span>. (fourth edition), writes Professor Cowell, «There is +no original for the line about the snake: I have looked for it in vain +in Nicolas; but I have always supposed that the last line is FitzGerald's +mistaken version of Quatr. 236 in Nicolas's ed. which runs +thus:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">«O thou who knowest the secrets of every one's mind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who graspest every one's hand in the hour of weakness,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O God, give me repentance and accept my excuses,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O thou who givest repentance and acceptest the excuses of every one.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>«FitzGerald mistook the meaning of <i>giving</i> and <i>accepting</i> as +used here, and so invented his last line out of his own mistake. I +wrote to him about it when I was in Calcutta; but he never cared +to alter it.»</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">129</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2 class="p6"><small>THE</small><br /> + +QUATRAINS OF OMAR KHAYYAM<br /> + +<small>TRANSLATED BY</small><br /> + +E.H. WHINFIELD, M.A. +</h2> + +<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">131</a></span></p> + + + + +<h3 class="p6"><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION</h3> + + +<p>Omar is a poet who can hardly be translated satisfactorily +otherwise than in verse. Prose does well +enough for narrative or didactic poetry, where the +main things to be reproduced are the matter and substance, +but it is plainly contra-indicated in the case of +poetry like Omar's, where the matter is little else than +«the commonplaces of the lyric ode and the tragic +chorus,» and where nearly the whole charm consists in +the style and the manner, the grace of the expression +and the melody of the versification. A literal prose version +of such poetry must needs be unsatisfactory, because +it studiously ignores the chief points in which the attractiveness +of the original consists, and deliberately +renounces all attempt to reproduce them.</p> + +<p>In deciding on the form to be taken by a new translation +of Omar, the fact of the existence of a previous +verse translation of universally acknowledged merit ought +not, of course, to be left out of account. The successor +of a translator like Mr. Fitzgerald, who ventures to write +verse, and especially verse of the metre which he has +handled with such success, cannot help feeling at almost +every step that he is provoking comparisons very much +to his own disadvantage. But I do not think this consideration +ought to deter him from using the vehicle +which everything else indicates as the proper one.</p> + +<p>As regards metre, there is no doubt that the quatrain +of ten-syllable lines which has been tried by Hammer, +Bicknell, and others, and has been raised by Mr. Fitzgerald +almost to the rank of a recognised English metre, +is the best representative of the <i>Ruba'i</i>. It fairly satisfies +Conington's canon, viz., that there ought to be some +degree of metrical conformity between the measure of +the original and the translation, for though it does not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">132</a></span> +exactly correspond with the <i>Ruba'i</i>, it very clearly suggests +it. In particular, it copies what is perhaps the most +marked feature of the <i>Ruba'i</i>,—the interlinking of the +four lines by the repetition in the fourth line of the rhyme +of the first and second. Mr Swinburne's modification of +this metre, in which the rhyme is carried on from one +quatrain to the next, is not applicable to poems like +Omar's, all of which are isolated in sense from the context. +Alexandrines would, of course, correspond more nearly +than decasyllables with <i>Ruba'i</i> lines in number of syllables, +and they have been extensively used by Bodenstedt +and other German translators of the metre but, whatever +may be the case in German, they are apt to read very +heavily in English, even when constructed by skilful +verse-makers, and an inferior workman can hardly hope +to manage them with anything like success. The shorter +length of the decasyllable line is not altogether a disadvantage +to the translator. Owing to the large number +of monosyllables in English, it is generally adequate to +hold the contents of a Persian line a syllable or two +longer; and a line erring, if at all, on the side of brevity, +has at any rate the advantage of obliging the translator +to eschew modern diffuseness, and of making him try to +copy the «classical parsimony,» the archaic terseness and +condensation of the original.</p> + +<p>The poet Cowper has a remark on translation from Latin +which is eminently true also of translation from Persian. +He says, «That is epigrammatic and witty in Latin which +would be perfectly insipid in English.... If a +Latin poem is neat, elegant, and musical, it is enough, +but English readers are not so easily satisfied.» Much +of Omar's matter, when literally translated, seems very +trite and commonplace, many of the «conceits,» of which +he is so fond, very frigid, and even his peculiar grotesque +humour often loses its savour in an English <i>replica</i>. The +translator is often tempted to elevate a too grovelling +sentiment, to «sharpen a point» here and there, to trick +out a commonplace with some borrowed modern embellishment. +But this temptation is one to be resisted as far +as possible. According to the <i>Hadis</i>, «The business of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">133</a></span> +messenger is simply to deliver his message,» and he must +not shrink from displaying the naked truth. A translator +who writes in verse must of course claim the liberty of +altering the form of the expression over and over again, +but the substituted expressions ought to be in keeping +with the author's style, and on the same plane of sentiment +as his. It is beyond the province of a translator to attempt +the task of «painting the lily.» But it is easier +to lay down correct principles of translation than to observe +them unswervingly in one's practice.</p> + +<p>As regards subject matter, Omar's quatrains may be +classed under the following six heads:—</p> + +<p>I. <i>Shikayat i rozgar</i>—Complaints of «the wheel of +heaven,» or fate, of the world's injustice, of the loss of +friends, of man's limited faculties and destinies.</p> + +<p>II. <i>Hajw</i>—Satires on the hypocrisy of the «unco' +guid,» the impiety of the pious, the ignorance of the +learned, and the untowardness of his own generation.</p> + +<p>III. <i>Firakiya</i> and <i>Wisaliya</i>—Love-poems on the sorrows +of separation and the joys of reunion with the +Beloved, earthly or spiritual.</p> + +<p>IV. <i>Bahariya</i>—Poems in praise of spring, gardens, and +flowers.</p> + +<p>V. <i>Kufriya</i>—Irreligious and antinomian utterances, +charging the sins of the creature to the account of the +Creator, scoffing at the Prophet's Paradise and Hell, singing +the praises of wine and pleasure—preaching <i>ad +nauseam</i>, «eat and drink (especially drink), for to-morrow +ye die.»</p> + +<p>VI. <i>Munajat</i>—Addresses to the Deity, now in the +ordinary language of devotion, bewailing sins and imploring +pardon, now in Mystic phraseology, craving +deliverance from «self,» and union with the «Truth» +(<i>Al Hakk</i>), or Deity, as conceived by the Mystics.</p> + +<p>The «complaints» may obviously be connected with +the known facts of the poet's life, by supposing them +to have been prompted by the persecution to which he +was subjected on account of his opinions. His remarks +on the Houris and other sacred subjects raised such a +feeling against him that at one time his life was in danger,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">134</a></span> +and the wonder is that he escaped at all in a city like +Naishapur, where the <i>odium theologicum</i> raged so fiercely +as to occasion a sanguinary civil war. In the year 489 +<span class="smcap">a.h.</span>, as we learn from Ibn Al Athir,<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> the orthodox +banded themselves together under the leadership of Abul +Kasim and Muhammad, the chiefs of the Hanefites and +the Shafeites, in order to exterminate the Kerramians +or Anthropomorphist heretics, and succeeded in putting +many of them to death, and destroying all their establishments. +It may be also that after the death of his +patron, Nizam ul Mulk, Omar lost his stipend and was +reduced to poverty.</p> + +<p>The satires probably owed their origin to the same +cause. <i>Rien soulage comme la rhetorique</i>, and if Omar +could not relieve his feelings by open abuse of his persecutors, +he made up for it by the bitterness of his verses. +The bitterness of his strictures on them was no doubt +fully equalled by the rancour of their attacks upon him.</p> + +<p>The love-poems are samples of a class of compositions +much commoner in later poets than in Omar. Most of +them probably bear a mystical meaning, for I doubt if +Omar was a person very susceptible of the tender passion. +He speaks with appreciation of «tulip cheeks» and «cypress +forms,» but apparently recognises no attractions of +a higher order in his fair friends.</p> + +<p>The poems in praise of scenery again offer a strong +contrast to modern treatment of the same theme. The +only aspects of nature noticed by Omar are such as affect +the senses agreeably—the bright flowers, the song of the +nightingale, the grassy bank of the stream, and the shady +garden associated in his mind with his convivial parties. +The geographer translated by Sir W. Ouseley says of +Naishapur, «The city is watered by a subterranean canal, +which is conveyed to the fields and gardens, and there is +a considerable stream that waters the city and the villages +about it—this stream is named <i>Saka</i>. In all the provinces +of Khorassan there is not any city larger than Naishapur, +nor any blessed with a more pure and temperate air. » No<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">135</a></span> +doubt it was some of these gardens that called forth +Omar's encomiums.</p> + +<p>But it is in the <i>Kufriya</i>, or antinomian quatrains, and in +the <i>Munajat</i>, or pious aspirations, that the most remarkable +and characteristic features of Omar's poetry are exhibited. +The glaring contrast between these two classes +of his poetry has led his readers to take very opposite +views of him, according as they looked at one or the other +side of the shield. European critics, like his contemporaries, +mostly consider him an infidel and a voluptuary «of +like mind with Sardanapalus.» On the other hand, the +Sufis have contrived to affix mystical and devotional +meanings even to his most Epicurean quatrains; and this +method of interpretation is nowadays as universally accepted +in Persia and India as the Mystical interpretation +of the Canticles is in Europe. But neither of these views +can be accepted in its entirety. Even if the Sufi symbolism +had been definitely formulated as early as Omar's +time, which is very doubtful, common sense would forbid +us to force a devotional meaning on the palpably Epicurean +quatrains; and, on the other hand, unless we are +prepared to throw over the authority of all the manuscripts, +including the most ancient ones, we must reckon +with the obviously Mystical and devotional quatrains. +The essential contradiction in the tone and temper of +these two sections of Omar's poetry cannot be glossed +over, but calls imperatively for explanation.</p> + +<p>His poems were obviously not all written at one period +of his life, but from time to time, just as circumstances +and mood suggested, and under the influence of the +thoughts, passions, and desires which happened to be uppermost +at the moment. It may be that the irreligious +and Epicurean quatrains were written in youth, and the +<i>Munajat</i> in his riper years. But this hypothesis seems +to be disproved by Sharastani's account of him, which is +quite silent as to any such conversion or change of sentiment +on his part, and also by the fact that he describes +himself from first to last as a «<i>Dipsychus</i>» in grain, a +halter between two opinions, and an <i>«Acrates</i>,» or back-slider, +in his practice.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">136</a></span></p> + +<p>If his poems be considered not in the abstract, but in +the light of history, taking into account his mental pedigree +and his intellectual surroundings, a more plausible explanation +of his inconsistencies readily presents itself. In +his youth, as we know, he sat at the feet of the Suni +theologian Imam Muaffik, and he was then no doubt thoroughly +indoctrinated with the great Semitic conception of +the One God, or, to use the expressive term of Muhammadan +theology, «the Only Real Agent» (<i>Fa' il i Hakiki</i>). +To minds dominated by the overwhelming sense of Almighty +Power, everywhere present and working, there +seems no room for Nature, or human will, or chance, +or any other Ahriman whatsoever, to take the responsibility +of all the evils in the world, the storms and the +earthquakes, the Borgias and the Catilines. The «Only +Real Agent» has to answer for all. In the most ancient +document of Semitic religious speculation now extant, the +Book of Job, we find expostulations of the boldest character +addressed to the Deity for permitting a righteous +man to be stricken with unmerited misfortunes, though +the writer ultimately concludes in a spirit of pious agnosticism +and resignation to the inscrutable dispensations of +Providence. In the Book of Ecclesiastes again, the same +problems are handled, but in a somewhat different temper. +The «weary king Ecclesiast» remarks that there is one +event to all, to him that sacrificeth and him that sacrificeth +not—that injustice and wrong seem eternally triumphant, +that God has made things crooked, and none can make +them straight; and concludes now in favour of a sober +«<i>carpe diem</i>» philosophy, now in favour of a devout «fear +of the Lord.» Of course the manner in which the serious +Hebrew handles these matters is very different from +the levity and flippancy of the volatile Persian, but it can +hardly be denied that the Ecclesiast and Omar resemble +one another in the double and contradictory nature of their +practical conclusions.</p> + +<p>No sooner was Islam established than the same problem +of the existence of evil in the handiwork of the Almighty +Author and Governor of all began to trouble the Moslem +theologians, and by their elaboration of the doctrine of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">137</a></span> +Predestination they managed to aggravate its difficulties.</p> + +<p>One of the chief «roots» of their discussions was how to +reconcile the Divine justice and benevolence with the +Divine prescience,—the predestination of some vessels to +honour, and others to dishonour,—the pre-ordainment +of all things by a kind of mechanical necessity (<i>Jabr</i>), +leaving no possibility of the occurrence of any events +except those which actually do occur. The consideration +of one corollary of a similar doctrine moved the pious +and gentle Cowper to use language of indignant dissent; +and there is high theological authority for the view +that it is calculated «to thrust some into desperation,» but +to stimulate the piety of others. Omar is constantly dwelling +on this doctrine, and he seems to be affected by it in +the double way here mentioned.</p> + +<p>Other influences which acted on Omar must not be left +out of account. Born as he was in Khorassan, «the focus +of Persian culture,» he was no doubt familiar with speculations +of the Moslem philosophers, Alkindi, Alfarabi, and +Avicenna,<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> the last of whom he may possibly have seen. +And though, think he was not himself a Sufi, in the +sense of being affiliated to any Sufi order, he can hardly +have been unaffected by the mysticism of which his predecessor +in <i>Ruba'i</i> writing, Abu Sa'id bin Abul Khair, his +patron Nizam ul Mulk, and his distinguished countryman +Imam Ghazali were all strong adherents. His philosophical +studies would naturally stimulate his sceptical and +irreligious dispositions, while his Mystic leanings would +operate mainly in the contrary direction.</p> + +<p>If this explanation of the inconsistencies in his poetry +be correct, it is obvious that the parallel often sought to +be traced between him and Lucretius has no existence. +Whatever he was, he was not an Atheist. To him, as to +other Muhammadans of his time, to deny the existence +of the Deity would seem to be tantamount to denying the +existence of the world and of himself. And the conception +of «laws of nature» was also one quite foreign to his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">138</a></span> +habits of thought. As Deutsch says, «To a Shemite, Nature +is simply what has been begotten, and is ruled absolutely +by One Absolute Power.»</p> + +<p>Hammer compares him to Voltaire, but in reality he is +a Voltaire and something more. He has much of Voltaire's +flippancy and irreverence. His treatment of the +doctrine of the Resurrection of the Body, for instance, +which Muhammad took from Christianity, and travestied +by the embellishments he added to it, is altogether in +Voltaire's manner. And his insistence on the all importance +of kindness and charity recalls the better side of +Voltaire's character, viz., his kindness to Calas, and the +other victims of ecclesiastical persecution. But Omar also +possessed, what Voltaire did not, strong religious emotions, +which at times overrode his rationalism, and found expression +in those devotional and Mystical quatrains, which +offer such a strong contrast to the rest of his poetry.</p> + +<p class="right"> +E.H. WHINFIELD<br /> +</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">139</a></span></p> + + + + +<h3 class="p6"><a name="WHIN_NOTE" id="WHIN_NOTE"></a>NOTE</h3> + + +<p>The text has been framed from a comparison of the +following authorities:—</p> + +<p> +I. The Bodleian manuscript, No. 140 of the Ouseley Collection,<br /> +containing 158 quatrains.<br /> +<br /> +II. The Calcutta Asiatic Society's manuscript, No. 1548, containing<br /> +516 quatrains.<br /> +<br /> +III. The India Office manuscript, No. 2420, ff. 212 to 267, containing<br /> +512 quatrains.<br /> +<br /> +IV. The Calcutta edition of 1252 <span class="smcap">a.h.</span>, containing 438 quatrains,<br /> +with an appendix of 54 more, which the editor says he found in a<br /> +Bayaz, or common-place book, after the others had been printed.<br /> +<br /> +V. The Paris edition of M. Nicolas, containing 464 quatrains.<br /> +<br /> +VI. The Lucknow lithographed edition, containing 763 quatrains.<br /> +<br /> +VII. A fragment of an edition begun by the late Mr. Blochmann,<br /> +containing only 62 quatrains.<br /> +</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">141</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2 class="p6"><a name="WHIN_QUATRAINS_OF_OMAR_KHAYYAM" id="WHIN_QUATRAINS_OF_OMAR_KHAYYAM"></a>QUATRAINS OF OMAR KHAYYAM</h2> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN1" id="WHIN1"></a>1.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">At dawn a cry through all the tavern shrilled,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Arise my brethren of the revellers' guild,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That I may fill our measure, full of wine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or e'er the measure of our days be filled.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN1" id="NOTE_WHIN1"></a>1. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. Bl. considers this quatrain Mystical.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN2" id="WHIN2"></a>2.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Who was it brought thee here at nightfall, who?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Forth from the harem in this manner, who?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To him who in thy absence burns as fire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And trembles like hot air, who was it, who?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN2" id="NOTE_WHIN2"></a>2. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. Bl. says the omission of the copulative +<i>wa</i> in line 4 of the original is characteristic of Khayyam. +In line 4 I follow Blochmann's rendering. It may mean, +«when the wind blows.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN3" id="WHIN3"></a>3.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Tis but a day we sojourn here below,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all the gain we get is grief and woe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And then, leaving life's riddles all unsolved,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And burdened with regrets, we have to go.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN3" id="NOTE_WHIN3"></a>3. N.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">142</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN4" id="WHIN4"></a>4.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Khaja! grant one request, and only one,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wish me God-speed, and get your preaching done;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I walk aright, 'tis you who see awry;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Go! heal your purblind eyes, leave me alone.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN4" id="NOTE_WHIN4"></a>4. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN5" id="WHIN5"></a>5.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Arise! and come, and of thy courtesy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Resolve my weary heart's perplexity,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And fill my goblet, so that I may drink,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or e'er they make their goblets out of me.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN5" id="NOTE_WHIN5"></a>5. Bl. C. L. N A. I. J. The heart is supposed to be the seat of +reason. «Or ever» and «or e'er» are both found in Elizabethan +English. Abbot, Shakespearian Grammar, p. 89.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN6" id="WHIN6"></a>6.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When I am dead, with wine my body lave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For obit chant a bacchanalian stave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, if you need me at the day of doom,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beneath the tavern threshold seek my grave.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN6" id="NOTE_WHIN6"></a>6. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN7" id="WHIN7"></a>7.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Since no one can assure thee of the morrow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rejoice thy heart to-day, and banish sorrow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With moonbright wine, fair moon, for heaven's moon.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Will look for us in vain on many a morrow.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN7" id="NOTE_WHIN7"></a>7. Bl. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. Line 2 is in metre 14.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">143</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN8" id="WHIN8"></a>8.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Let lovers all distraught and frenzied be,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And flown with wine, and reprobates, like me;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When sober, I find everything amiss,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But in my cups cry, «Let what will be, be.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN8" id="NOTE_WHIN8"></a>8. Bl. L. N. Line 3 is in metre 13.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN9" id="WHIN9"></a>9.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In Allah's name, say, wherefore set the wise<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their hearts upon this house of vanities?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whene'er they think to rest them from their toils,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Death takes them by the hand, and says, «Arise.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN9" id="NOTE_WHIN9"></a>9. Bl. C. L. N. A. I.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN10" id="WHIN10"></a>10.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Men say the Koran holds all heavenly lore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But on its pages seldom care to pore;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The lucid lines engraven on the bowl,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>That</i> is the text they dwell on evermore.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN10" id="NOTE_WHIN10"></a>10. Bl. L. N. A. B. I. J. Lines were engraven on the bowl to +measure out the draughts. Bl.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN11" id="WHIN11"></a>11.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Blame not the drunkards, you who wine eschew,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Had I but grace, I would abstain like you,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And mark me, vaunting zealot, you commit<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A hundredfold worse sins than drunkards do.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN11" id="NOTE_WHIN11"></a>11. Bl. C. L. N. A. I.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">144</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN12" id="WHIN12"></a>12.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What though 'tis fair to view, this form of man,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I know not why the heavenly Artisan<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hath set these tulip cheeks and cypress forms<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To deck the mournful halls of earth's divan.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN12" id="NOTE_WHIN12"></a>12. Bl. C. L. N. A. I.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN13" id="WHIN13"></a>13.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My fire gives forth no smoke-cloud here below,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My stock-in-trade no profit here below,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And you, who call me tavern-haunter, know<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There is indeed no tavern here below<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN13" id="NOTE_WHIN13"></a>13. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. The anacoluthon in line 3, and the missing +rhyme before the burden, in line 4, are characteristic +of Khayyam. Bl.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN14" id="WHIN14"></a>14.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Thus spake an idol to his worshipper,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Why dost thou worship this dead stone, fair sir?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis because He who gazeth through thine eyes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Doth some part of His charms on it confer.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN14" id="NOTE_WHIN14"></a>14. L. Meaning, all is of God, even idols.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN15" id="WHIN15"></a>15.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Whate'er thou doest, never grieve thy brother,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor kindle fumes of wrath his peace to smother;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dost thou desire to taste eternal bliss,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Vex thine own heart, but never vex another!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN15" id="NOTE_WHIN15"></a>15. L. b. Line 1 is in metre 14.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">145</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN16" id="WHIN16"></a>16.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Thou! to please whose love and wrath as well,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Allah created heaven and likewise hell;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou hast thy court in heaven, and I have naught,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why not admit me in thy courts to dwell?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN16" id="NOTE_WHIN16"></a>16. Bl. L. The person addressed is the prophet Muhammad. The +Sufis were fond of dwelling on the opposition between the +beautiful and the terrible attributes of Deity.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN17" id="WHIN17"></a>17.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">So many cups of wine will I consume,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Its bouquet shall exhale from out my tomb,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And every one that passes by shall halt,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And reel and stagger with that mighty fume.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN17" id="NOTE_WHIN17"></a>17. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN18" id="WHIN18"></a>18.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Young wooer, charm all hearts with lover's art,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Glad winner, lead thy paragon apart!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A hundred Ka'bas equal not one heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Seek not the Ka'ba, rather seek a heart!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN18" id="NOTE_WHIN18"></a>18. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. Line 2, «In the presence seize the perfect +heart.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN19" id="WHIN19"></a>19.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What time, my cup in hand, its draughts I drain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And with rapt heart unconsciousness attain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Behold what wondrous miracles are wrought,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Songs flow as water from my burning brain.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN19" id="NOTE_WHIN19"></a>19. L. N.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">146</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN20" id="WHIN20"></a>20.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To-day is but a breathing space, quaff wine!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou wilt not see again this life of thine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So, as the world becomes the spoil of time,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Offer thyself to be the spoil of wine!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN20" id="NOTE_WHIN20"></a>20. L. N.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN21" id="WHIN21"></a>21.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Tis we who to wine's yoke our necks incline,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And risk our lives to gain the smiles of wine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The henchman grasps the flagon by its throat<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And squeezes out the lifeblood of the vine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN21" id="NOTE_WHIN21"></a>21. L. N. Line 3 is in metre 19.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN22" id="WHIN22"></a>22.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Here in this tavern haunt I make my lair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pawning for wine, heart, soul, and all I wear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Without a hope of bliss, or fear of bale,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rapt above water, earth, and fire, and air.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN22" id="NOTE_WHIN22"></a>22. Bl. C. L. N. A. B. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN23" id="WHIN23"></a>23.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Quoth fish to duck, «Twill be a sad affair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If this brook leaves its channel dry and bare»;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To whom the duck, «When I am dead and roasted<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The brook may run with wine for aught I care.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN23" id="NOTE_WHIN23"></a>23. L. Meaning, «<i>Aprčs nous le déluge</i>».</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">147</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN24" id="WHIN24"></a>24.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">From doubt to clear assurance is a breath,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A breath from infidelity to faith;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O precious breath! enjoy it while you may,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis all that life can give, and then comes death.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN24" id="NOTE_WHIN24"></a>24. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN25" id="WHIN25"></a>25.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah! wheel of heaven to tyranny inclined,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Twas e'er your wont to show yourself unkind;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, cruel earth, if they should cleave your breast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What store of buried jewels they would find!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN25" id="NOTE_WHIN25"></a>25. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. «Wheel of heaven,» <i>i.e.</i>, destiny, fortune. +Sir Thomas Browne talks of the «wheel of things.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN26" id="WHIN26"></a>26.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My life lasts but a day or two, and fast<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sweeps by, like torrent stream or desert blast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Howbeit, of two days I take no heed,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The day to come, and that already past.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN26" id="NOTE_WHIN26"></a>26. Bl. C. L. N. A. B. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN27" id="WHIN27"></a>27.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">That pearl is from a mine unknown to thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That ruby bears a stamp thou canst not see<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The tale of love some other tongue must tell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All our conjectures are mere phantasy.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN27" id="NOTE_WHIN27"></a>27. Meaning, real love of God differs from the popular idea of +it. Bl.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">148</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN28" id="WHIN28"></a>28.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Now with its joyful prime my age is rife,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I quaff enchanting wine, and list to fife;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Chide not at wine for all its bitter taste,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Its bitterness sorts well with human life!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN28" id="NOTE_WHIN28"></a>28. Bl. C. L. N. A. B. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN29" id="WHIN29"></a>29.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O soul! whose lot it is to bleed with pain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And daily change of fortune to sustain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Into this body wherefore didst thou come,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Seeing thou must at last go forth again?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN29" id="NOTE_WHIN29"></a>29. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN30" id="WHIN30"></a>30.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To-day is thine to spend, but not to-morrow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Counting on morrows breedeth naught but sorrow;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh! squander not this breath that heaven hath lent thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor make too sure another breath to borrow!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN30" id="NOTE_WHIN30"></a>30. Bl. C. N. A. B. I.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN31" id="WHIN31"></a>31.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Tis labour lost thus to all doors to crawl,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Take thy good fortune, and thy bad withal;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Know for a surety each must play his game,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As from heaven's dice-box fate's dice chance to fall.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN31" id="NOTE_WHIN31"></a>31. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. <i>Naksh</i>, the dots on dice.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">149</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN32" id="WHIN32"></a>32.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This jug did once, like me, love's sorrows taste,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And bonds of beauty's tresses once embraced,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This handle, which you see upon its side,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has many a time twined round a slender waist!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN32" id="NOTE_WHIN32"></a>32. Bl. C. L. N. A. B. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN33" id="WHIN33"></a>33.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Days changed to nights, ere you were born, or I,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And on its business ever rolled the sky;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">See you tread gently on this dust—perchance<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Twas once the apple of some beauty's eye.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN33" id="NOTE_WHIN33"></a>33. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN34" id="WHIN34"></a>34.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Pagodas, just as mosques, are homes of prayer,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis prayer that church-bells chime unto the air,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yea, Church and Ka'ba, Rosary and Cross<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are all but divers tongues of world-wide prayer.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN34" id="NOTE_WHIN34"></a>34. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. Meaning, forms of faith are indifferent.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN35" id="WHIN35"></a>35.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Twas writ at first, whatever was to be,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By pen, unheeding bliss or misery,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yea, writ upon the tablet once for all,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To murmur or resist is vanity.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN35" id="NOTE_WHIN35"></a>35. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. Meaning, fate is heartless and resistless.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">150</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN36" id="WHIN36"></a>36.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There is a mystery I know full well,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which to all, good and bad, I cannot tell;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My words are dark, but I cannot unfold<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The secrets of the «station» where I dwell.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN36" id="NOTE_WHIN36"></a>36. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. <i>Hale</i>, a state of ecstasy.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN37" id="WHIN37"></a>37.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">No base or light-weight coins pass current here,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of such a broom has swept our dwelling clear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Forth from the tavern comes a sage and cries,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Drink! for ye all must sleep through ages drear»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN37" id="NOTE_WHIN37"></a>37. Bl. L. N. Meaning, Mullahs' fables will not go down with us.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN38" id="WHIN38"></a>38.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">With outward seeming we can cheat mankind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But to God's will we can but be resigned,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The deepest wiles my cunning e'er devised,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To balk resistless fate no way could find.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN38" id="NOTE_WHIN38"></a>38. L. N. Meaning, weakness of human rule compared to the +strength of Divine decrees.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN39" id="WHIN39"></a>39.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Is a friend faithless? spurn him as a foe;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Upon trustworthy foes respect bestow;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hold healing poison for an antidote,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And baneful sweets for deadly eisel know.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN39" id="NOTE_WHIN39"></a>39. L. N. These gnomical epigrams are not common in Khayyam.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">151</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN40" id="WHIN40"></a>40.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">No heart is there but bleeds when torn from Thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No sight so clear but craves Thy face to see;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And though perchance Thou carest not for them,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No soul is there but pines with care for Thee.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN40" id="NOTE_WHIN40"></a>40. C. L. N. A. I. J. <i>Jigar</i>, the liver, was considered to be the +seat of love.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN41" id="WHIN41"></a>41.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Sobriety doth dry up all delight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And drunkenness doth drown my sense outright;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There is a middle state, it is my life,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not altogether drunk, nor sober quite.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN41" id="NOTE_WHIN41"></a>41. C. N. I. <i>Masti</i> o: scan <i>mastiyo</i>. The Epicurean golden mean. +See Ecclesiastes, vii, 16, 17.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN42" id="WHIN42"></a>42.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Behold these cups! Can He who deigned to make them,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In wanton freak let ruin overtake them,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So many shapely feet and hands and heads,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What love drives Him to make, what wrath to break them?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN42" id="NOTE_WHIN42"></a>42. C. N. A. B. I. J. <i>Pryalae</i>, a cup. So Job, «Thy hands have +made me, yet thou dost destroy me.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN43" id="WHIN43"></a>43.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Death's terrors spring from baseless phantasy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Death yields the tree of immortality;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Since 'Isa breathed new life into my soul,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Eternal death has washed its hands of me!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN43" id="NOTE_WHIN43"></a>43. L. N. Meaning, the Sufi doctrine of <i>Baka ba'd ul fana</i>. See +<i>Gulshan i Raz</i>, p. 31.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">152</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN44" id="WHIN44"></a>44.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Like tulips in the Spring your cups lift up,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, with a tulip-cheeked companion, sup<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With joy your wine, or e'er this azure wheel<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With some unlooked-for blast upset your cup.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN44" id="NOTE_WHIN44"></a>44. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN45" id="WHIN45"></a>45.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Facts will not change to humour man's caprice,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So vaunt not human powers, but hold your peace;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Here must we stay, weighed down with grief for this,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That we were born so late, so soon decease.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN45" id="NOTE_WHIN45"></a>45. C. L. N. A. I. J. Meaning, the futility of striving against predestination. +<i>Ank</i>, for <i>anki</i>. Bl., Prosody 13.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN46" id="WHIN46"></a>46.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Khayyam! why weep you that your life is bad?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What boots it thus to mourn? Rather be glad.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He that sins not can make no claim to mercy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mercy was made for sinners—be not sad.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN46" id="NOTE_WHIN46"></a>46. C. L. N. A. B. I. See note on No. 130</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN47" id="WHIN47"></a>47.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">All mortal ken is bounded by the veil,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To see beyond man's sight is all too frail;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yea! earth's dark bosom is his only home;—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Alas! 'twere long to tell the doleful tale.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN47" id="NOTE_WHIN47"></a>47. C. L. N. A. B. I. J.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">153</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN48" id="WHIN48"></a>48.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This faithless world, my home, I have surveyed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yea, and with all my wit deep question made,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But found no moon with face so bright as thine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No cypress in such stateliness arrayed.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN48" id="NOTE_WHIN48"></a>48. L. N.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN49" id="WHIN49"></a>49.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In synagogue and cloister, mosque and school,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hell's terrors and heaven's lures men's bosoms rule,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But they who master Allah's mysteries,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sow not this empty chaff their hearts to fool.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN49" id="NOTE_WHIN49"></a>49. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. Meaning, souls re-absorbed in the Divine +essence have no concern with the material heaven and hell.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN50" id="WHIN50"></a>50.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">You see the world, but all you see is naught,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all you say, and all you hear is naught,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Naught the four quarters of the mighty earth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The secrets treasured in your chamber naught.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN50" id="NOTE_WHIN50"></a>50. L. N. Meaning, all is illusion (<i>Maya</i>).</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN51" id="WHIN51"></a>51.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I dreamt a sage said, «Wherefore life consume<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In sleep? Can sleep make pleasure's roses bloom?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For gather not with death's twin-brother sleep,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou wilt have sleep enough within thy tomb!»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN51" id="NOTE_WHIN51"></a>51. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. So Homer, <i>Kasignetos thanatoio</i>.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">154</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN52" id="WHIN52"></a>52.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If the heart knew life's secrets here below,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At death 'twould know God's secrets too, I trow;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But, if you know naught here, while still yourself,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To-morrow, stripped of self, what can you know?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN52" id="NOTE_WHIN52"></a>52. C. L. N. A. I. In line 2 scan <i>Ilahi</i>. Bl., Prosody, p. 7.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN53" id="WHIN53"></a>53.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">On that dread day, when wrath shall rend the sky,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And darkness dim the bright stars' galaxy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I'll seize the Loved One by His skirt, and cry,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Why hast Thou doomed these guiltless ones to die?»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN53" id="NOTE_WHIN53"></a>53. C. L. N. A. I. J. See Koran, lxxxii. 1. Note the <i>alif i wasls</i> +in lines 1 and 2. In line 4 scan <i>kata lat</i>, transposing the +last vowel. Bl., Prosody, p. ii.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN54" id="WHIN54"></a>54.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To knaves Thy secret we must not confide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To comprehend it is to fools denied,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">See then to what hard case Thou doomest men,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Our hopes from one and all perforce we hide.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN54" id="NOTE_WHIN54"></a>54. C. L. N. A. B. I. There is a variation of this, beginning +<i>Asrar i jahan</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN55" id="WHIN55"></a>55.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Cupbearer! what though fate's blows here betide us,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And a safe resting-place be here denied us,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So long as the bright wine-cup stands between us,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We have the very Truth at hand to guide us.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN55" id="NOTE_WHIN55"></a>55. C. L. N. A. I. In line 3 scan <i>mayast</i>. Bl., Prosody, p. 13, and +note <i>tashdid</i> on <i>hakk</i> dropped. Ibid, p. iv.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">155</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN56" id="WHIN56"></a>56.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Long time in wine and rose I took delight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But then my business never went aright;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Since wine could not accomplish my desire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I have abandoned and forsworn it quite.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN56" id="NOTE_WHIN56"></a>56. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN57" id="WHIN57"></a>57.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Bring wine! my heart with dancing spirits teems,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wake! fortune's waking is as fleeting dreams;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Quicksilver-like our days are swift of foot,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And youthful fire subsides as torrent streams.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN57" id="NOTE_WHIN57"></a>57. C. L. N. A. I. J. In line 3 scan <i>bedariyi</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN58" id="WHIN58"></a>58.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Love's devotees, not Moslems here you see,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not Solomons, but ants of low degree;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Here are but faces wan and tattered rags,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No store of Cairene cloth or silk have we.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN58" id="NOTE_WHIN58"></a>58. L. N. For the story of Solomon and the ants, see Koran, +xxvii., 18. <i>Kasab</i>, linen made in Egypt.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN59" id="WHIN59"></a>59.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My law it is in pleasure's paths to stray,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My creed to shun the theologic fray;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I wedded Luck, and offered her a dower,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She said, «I want none, so thy heart be gay.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN59" id="NOTE_WHIN59"></a>59. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">156</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN60" id="WHIN60"></a>60.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">From mosque an outcast, and to church a foe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Allah! of what clay didst thou form me so?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like sceptic monk, or ugly courtesan,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No hopes have I above, no joys below.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN60" id="NOTE_WHIN60"></a>60. C. L. N. A. I. J. <i>Ummed</i> has the <i>tashdid ob metrum</i>. Bl., +Prosody 9. Line 2 is in metre 17. <i>Gil i mara</i> for <i>gil i +man ra</i>, Vullers, pp. 173 and 193.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN61" id="WHIN61"></a>61.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Men's lusts, like house-dogs, still the house distress<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With clamour, barking for mere wantonness;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Foxes are they, and sleep the sleep of hares;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Crafty as wolves, as tigers pitiless.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN61" id="NOTE_WHIN61"></a>61. C. L. N. A. I. J. «Sleep of hares,» deceit.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN62" id="WHIN62"></a>62.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Yon turf, fringing the margent of the stream,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As down upon a cherub's lip might seem,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or growth from dust of buried tulip cheeks;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tread not that turf with scorn, or light esteem!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN62" id="NOTE_WHIN62"></a>62. C. L. N. A. I. J. <i>Juyiy</i>: the <i>ya</i> of <i>juy</i> is hamzated because +followed by another <i>ya</i>. Vullers, p. 24.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN63" id="WHIN63"></a>63.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Hearts with the light of love illumined well,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whether in mosque or synagogue they dwell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have <i>their</i> names written in the book of love,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unvexed by hopes of heaven or fears of hell.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN63" id="NOTE_WHIN63"></a>63. C. L. N. A. I. J. Compare Hafiz, Ode 79: «Wherever love is, +there is the light of the Beloved's face.»</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">157</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN64" id="WHIN64"></a>64.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">One draught of wine outweighs the realm of Tus,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Throne of Kobad and crown of Kai Kawus;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sweeter are sighs that lovers heave at morn,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Than all the groanings zealot breasts produce.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN64" id="NOTE_WHIN64"></a>64. C. L. N. A. I. J. <i>Kawus</i> is the old spelling.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN65" id="WHIN65"></a>65.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Though Moslems for my sins condemn and chide me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like heathens to my idol I confide me;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yea, when I perish of a drunken bout,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I'll call on wine, whatever doom betide me.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN65" id="NOTE_WHIN65"></a>65. L. N.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN66" id="WHIN66"></a>66.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In drinking thus it is not my design<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To riot, or transgress the law divine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No! to attain unconsciousness of self<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is the sole cause I drink me drunk with wine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN66" id="NOTE_WHIN66"></a>66. C. L. N. A. I. J. Perhaps a hit at the orthodox Sufis.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN67" id="WHIN67"></a>67.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Drunkards are doomed to hell, so men declare,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Believe it not, 'tis but a foolish scare;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Heaven will be empty as this hand of mine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If none who love good drink find entrance there.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN67" id="NOTE_WHIN67"></a>67. C. L. N. A. I. J. Line 4 is in metre 17.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">158</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN68" id="WHIN68"></a>68.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Tis wrong, according to the strict Koran,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To drink in Rajah, likewise in Sha'ban,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">God and the Prophet claim those months as theirs;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Was Ramazan then made for thirsty man?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN68" id="NOTE_WHIN68"></a>68. C. L. N. A. I. J. The point, of course, is that Ramazan is the +Mahammadan Lent.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN69" id="WHIN69"></a>69.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Now Ramazan is come, no wine must flow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Our simple pastimes we must now forego,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The wine we have in store we must not drink,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor on our mistresses one kiss bestow.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN69" id="NOTE_WHIN69"></a>69. L. N. Does <i>Sada</i> mean the winter feast?</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN70" id="WHIN70"></a>70.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What is the world? A <i>caravanserai</i>,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A pied pavilion of night and day;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A feast whereat a thousand Jamshids sat,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A couch whereon a thousand Bahrams lay.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN70" id="NOTE_WHIN70"></a>70. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. <i>Wamanda</i>, «leavings.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN71" id="WHIN71"></a>71.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Now that your roses bloom with flowers of bliss,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To grasp your goblets be not so remiss,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drink while you may! Time is a treacherous foe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You may not see another day like this.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN71" id="NOTE_WHIN71"></a>71. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. <i>Bar bar</i> «blooming, on the branch,» <i>i.e.</i>, +you are still young. Bl.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">159</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN72" id="WHIN72"></a>72.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Here in this palace, where Bahram held sway,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The wild roes drop their young, and tigers stray;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And that great hunter king—ah! well-a-day!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now to the hunter death is fallen a prey.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN72" id="NOTE_WHIN72"></a>72. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. <i>Daro</i>: see Bl., Pros. 11.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN73" id="WHIN73"></a>73.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Down fall the tears from skies enwrapt in gloom,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Without this drink, the flowers could never bloom!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As now these flowerets yield delight to me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So shall my dust yield flowers,—God knows for whom.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN73" id="NOTE_WHIN73"></a>73. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. In line 4 <i>ta</i> is the «<i>ta i tajahul</i>,» meaning, +«I do not know whether,» «perhaps.» Bl.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN74" id="WHIN74"></a>74.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To-day is Friday, as the Moslem says,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drink then from bowls served up in quick relays;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Suppose on common days you drink one bowl,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To-day drink two, for 'tis the prince of days.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN74" id="NOTE_WHIN74"></a>74. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. Friday is the day «of assembly,» or Sabbath.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN75" id="WHIN75"></a>75.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The <i>very</i> wine a myriad forms sustains,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And to take shapes of plants and creatures deigns<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But deem not that its essence ever dies,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Its forms may perish, but its self remains.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN75" id="NOTE_WHIN75"></a>75. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. On this Bl. notes «The Arabic form +<i>hayawan</i> is required by the metre.» And <i>Suwar</i> is the +Arabic plural, used as a singular. Bl., Prosody 5. Wine +means the divine «<i>Noumenon</i>.» <i>Gulshan i Raz</i>, 825.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">160</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN76" id="WHIN76"></a>76.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Tis naught but smoke this people's fire doth bear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For my well-being not a soul doth care;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With hands fate makes me lift up in despair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I grasp men's skirts, but find no succour there.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN76" id="NOTE_WHIN76"></a>76. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. Scan <i>tayifa</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN77" id="WHIN77"></a>77.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This bosom friend, on whom you so rely,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Seems to clear wisdom's eyes an enemy;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Choose not your friends from this rude multitude,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their converse is a plague 'tis best to fly.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN77" id="NOTE_WHIN77"></a>77. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. The MSS. transpose the lines.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN78" id="WHIN78"></a>78.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O foolish one! this moulded earth is naught,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This particoloured vault of heaven is naught;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Our sojourn in this seat of life and death<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is but one breath, and what is that but naught?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN78" id="NOTE_WHIN78"></a>78. Bl. L. N. <i>Shakl i mujassam</i>, «the earth.» Bl.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN79" id="WHIN79"></a>79.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Some wine, a Houri (Houris if there be),<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A green bank by a stream, with minstrelsy;—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Toil not to find a better Paradise<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If other Paradise indeed there be!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN79" id="NOTE_WHIN79"></a>79. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. <i>Dozakh i farsuda</i>, «an old hell,» <i>i.e.</i>, +vain things which create a hell for you. Bl.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">161</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN80" id="WHIN80"></a>80.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To the wine-house I saw the sage repair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bearing a wine-cup, and a mat for prayer;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I said, «O Shaikh, what does this conduct mean?»<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Said he, «Go drink! the world is naught but air.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN80" id="NOTE_WHIN80"></a>80. N.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN81" id="WHIN81"></a>81.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Bulbul to the garden winged his way,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Viewed lily cups, and roses smiling gay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cried in ecstatic notes, «O live your life,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You never will re-live this fleeting day.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN81" id="NOTE_WHIN81"></a>81. N. The MSS. have a variation of this beginning, <i>Bulbul chu. +Jam . ra</i>. See Bl., Prosody, p. 12.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN82" id="WHIN82"></a>82.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Thy body is a tent, where harbourage<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Sultan spirit takes for one brief age;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When he departs, comes the tent-pitcher death,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Strikes it, and onward moves, another stage.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN82" id="NOTE_WHIN82"></a>82. C. L. N. A. I. J. <i>Manzil</i>, in line 2, «lodging»; in line 3, «stage» +<i>Khimaye</i>, a «tent.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN83" id="WHIN83"></a>83.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Khayyam, who long time stitched the tents of learning,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has fallen into a furnace, and lies burning,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Death's shears have cut his thread of life asunder,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fate's brokers sell him off with scorn and spurning.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN83" id="NOTE_WHIN83"></a>83. C. L. N. A. B. I. J.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">162</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN84" id="WHIN84"></a>84.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In the sweet spring a grassy bank I sought,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thither wine, and a fair Houri brought;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, though the people called me graceless dog,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gave not to Paradise another thought!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN84" id="NOTE_WHIN84"></a>84. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. <i>Batar</i>, a contraction. See Bl., Prosody, p. 10.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN85" id="WHIN85"></a>85.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Sweet is rose-ruddy wine in goblets gay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And sweet are lute and harp and roundelay;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But for the zealot who ignores the cup,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis sweet when he is twenty leagues away!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN85" id="NOTE_WHIN85"></a>85. N. The MSS. have a variation of this. Note <i>Khush</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN86" id="WHIN86"></a>86.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Life, void of wine, and minstrels with their lutes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the soft murmurs of Irakian flutes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Were nothing worth: I scan the world and see:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Save pleasure, life yields only bitter fruits.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN86" id="NOTE_WHIN86"></a>86. L. N. See an answer to this in No. 97.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN87" id="WHIN87"></a>87.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Make haste! soon must you quit this life below,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And pass the veil, and Allah's secrets know,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Make haste to take your pleasure while you may,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You wot not whence you come, nor whither go.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN87" id="NOTE_WHIN87"></a>87. C. L. N. A. I. In line 3 scan <i>nidaniyaz</i>.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">163</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN88" id="WHIN88"></a>88.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Depart we must! what boots it then to be,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To walk in vain desires continually?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nay, but if heaven vouchsafe no place of rest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What power to cease our wanderings have we?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN88" id="NOTE_WHIN88"></a>88. N. In line 3 scan <i>jayiga</i>. Bl., Prosody, p. 15.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN89" id="WHIN89"></a>89.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To chant wine's praises is my daily task,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I live encompassed by cup, bowl and flask;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Zealot! if reason be thy guide, then know<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That guide of me doth ofttimes guidance ask.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN89" id="NOTE_WHIN89"></a>89. C. L. N. A. I. J. In line 1 scan <i>maddahiyi</i>; and compare +Horace,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">«<i>Edocet artes;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Fecundi calices quem non fecere disertum.</i>»<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN90" id="WHIN90"></a>90.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O men of morals! why do ye defame,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thus misjudge me? I am not to blame.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Save weakness for the grape, and female charms,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What sins of mine can any of ye name?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN90" id="NOTE_WHIN90"></a>90. C. L. N. A. I. J. This change of persons is called <i>Iltifat</i>. +Gladwin, Persian Rhetoric, p. 56.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN91" id="WHIN91"></a>91.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Who treads in passion's footsteps here below,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A helpless pauper will depart, I trow;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Remember who you are, and whence you come.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Consider what you do, and whither go.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN91" id="NOTE_WHIN91"></a>91. C. L. N. A. I. <i>Khabarat</i>: see Bl., Prosody, p. v.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">164</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN92" id="WHIN92"></a>92.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Skies like a zone our weary lives enclose,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And from our tear-stained eyes a Jihun flows;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hell is a fire enkindled of our griefs;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Heaven but a moment's peace, stolen from our woes.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN92" id="NOTE_WHIN92"></a>92. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. This balanced arrangement of similes is +called <i>Tirsi'a</i>. Gladwin, p. 5.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN93" id="WHIN93"></a>93.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I drown in sin—show me Thy clemency!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My soul is dark—make me Thy light to see!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A heaven that must be earned by painful works,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I call a wage, not a gift fair and free.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN93" id="NOTE_WHIN93"></a>93. C. L. N. A. I. J. Arabic words like <i>raza</i>, drop the <i>hamza</i> in +Persian, except with the <i>izafat</i>: (Bl., Prosody 14). For +this <i>hamza, ya</i> is often used, as here.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN94" id="WHIN94"></a>94.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Did He who made me fashion me for hell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or destine me for heaven? I cannot tell.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet will I not renounce cup, lute and love,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor earthly cash for heavenly credit sell.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN94" id="NOTE_WHIN94"></a>94. C. L. N. A. B. I. In line 4 the <i>izafat</i> is dropped after silent +<i>he</i>. Bl., Prosody, p. 15.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN95" id="WHIN95"></a>95.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">From right and left the censors came and stood,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Saying, «Renounce this wine, this foe of good»;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But if wine be the foe of holy faith,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By Allah, right it is to drink its blood!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN95" id="NOTE_WHIN95"></a>95. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. See Koran, ii. 187.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">165</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN96" id="WHIN96"></a>96.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The good and evil with man's nature blent,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The weal and woe that heaven's decrees have sent,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Impute them not to motions of the skies,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Skies than thyself ten times more impotent.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN96" id="NOTE_WHIN96"></a>96. C. L. N. A. I. J. Fate is merely the decree of Allah. For the +distinction between <i>kaza</i> and <i>kadar</i>, see Pocock, «<i>Specimen +Historiae Arabum</i>,» p. 207.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN97" id="WHIN97"></a>97.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Against death's arrows what are buckles worth?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What all the pomps and riches of the earth?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When I survey the world, I see no good<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But goodness, all beside is nothing worth.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN97" id="NOTE_WHIN97"></a>97. N. Possibly written on the margin by some pious reader as an +answer to No. 86.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN98" id="WHIN98"></a>98.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Weak souls, who from the world cannot refrain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hold life-long fellowship with rule and pain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hearts free from worldly cares have store of bliss,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All others seeds of bitter woe contain.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN98" id="NOTE_WHIN98"></a>98. L. N. <i>Tajrid</i>, see <i>Gulshan i Raz</i>, p. 8, n.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN99" id="WHIN99"></a>99.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">He, in whose bosom wisdom's seed is sown,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To waste a single day was never known;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Either he strives to work great Allah's will,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or else exalts the cup, and works his own.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN99" id="NOTE_WHIN99"></a>99. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. <i>Tarabe</i>, query, <i>takhme?</i> giving a line in +metre 23.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">166</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN100" id="WHIN100"></a>100.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When Allah mixed my clay, He knew full well<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My future acts, and could each one foretell;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Without His will no act of mine was wrought;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is it then just to punish me in hell?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN100" id="NOTE_WHIN100"></a>100. C. L. N. A. I. Of the Moslem theory of predestination, Khayyam +might truly say, «Ten thousand mortals, drowned in endless +woe, for doing what they were compelled to <i>do</i>.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN101" id="WHIN101"></a>101.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ye, who cease not to drink on common days,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Do not on Friday quit your drinking ways;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Adopt my creed, and count all days the same,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Be worshippers of God, and not of days.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN101" id="NOTE_WHIN101"></a>101. L. N. In line 3 scan <i>yakist</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN102" id="WHIN102"></a>102.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If grace be grace, and Allah gracious be,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Adam from Paradise why banished He?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Grace to poor sinners shown is grace indeed;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In grace hard earned by works no grace I see.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN102" id="NOTE_WHIN102"></a>102. N. The <i>tashdid</i> of <i>rabb</i> is dropped. Bl., Prosody, p. iv.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN103" id="WHIN103"></a>103.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Dame Fortune's smiles are full of guile, beware!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her scimitar is sharp to smite, take care!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If e'er she drop a sweetmeat in thy mouth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis poisonous,—to swallow it forbear!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN103" id="NOTE_WHIN103"></a>103. C. L. A. B. I. <i>Hush</i> contracted from <i>hosh</i>.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">167</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN104" id="WHIN104"></a>104.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Where'er you see a rose or tulip bed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Know that a mighty monarch's blood was shed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And where the violet rears her purple tuft,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Be sure a black-moled girl hath laid her head.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN104" id="NOTE_WHIN104"></a>104. B. L. The MSS. have a variation of this, beginning <i>Har +khisht ki</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN105" id="WHIN105"></a>105.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Wine is a melting ruby, cup its mine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cup is the body, and the soul is wine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">These crystal goblets smile with ruddy wine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like tears, that blood of wounded hearts enshrine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN105" id="NOTE_WHIN105"></a>105. L. B.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN106" id="WHIN106"></a>106.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Drink wine! 'tis life etern, and travail's meed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fruitage of youth, and balm of age's need:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis the glad time of roses, wine and friends;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rejoice thy spirit—that is life indeed.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN106" id="NOTE_WHIN106"></a>106. L. B. There being no <i>izafat</i> after <i>yaran</i>, <i>sar i mast</i> must +agree with <i>hangam</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN107" id="WHIN107"></a>107.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Drink wine! long must you sleep within the tomb,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Without a friend, or wife to cheer your gloom;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hear what I say, and tell it not again,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Never again can withered tulips bloom.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN107" id="NOTE_WHIN107"></a>107. C. A. B. I. J. This recalls the chorus in the «Oedipus Coloneus.»</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">168</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN108" id="WHIN108"></a>108.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They preach how sweet those Houri brides will be,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But I say wine is sweeter—taste and see!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hold fast this cash, and let that credit go,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And shun the din of empty drums like me.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN108" id="NOTE_WHIN108"></a>108. C. L. A. B. I. J. <i>Sin</i>, «nuptials.» Like me, <i>i.e.</i>, as I do.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN109" id="WHIN109"></a>109.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Once and again my soul did me implore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To teach her, if I might, the heavenly lore;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I bade her learn the <i>Alif</i> well by heart.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who knows that letter well need learn no more.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN109" id="NOTE_WHIN109"></a>109. B. <i>Alif Kafat</i>, the One (God) is enough. Probably a quotation. +Hafiz (Ode 416) uses the same expression: «He +who knows the One knows all.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN110" id="WHIN110"></a>110.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I came not hither of my own free will,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And go against my wish, a puppet still;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cupbearer! gird thy loins, and fetch some wine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To purge the world's despite, my goblet fill.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN110" id="NOTE_WHIN110"></a>110. C. L. A. B. I. J. <i>'Azme, ya i tankir</i>, or <i>tans ifi?</i></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN111" id="WHIN111"></a>111.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How long must I make bricks upon the sea?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beshrew this vain task of idolatry;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Call not Khayyam a denizen of hell;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One while in heaven, and one in hell is he.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN111" id="NOTE_WHIN111"></a>111. C. L. A. B. I. J. <i>Andar-ba</i>, Bl., Prosody 12.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">169</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN112" id="WHIN112"></a>112.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Sweet is the breath of Spring to rose's face,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thy sweet face adds charm to this fair place;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To-day is sweet, but yesterday is sad,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And sad all mention of its parted grace.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN112" id="NOTE_WHIN112"></a>112. C. L. A. B. I. J. <i>Khūsh</i> is pronounced <i>khash</i> or <i>khŭsh.</i> +Bl., Prosody, p. 12. <i>Guyi</i> is generally written with <i>hamza</i> +and <i>ya</i>, but in some MSS. <i>fatha</i> is substituted for the +<i>hamza</i> [?].</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN113" id="WHIN113"></a>113.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To-night pour wine, and sing a dulcet air,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And I upon thy lips will hang, O fair;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yea, pour some wine as rosy as thy cheeks,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My mind is troubled like thy ruffled hair.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN113" id="NOTE_WHIN113"></a>113. B. <i>Roziyyi</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN114" id="WHIN114"></a>114.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Pen, tablet, heaven and hell I looked to see<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Above the skies, from all eternity;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At last the master sage instructed me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Pen, tablet, heaven and hell are all in thee.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN114" id="NOTE_WHIN114"></a>114. Allah writes his decrees with the «pen» on the «tablet.» +Koran, lxviii. l. See <i>Gulshan i Raz</i>, 1, n.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN115" id="WHIN115"></a>115.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The fruit of certitude <i>he</i> cannot pluck,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The path that leads thereto who never struck,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor ever shook the bough with strenuous hand;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To-day is lost; hope for to-morrow's luck.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN115" id="NOTE_WHIN115"></a>115. L. B. <i>Lit.</i> «Consider to-morrow your first day.»</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">170</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN116" id="WHIN116"></a>116.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Now spring-tide showers its foison on the land,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And lively hearts wend forth, a joyous band,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For 'Isa's breath wakes the dead earth to life,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And trees gleam white with flowers, like Musa's hand.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN116" id="NOTE_WHIN116"></a>116. B. Alluding to the life-giving breath of Jesus, and the white +hand of Moses. (Exodus, <span class="smcap">IV.</span> 6.) <i>Bakhushi dastrase (ya i +tankir</i>), «<i>an</i> aid to joy,» <i>i.e.</i>, Spring.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN117" id="WHIN117"></a>117.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Alas for that cold heart, which never glows<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With love, nor e'er that charming madness knows;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The days misspent with no redeeming love;—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No days are wasted half as much as those!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN117" id="NOTE_WHIN117"></a>117. Bl. L. B.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN118" id="WHIN118"></a>118.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The zephyrs waft thy fragrance, and it takes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My heart, and me, his master, he forsakes;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Careless of me he pants and leaps to thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thee his pattern and ensample makes!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN118" id="NOTE_WHIN118"></a>118. Bl. C. L. A. I. J. Also ascribed to Abu Sa'id bin Abul +Khair. C. writes <i>buyi</i> with two <i>yas</i>, and <i>hamza</i> on the +first. The second <i>ya</i> seems to be <i>ya i batni</i> or <i>tausifi</i>, +though that is usual only before adjectives. Bl., Prosody, +p. 11.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN119" id="WHIN119"></a>119.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Drink wine! and then as Mahmud thou wilt reign,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And hear a music passing David's strain:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Think not of past or future, seize to-day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then all thy life will not be lived in vain.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN119" id="NOTE_WHIN119"></a>119. Bl. C. L. A. I. J.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">171</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN120" id="WHIN120"></a>120.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ten Powers, and nine spheres, eight heavens made He,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And planets seven, of six sides, as we see,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Five senses, and four elements, three souls,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Two worlds, but only one, O man, like thee.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN120" id="NOTE_WHIN120"></a>120. L. A summary of the Muhammadan doctrine of «Emanations.» +See <i>Gulshan i Raz</i>, p. 21. Three souls, <i>i.e.</i>, vegetive, +animal and human, as in Aristotle's <i>De Anima</i>. <i>Akhtaram</i> +(?), also in Cambridge MS.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN121" id="WHIN121"></a>121.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Jewry hath seen a thousand prophets die,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sinai a thousand Musas mount the sky;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How many Cćsars Rome's proud forum crossed!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Neath Kasra's dome how many monarchs lie!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN121" id="NOTE_WHIN121"></a>121. L. J. Time is long and life short.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN122" id="WHIN122"></a>122.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Gold breeds not wit, but to wit lacking bread<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Earth's flowery carpet seems a dungeon bed;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis his full purse that makes the rose to smile,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While empty-handed violets hang the head.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN122" id="NOTE_WHIN122"></a>122. L. Alluding to the golden stamens of the rose. I supply <i>tihi</i> +from the Cambridge MS.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN123" id="WHIN123"></a>123.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Heaven's wheel has made full many a heart to moan,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And many a budding rose to earth has thrown;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Plume thee not on thy youth and lusty strength,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Full many a bud is blasted ere 'tis blown.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN123" id="NOTE_WHIN123"></a>123. L.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">172</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN124" id="WHIN124"></a>124.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What lord is fit to rule but «Truth»? Not one.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What beings disobey His rule? Not one.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All things that are, are such as He decrees;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And naught is there beside beneath the sun.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN124" id="NOTE_WHIN124"></a>124. C. L. A. I. «The Truth» is a Sufi name for the Deity.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN125" id="WHIN125"></a>125.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">That azure coloured vault and golden tray<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have turned, and will turn yet for many a day;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And just so we, impelled by turns of fate,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Come here but for a while, then pass away.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN125" id="NOTE_WHIN125"></a>125. Bl. L. <i>Guzasht</i>, «It is all over with us.» Bl. «Golden tray,» +the Sun.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN126" id="WHIN126"></a>126.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Master did himself these vessels frame,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why should he cast them out to scorn and shame?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If he has made them well, why should he break them?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yea, though he marred them, <i>they</i> are not to blame.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN126" id="NOTE_WHIN126"></a>126. C. L. A. I. J. In line 4 <i>suwar</i> is an Arabic plural used as a +singular. Bl., Prosody, p. 5.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN127" id="WHIN127"></a>127.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Kindness to friends and foes 'tis well to show,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No kindly heart can prove unkind, I trow:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Harshness will alienate a bosom friend,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And kindness reconcile a deadly foe.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN127" id="NOTE_WHIN127"></a>127. L. In line 2 scan <i>neykiyash</i>.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">173</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN128" id="WHIN128"></a>128.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To lovers true, what matters dark or fair?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or if the loved one silk or sackcloth wear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or lie on down or dust, or rise to heaven?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yea, though she sink to hell, he'll seek her there.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN128" id="NOTE_WHIN128"></a>128. L. Probably Mystical.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN129" id="WHIN129"></a>129.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Full many a hill and vale I journeyed o'er;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yea, journeyed through the world's wide quarters four,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But never heard of pilgrim who returned;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When once they go, they go to come no more.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN129" id="NOTE_WHIN129"></a>129. C. L. N. (in part) A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN130" id="WHIN130"></a>130.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Wine-houses flourish through this thirst of mine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Loads of remorse weigh down this back of mine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet, if I sinned not, what would mercy do?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mercy depends upon these sins of mine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN130" id="NOTE_WHIN130"></a>130. C. Bl. L. A. I. J. Bl. quotes similar sentiments from Nizami +and Hafiz. Mercy is God's highest attribute, and sin is required +to call it forth.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN131" id="WHIN131"></a>131.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Thy being is the being of Another,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy passion is the passion of Another.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cover thy head, and think, and thou wilt see,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy hand is but the cover of Another.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN131" id="NOTE_WHIN131"></a>131. Bl. Meaning God is the <i>Fa'il i hakiki</i>, the only real Agent.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">174</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN132" id="WHIN132"></a>132.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">From learning to the cup your bridle turn;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All lore of world to come, save Kausar, spurn;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your turban pawn for wine, or keep a shred<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To bind your brow, and all the remnant burn.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN132" id="NOTE_WHIN132"></a>132. N. <i>Kausar</i>, the river of wine in Paradise.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN133" id="WHIN133"></a>133.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">See! from the world what profit have I gained?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What fruitage of my life in hand retained?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What use is Jamshid's goblet, once 'tis crushed?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What pleasure's torch, when once its light has waned?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN133" id="NOTE_WHIN133"></a>133. L. N. <i>Tarf bar bastan</i>,«to reap advantage.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN134" id="WHIN134"></a>134.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When life is spent, what's Balkh or Nishapore?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What sweet or bitter, when the cup runs o'er?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Come drink! full many a moon will wax and wane<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In times to come, when we are here no more.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN134" id="NOTE_WHIN134"></a>134. C. L. N. A. B. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN135" id="WHIN135"></a>135.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O fair! whose cheeks checkmate red eglantine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And draw the game with those fair maids of Chin,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You played one glance against the king of Babil<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And took his pawns, and knights, and rooks, and queen.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN135" id="NOTE_WHIN135"></a>135. L. B.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">175</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN136" id="WHIN136"></a>136.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Life's caravan is hastening on its way;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Brood not on troubles of the coming day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But fill the wine-cup, ere sweet night be gone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And snatch a pleasant moment, while you may.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN136" id="NOTE_WHIN136"></a>136. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. The «<i>rinds</i>» loved a dark night. Bl.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN137" id="WHIN137"></a>137.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">He, who the world's foundations erst did lay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Doth bruise full many a bosom day by day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And many a ruby lip and musky tress<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Doth coffin in the earth, and shroud with clay.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN137" id="NOTE_WHIN137"></a>137. C. L. N. A. I. J. So Job, «Is it good unto thee that thou +shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of +thine hands?»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN138" id="WHIN138"></a>138.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Be not beguiled by world's insidious wiles;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O foolish ones, ye know her tricks and guiles;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your precious life-time cast not to the winds;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Haste to seek wine, and court a sweetheart's smile.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN138" id="NOTE_WHIN138"></a>138. N.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN139" id="WHIN139"></a>139.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Comrades! I pray you, physic me with wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Make this wan amber face like rubies shine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, if I die, use wine to wash my corpse,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And frame my coffin out of planks of vine!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN139" id="NOTE_WHIN139"></a>139. C. L. N. A. B. I. <i>Kahraba</i>, «amber,» literally «attractor of +straw.»</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">176</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN140" id="WHIN140"></a>140.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When Allah yoked the courses of the sun,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And launched the Pleiades their race to run,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My lot was fixed in fate's high chancery;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then why blame me for wrong that fate has done?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN140" id="NOTE_WHIN140"></a>140. C. L. N. A. I. J. Also ascribed to Afzul Kashi.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN141" id="WHIN141"></a>141.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah! seasoned wine oft falls to rawest fools,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And clumsiest workmen own the finest tools;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Turki maids, fit to delight men's hearts,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lavish their smiles on beardless boys in school!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN141" id="NOTE_WHIN141"></a>141. N. So Hafiz, «If that Turki maid of Shiraz,» etc.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN142" id="WHIN142"></a>142.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Whilom, ere youth's conceit had waned, methought<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Answers to all life's problems I had wrought;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But now, grown old and wise, too late I see<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My life is spent, and all my lore is naught.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN142" id="NOTE_WHIN142"></a>142. N. C. A. and I. give another version of this.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN143" id="WHIN143"></a>143.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They who of prayer-mats make such great display<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are fools to bear hypocrisy's hard sway;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Strange! under cover of this saintly show<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They live like heathen, and their faith betray.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN143" id="NOTE_WHIN143"></a>143. C. L. N A. I. In line 2, note the arrangement of the prepositions. +There is a proverb, «The Devil lives in Mecca +and Medinah.»</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">177</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN144" id="WHIN144"></a>144.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To him who would his sins extenuate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let pious men this verse reiterate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«To call God's prescience the cause of sin<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In wisdom's purview is but folly's prate.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN144" id="NOTE_WHIN144"></a>144. L. N. <i>Sahl</i>, of «no account.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN145" id="WHIN145"></a>145.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">He brought me hither, and I felt surprise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From life I gather but a dark surmise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I go against my will;—thus, why I come,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why live, why go, are all dark mysteries.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN145" id="NOTE_WHIN145"></a>145. C. L. N. A.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN146" id="WHIN146"></a>146.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When I recall my grievous sins to mind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fire burns my breast, and tears my vision blind;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet, when a slave repents, is it not meet<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His lord should pardon, and again be kind?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN146" id="NOTE_WHIN146"></a>146. L. N. In line 2, <i>az sar guzarad</i> means «drops from the eyes,» +and in line 4, «remits the penalty.» This change of meaning +is called <i>Tajnis</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN147" id="WHIN147"></a>147.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They at whose lore the whole world stands amazed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose high thoughts, like Borak, to heaven are raised,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Strive to know Thee in vain, and like heaven's wheel<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their heads are turning, and their brains are dazed.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN147" id="NOTE_WHIN147"></a>147. C. L. N. A. Borak, or Burak, the steed on which Muhammad +made his famous nocturnal ascent to heaven.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">178</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN148" id="WHIN148"></a>148.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Allah hath promised wine in Paradise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why then should wine on earth be deemed a vice?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">An Arab in his cups cut Hamzah's girths,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For that sole cause was drink declared a vice.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN148" id="NOTE_WHIN148"></a>148. L. N. Nicolas says this refers to an event which occurred to +Hamzah, a relation of Muhammad.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN149" id="WHIN149"></a>149.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Now of old joys naught but the name is left,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of all old friends but wine we are bereft,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And that wine <i>new</i>, but still cleave to the cup,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For save the cup, what single joy is left?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN149" id="NOTE_WHIN149"></a>149. L. N. B.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN150" id="WHIN150"></a>150.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The world will last long after Khayyam's fame<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has passed away, yea, and his very name;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Aforetime we were not, and none did heed.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When we are dead and gone, 'twill be the same.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN150" id="NOTE_WHIN150"></a>150. N.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN151" id="WHIN151"></a>151.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The sages who have compassed sea and land,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their secret to search out, and understand,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My mind misgives me if they ever solve<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The scheme on which this universe is planned.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN151" id="NOTE_WHIN151"></a>151. C. L. N. A. I.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">179</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN152" id="WHIN152"></a>152.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah! wealth takes wings, and leaves our hands all bare,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And death's rough hands delight our hearts to tear;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And from the nether world none e'er escapes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To bring us news of the poor pilgrims there.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN152" id="NOTE_WHIN152"></a>152. C. L. N. A. I.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN153" id="WHIN153"></a>153.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Tis passing strange, those titled noblemen<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Find their own lives a burden sore, but when<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They meet with poorer men, not slaves to sense,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They scarcely deign to reckon them as men.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN153" id="NOTE_WHIN153"></a>153. C. L. N. A. I.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN154" id="WHIN154"></a>154.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The wheel on high, still busied with despite,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Will ne'er unloose a wretch from his sad plight;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But when it lights upon a smitten heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Straightway essays another blow to smite.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN154" id="NOTE_WHIN154"></a>154. C. L. N. A. I. Vullers, Section 207.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN155" id="WHIN155"></a>155.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Now is the volume of my youth outworn,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all my spring-tide blossoms rent and torn.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ah, bird of youth! I marked not when you came,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor when you fled, and left me thus forlorn.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN155" id="NOTE_WHIN155"></a>155. C. L. N. A. I.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">180</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN156" id="WHIN156"></a>156.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">These fools, by dint of ignorance most crass,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Think they in wisdom all mankind surpass;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And glibly do they damn as infidel,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whoever is not, like themselves, an ass.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN156" id="NOTE_WHIN156"></a>156. N. So Job, «Ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with +you.» Probably addressed to the 'Ulama.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN157" id="WHIN157"></a>157.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Still be the wine-house thronged with its glad choir,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Pharisaic skirts burnt up with fire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Still be those tattered frocks and azure robes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Trod under feet of revellers in the mire.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN157" id="NOTE_WHIN157"></a>157. C. L. N. A. J. Hafiz (Ode V.) speaks of the blue robes of certain +Dervishes as a mark of hypocrisy.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN158" id="WHIN158"></a>158.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Why toil ye to ensure illusions vain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And good or evil of the world attain?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ye rise like Zamzam, or the fount of life,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, like them, in earth's bosom sink again.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN158" id="NOTE_WHIN158"></a>158. C. L. N. A. I.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN159" id="WHIN159"></a>159.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Till the Friend pours his wine to glad my heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No kisses to my face will heaven impart<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They say, «Repent in time»; but how repent,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere Allah's grace hath softened my hard heart?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN159" id="NOTE_WHIN159"></a>159. C. L. N. A. I. Meaning, man is powerless to mend his ways +without Divine grace.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">181</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN160" id="WHIN160"></a>160.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When I am dead, take me and grind me small,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So that I be a caution unto all,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And knead me into clay with wine, and then<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Use me to stop the wine-jar's mouth withal.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN160" id="NOTE_WHIN160"></a>160. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN161" id="WHIN161"></a>161.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What though the sky with its blue canopy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Doth close us in so that we cannot see,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the etern Cupbearer's wine methinks,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There float a myriad bubbles like to me.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN161" id="NOTE_WHIN161"></a>161. N.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN162" id="WHIN162"></a>162.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Take heart! Long in the weary tomb you'll lie,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While stars keep countless watches in the sky,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And see your ashes moulded into bricks,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To build another's house and turrets high.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN162" id="NOTE_WHIN162"></a>162. L. N. C. A. and I. split this into two. In line 1 note <i>izafat</i> +dropped after silent <i>he</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN163" id="WHIN163"></a>163.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Glad hearts, who seek not notoriety,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor flaunt in gold and silken bravery,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Haunt not this ruined earth like gloomy owls,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But wing their way, Simurgh-like, to the sky.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN163" id="NOTE_WHIN163"></a>163. C. L. N. A. I.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">182</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN164" id="WHIN164"></a>164.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Wine's power is known to wine-bibbers alone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To narrow heads and hearts 'tis never shown;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I blame not them who never felt its force,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For, till they feel it, how can it be known.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN164" id="NOTE_WHIN164"></a>164. C. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN165" id="WHIN165"></a>165.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Needs must the tavern-hunter bathe in wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For none can make a tarnished name to shine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Go! bring me wine, for none can now restore<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Its pristine sheen to this soiled veil of mine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN165" id="NOTE_WHIN165"></a>165. C. L. N. A. B. I. In line 3 scan <i>masturiyi</i> dissolving the letter +of prolongation <i>ya</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN166" id="WHIN166"></a>166.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I wasted life in hope, yet gathered not<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In all my life of happiness one jot;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now my fear is that life may not endure.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till I have taken vengeance on my lot!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN166" id="NOTE_WHIN166"></a>166. C. L. N. A. I. <i>Rozgare</i>, «some time.» In line 3 note the <i>madd</i> +of <i>An</i> dropped. Bl., Prosody, p. 11.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN167" id="WHIN167"></a>167.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Be very wary in the soul's domain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And on the world's affairs your lips refrain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Be, as it were, sans tongue, sans ear, sans eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While tongue, and ears, and eyes you still retain.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN167" id="NOTE_WHIN167"></a>167. L. N.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">183</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN168" id="WHIN168"></a>168.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Let him rejoice who has a loaf of bread,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A little nest wherein to lay his head,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is slave to none, and no man slaves for him,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In truth his lot is wondrous well bested.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN168" id="NOTE_WHIN168"></a>168. C. L. N. A.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN169" id="WHIN169"></a>169.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What adds my service to Thy majesty?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or how can sin of mine dishonour Thee?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O pardon, then, and punish not, I know<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou'rt slow to wrath, and prone to clemency.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN169" id="NOTE_WHIN169"></a>169. C. L. N. A. I.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN170" id="WHIN170"></a>170.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Hands, such as mine, that handle bowls of wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Twere shame to book and pulpit to confine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Zealot! thou'rt dry, and I am moist with drink,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yea, far too moist to catch that fire of thine!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN170" id="NOTE_WHIN170"></a>170. L. N. I follow Nicolas in taking <i>mani</i> as a possessive pronoun, +«mine,» though such a word is not mentioned in any +grammar or dictionary. It occurs again in No. 478.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN171" id="WHIN171"></a>171.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Whoso aspires to gain a rose-cheeked fair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sharp pricks from fortune's thorns must learn to bear.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">See! till this comb was cleft by cruel cuts,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It never dared to touch my lady's hair.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN171" id="NOTE_WHIN171"></a>171. C. L. N. A. I. Lyttleton expresses a similar sentiment.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">184</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN172" id="WHIN172"></a>172.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">For ever may my hands on wine be stayed.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And my heart pant for some fair Houri maid!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They say, «May Allah aid thee to repent!»<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Repent I could not, e'en with Allah's aid!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN172" id="NOTE_WHIN172"></a>172. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. Note the conjunctive pronoun separated +from its noun.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN173" id="WHIN173"></a>173.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Soon shall I go, by time and fate deplored,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of all my precious pearls not one is bored;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Alas! there die with me a thousand truths<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To which these fools fit audience ne'er accord.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN173" id="NOTE_WHIN173"></a>173. C. L. N. A. I.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN174" id="WHIN174"></a>174.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To-day how sweetly breathes the temperate air,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The rains have newly laved the parched parterre;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Bulbuls cry in notes of ecstasy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Thou too, O pallid rose, our wine must share!»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN174" id="NOTE_WHIN174"></a>174. L. N. B.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN175" id="WHIN175"></a>175.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ere you succumb to shocks of mortal pain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The rosy grape-juice from your wine-cup drain.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You are not gold, that, hidden in the earth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your friends should care to dig you up again!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN175" id="NOTE_WHIN175"></a>175. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. Note the old form of the imperative.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">185</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN176" id="WHIN176"></a>176.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My coming brought no profit to the sky,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor does my going swell its majesty;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Coming and going put me to a stand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ear never heard their wherefore nor their why.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN176" id="NOTE_WHIN176"></a>176. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. Voltaire has some similar lines in his poem +on the Lisbon earthquake.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN177" id="WHIN177"></a>177.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The heavenly Sage, whose wit exceeds compare,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Counteth each vein, and numbereth every hair;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Men you may cheat by hypocritic arts,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But how cheat Him to whom all hearts are bare?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN177" id="NOTE_WHIN177"></a>177. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN178" id="WHIN178"></a>178.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah! wine lends wings to many a weary wight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And beauty spots to ladies' faces bright;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All Ramazan I have not drunk a drop,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thrice welcome, then, O Bairam's blessed night!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN178" id="NOTE_WHIN178"></a>178. Bairam, the feast on the 1st Shawwal, after Ramazan. In +line 2 <i>Khirad</i> seems wrong, the rhyme would suggest +<i>Kharo</i>?</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN179" id="WHIN179"></a>179.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">All night in deep bewilderment I fret,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With tear-drops big as pearls my breast is wet;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I cannot fill my cranium with wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How can it hold wine, when 'tis thus upset?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN179" id="NOTE_WHIN179"></a>179. C. L. N. A. I. Note <i>tashdid</i> of <i>durr</i> dropped.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">186</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN180" id="WHIN180"></a>180.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To prayer and fasting when my heart inclined,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All my desire I surely hoped to find;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Alas! my purity is stained with wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My prayers are wasted like a breath of wind.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN180" id="NOTE_WHIN180"></a>180. C. L. N. A. I. In line 2 scan <i>Kulliyam</i>. In line 4 note +<i>izafat</i> dropped after silent <i>he</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN181" id="WHIN181"></a>181.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I worship rose-red cheeks with heart and soul,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I suffer not my hand to quit the bowl,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I make each part of me his function do,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or e'er my parts be swallowed in the Whole.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN181" id="NOTE_WHIN181"></a>181. C. L. N. A. I. Line 4 alludes to reabsorption in the Divine +essence. Note <i>juzwiyam</i>, and <i>tashdid</i> of <i>kull</i> dropped.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN182" id="WHIN182"></a>182.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This worldly love of yours is counterfeit,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, like a half-spent blaze, lacks light and heat;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">True love is his, who for days, months and years,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rests not, nor sleeps, nor craves for drink or meat.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN182" id="NOTE_WHIN182"></a>182. L. N. B. Line 3 is in metre 17.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN183" id="WHIN183"></a>183.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Why spend life in vainglorious essay<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All Being and Not-being to survey?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Since Death is ever pressing at your heels,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis best to drink or dream your life away.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN183" id="NOTE_WHIN183"></a>183. C. L. N. A. I. J. In line 2 scan <i>payi</i>. Being, <i>i.e.</i>, the Deity, +the only real existence, and Not-being, the nonentity in +which His attributes are reflected.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">187</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN184" id="WHIN184"></a>184.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Some hanker after that vain phantasy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Houris, feigned in Paradise to be,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But, when the veil is lifted, they will find<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How far they are from Thee, how far from Thee!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN184" id="NOTE_WHIN184"></a>184. C. L. N. A. I.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN185" id="WHIN185"></a>185.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In Paradise, they tell us, Houris dwell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And fountains run with wine and oxymel:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If these be lawful in the world to come,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Surely 'tis right to love them here as well.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN185" id="NOTE_WHIN185"></a>185. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN186" id="WHIN186"></a>186.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A draught of wine would make a mountain dance,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Base is the churl who looks at wine askance;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wine is a soul our bodies to inspire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A truce to this vain talk of temperance!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN186" id="NOTE_WHIN186"></a>186. C. L. N. A. I.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN187" id="WHIN187"></a>187.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oft doth my soul her prisoned state bemoan,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her earth-born co-mate she would fain disown,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And quit, did not the stirrup of the law<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Upbear her foot from dashing on the stone.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN187" id="NOTE_WHIN187"></a>187. N. Meaning, «I would make away with myself, were it not +for the Almighty's canon 'gainst self-slaughter.»</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">188</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN188" id="WHIN188"></a>188.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The moon of Ramazan is risen, see!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Alas, our wine must henceforth banished be;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Well! on Sha'ban's last day I'll drink enough<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To keep me drunk till Bairam's jubilee.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN188" id="NOTE_WHIN188"></a>188. C. L. N. A. I. Note <i>wa</i> omitted in line 2. Also ascribed to +Jalal 'Asad Bardi.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN189" id="WHIN189"></a>189.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">From life we draw now wine, now dregs to drink,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now flaunt in silk, and now in tatters shrink;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Such changes wisdom holds of slight account<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To those who stand on death's appalling brink!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN189" id="NOTE_WHIN189"></a>189. N.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN190" id="WHIN190"></a>190.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What sage the eternal tangle e'er unravelled,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or one short step beyond his nature travelled?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From pupils to the masters turn your eyes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And see, each mother's son alike is gravelled.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN190" id="NOTE_WHIN190"></a>190. C. L. N. A. B. I. In line 1 note <i>ra</i> put after the genitive, +following its noun. <i>'Ijz.</i> ... «impotence is in the +hand of each.» «Beyond his nature,» <i>i.e.</i>, beyond the +limit of his own thought.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN191" id="WHIN191"></a>191.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Crave not of worldly sweets to take your fill,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor wait on turns of fortune, good or ill;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Be of light heart, as are the skies above,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They roll a round or two, and then lie still.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN191" id="NOTE_WHIN191"></a>191. C. L. N. A. B. I. The skies have their allotted term like you, +yet do not distress themselves.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">189</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN192" id="WHIN192"></a>192.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What eye can pierce the veil of God's decrees,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or read the riddle of earth's destinies?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pondered have I for years threescore and ten,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But still am baffled by these mysteries.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN192" id="NOTE_WHIN192"></a>192. C. L. N. A. I. So Job, «The thunder of his power who can +understand?»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN193" id="WHIN193"></a>193.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They say, when the last trump shall sound its knell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Our Friend will sternly judge, and doom to hell.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Can aught but good from perfect goodness come?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Compose your trembling hearts, 'twill all be well.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN193" id="NOTE_WHIN193"></a>193. C. L. N. A. I. J. <i>Juzi</i>, (?) <i>juz az</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN194" id="WHIN194"></a>194.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Drink wine to root up metaphysic weeds,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And tangle of the two-and-seventy creeds;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Do not forswear that wondrous alchemy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Twill turn to gold, and cure a thousand needs.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN194" id="NOTE_WHIN194"></a>194. C. L. N. A. B. I. Muhammad said, «My people shall be +divided into seventy-three sects, all of which, save one, +shall have their portion in the fire.» Pocock, Specimen 210.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN195" id="WHIN195"></a>195.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Though drink is wrong, take care with whom you drink,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And who you are that drink, and what you drink;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And drink at will, for, these three points observed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who but the very wise can ever drink?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN195" id="NOTE_WHIN195"></a>195. C. L. N. A. B. I. A hit at the casuistry on the subject of wine.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">190</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN196" id="WHIN196"></a>196.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To drain a gallon beaker I design,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yea, two great beakers, brimmed with richest wine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Old faith and reason thrice will I divorce,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then take to wife the daughter of the vine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN196" id="NOTE_WHIN196"></a>196. C. N. A. I. A triple divorce is irrevocable. Koran, ii. 230.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN197" id="WHIN197"></a>197.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">True I drink wine, like every man of sense,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For I know Allah will not take offence;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Before time was, He knew that I should drink,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And who am I to thwart His prescience?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN197" id="NOTE_WHIN197"></a>197. C. L. N. A. B. I.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN198" id="WHIN198"></a>198.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Rich men, who take to drink, the world defy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With shameless riot, and as beggars die;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Place in my ruby pipe some emerald hemp,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Twill do as well to blind care's serpent eye.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN198" id="NOTE_WHIN198"></a>198. C. L. N. A. I. Scan <i>af'ayi</i>. The emerald is supposed to have +the virtue of blinding serpents.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN199" id="WHIN199"></a>199.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">These fools have never burnt the midnight oil<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In deep research, nor do they ever toil<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To step beyond themselves, but dress them fine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And plot of credit others to despoil.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN199" id="NOTE_WHIN199"></a>199. C. L. N, A. I. <i>Shame chand</i> Vullers (p. 253) takes this <i>ya</i> +to be <i>ya i tankir</i>; and Lumsden (ii. 269) says the presence +of this letter, between a noun and its attribute, dispenses +with the <i>izafat</i> (?). But why not add the <i>izafat</i>, and +scan <i>Shamiyi</i>?</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">191</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN200" id="WHIN200"></a>200.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When false dawn streaks the east with cold, grey line,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pour in your cups the pure blood of the vine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The truth, they say, tastes bitter in the mouth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This is a token that the «Truth» is wine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN200" id="NOTE_WHIN200"></a>200. C. L. N. A. I. J. False dawn, the faint light before sunrise.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN201" id="WHIN201"></a>201.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Now is the time earth decks her greenest bowers,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And trees, like Musa's hand, grow white with flowers!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As 'twere at 'Isa's breath the plants revive,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While clouds brim o'er, like tearful eyes, with showers.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN201" id="NOTE_WHIN201"></a>201. C. L. N. A. B. I. Musa and 'Isa are often written without the +<i>alif i maksur</i>. Bl., Prosody 3.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN202" id="WHIN202"></a>202.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O burden not thyself with drudgery,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lord of white silver and red gold to be;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But feast with friends, ere this warm breath of thine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Be chilled in death, and earthworms feast on thee.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN202" id="NOTE_WHIN202"></a>202. N.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN203" id="WHIN203"></a>203.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The showers of grape-juice, which cupbearers pour,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Quench fires of grief in many a sad heart's core<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Praise be to Allah, who hath sent this balm<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To heal sore hearts, and spirits' health restore!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN203" id="NOTE_WHIN203"></a>203. C. L. N. A. B. I. In line 1 some MSS. reads <i>bakhak</i>. <i>Didayi +garm</i>, «eyes of anguish.» Scan <i>garm atishi</i> (<i>Alif i wasl</i>).</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">192</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN204" id="WHIN204"></a>204.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Can alien Pharisees Thy kindness tell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like us, Thy intimates, who nigh Thee dwell?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou say'st, «All sinners will I burn with fire.»<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Say that to strangers, we know Thee too well.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN204" id="NOTE_WHIN204"></a>204. N.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN205" id="WHIN205"></a>205.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O comrades dear, when hither ye repair<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In times to come, communion sweet to share,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While the cupbearer pours your old Magh wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Call poor Khayyam to mind, and breathe a prayer.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN205" id="NOTE_WHIN205"></a>205. L. N. B. <i>Mayi</i>. The second <i>ya</i> is the <i>ya i batni</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN206" id="WHIN206"></a>206.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">For me heaven's sphere no music ever made,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor yet with soothing voice my fears allayed;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If e'er I found brief respite from my woes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Back to woe's thrall I was at once betrayed.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN206" id="NOTE_WHIN206"></a>206. C. L. N. A. I.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN207" id="WHIN207"></a>207.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Sooner with half a loaf contented be,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And water from a broken crock, like me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Than lord it over one poor fellow-man,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or to another bow the vassal knee.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN207" id="NOTE_WHIN207"></a>207. C. L. N. A. I. In line 2 note <i>izafat</i> dropped after silent <i>he</i>, +<i>Kam az Khude</i>, «one less than yourself.» Vullers, p. 254.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">193</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN208" id="WHIN208"></a>208.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">While Moon and Venus in the sky shall dwell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">None shall see aught red grape-juice to excel:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O foolish publicans, what can you buy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One half so precious as the goods you sell?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN208" id="NOTE_WHIN208"></a>208. C. L. N. A. B. I.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN209" id="WHIN209"></a>209.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They who by genius, and by power of brain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The rank of man's enlighteners attain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not even they emerge from this dark night,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But tell their dreams, and fall asleep again.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN209" id="NOTE_WHIN209"></a>209. C. L. N. A. I. J. <i>Fisanaye, ya i tankir</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN210" id="WHIN210"></a>210.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">At dawn, when dews bedeck the tulip's face,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And violets their heavy heads abase,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I love to see the roses' folded buds,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With petals closed against the wind's disgrace.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN210" id="NOTE_WHIN210"></a>210. L. B.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN211" id="WHIN211"></a>211.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Like as the skies rain down sweet jessamine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And sprinkle all the meads with eglantine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Right so, from out this jug of violet hue,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I pour in lily cups this rosy wine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN211" id="NOTE_WHIN211"></a>211. B. Here read <i>mayi</i>, with one <i>ya</i>, and <i>kasra</i>, because the +metre requires a word of only two consonants, and two +short vowels, of the <i>wazn mafa</i>.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">194</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN212" id="WHIN212"></a>212.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah! thou hast snared this head, though white as snow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which oft has vowed the wine-cup to forego;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And wrecked the mansion long resolve did build,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And rent the vesture penitence did sew!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN212" id="NOTE_WHIN212"></a>212. B. <i>Nabid</i> is often written <i>nabiz</i>, probably a survival from the +time when <i>dals</i> were dotted. Bl., Prosody 17.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN213" id="WHIN213"></a>213.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I am not one whom Death doth much dismay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Life's terrors all Death's terrors far outweigh;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This life, that Heaven hath lent me for a while,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I will pay back, when it is time to pay.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN213" id="NOTE_WHIN213"></a>213. C. L. A. B. I. B. reads <i>nim</i> for <i>bim</i> in line 2.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN214" id="WHIN214"></a>214.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The stars, who dwell on heaven's exalted stage,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Baffle the wise diviners of our age;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Take heed, hold fast the rope of mother wit.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">These augurs all distrust their own presage.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN214" id="NOTE_WHIN214"></a>214. L. B. A hit at the astrologers.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN215" id="WHIN215"></a>215.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The people who the heavenly world adorn,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who come each night, and go away each morn,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now on Heaven's skirt, and now in earth's deep pouch,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While Allah lives, shall aye anew be born!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN215" id="NOTE_WHIN215"></a>215. L. B. Earth's pouch, <i>i.e.</i>, «beneath the earth.» <i>Rezaye.</i> L. +reads <i>didaye</i>. Both readings are probably wrong.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">195</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN216" id="WHIN216"></a>216.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Slaves of vain wisdom and philosophy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who toil at Being and Nonentity,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Parching your brains till they are like dry grapes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Be wise in time, and drink grape-juice, like me!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN216" id="NOTE_WHIN216"></a>216. B. The vanity of learning.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN217" id="WHIN217"></a>217.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Sense, seeking happiness, bids us pursue<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All present joys, and present griefs eschew;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She says, we are not as the meadow grass,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which, when they mow it down, springs up anew.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN217" id="NOTE_WHIN217"></a>217. C. L. A. B. I. J. <i>Goyid</i>, from <i>goyidan</i>. <i>Ya i maksur</i> followed +by another <i>ya</i> is in Persian words always <i>hamzated</i> +(Lumsden, i. 29; Vullers, p. 24); and this <i>hamza i maksur</i> +is pronounced <i>ye</i>. Ibrahim, Grammar, p. 24.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN218" id="WHIN218"></a>218.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Now Ramazan is past, Shawwal comes back,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And feast and song and joy no more we lack;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The wine-skin carriers throng the streets and cry,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Here comes the porter with his precious pack.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN218" id="NOTE_WHIN218"></a>218. B. I incline to read <i>pusht bast</i> for <i>pusht pusht</i>, which I do +not understand.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN219" id="WHIN219"></a>219.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My comrades all are gone; Death, deadly foe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has caught them one by one, and trampled low;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They shared life's feast, and drank its wine with me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But lost their heads, and dropped a while ago.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN219" id="NOTE_WHIN219"></a>219. C. L. A. I. Quoted by <i>Badauni</i>, ii. 159.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">196</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN220" id="WHIN220"></a>220.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Those hypocrites, all know so well, who lurk<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In streets to beg their bread, and will not work,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Claim to be saints, like Shibli and Junaid,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No Shiblis are they, though well known in Karkh!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN220" id="NOTE_WHIN220"></a>220. C. L. A. I. L. Reads <i>bakahna namad</i>, but the line will not +scan with that reading. Line 4 is in metre 9. A saint +called <i>Ma'ruf i Karkhi</i>, «the famed one of Karkh,» is +mentioned in the <i>Nafahat ul Uns</i>. Karkh was a suburb +of Bagdad.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN221" id="WHIN221"></a>221.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When the great Founder moulded me of old,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He mixed much baser metal with my gold;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Better or fairer I can never be<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Than I first issued from his heavenly mould.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN221" id="NOTE_WHIN221"></a>221. C. L. A. I.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN222" id="WHIN222"></a>222.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The joyous souls who quaff potations deep,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And saints who in the mosques sad vigils keep,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are lost at sea alike, and find no shore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">ONE only wakes, all others are asleep.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN222" id="NOTE_WHIN222"></a>222. L. B. One, <i>i.e.</i>, the Deity.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN223" id="WHIN223"></a>223.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Not-being's water served to mix my clay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And on my heart grief's fire doth ever prey,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And blown am I like wind about the world,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And last my crumbling earth is swept away.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN223" id="NOTE_WHIN223"></a>223. L. This introduction of the four elements in one quatrain is +called <i>Mutazadd</i>. Gladwin, p. 60.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">197</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN224" id="WHIN224"></a>224.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Small gains to learning on this earth accrue,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They pluck life's fruitage, learning who eschew;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Take pattern by the fools who learning shun,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And then perchance shall fortune smile on you.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN224" id="NOTE_WHIN224"></a>224. C. L. A. I. <i>Bu</i> contracted from <i>buzad</i></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN225" id="WHIN225"></a>225.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When the fair soul this mansion doth vacate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Each element assumes its primal state,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all the silken furniture of life<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is then dismantled by the blows of fate.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN225" id="NOTE_WHIN225"></a>225. C. L. A. I. <i>Abresham tab'</i>, like <i>Hatim tab'</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN226" id="WHIN226"></a>226.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">These people string their beads of learned lumber,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And tell of Allah stories without number;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet never solve the riddle of the skies,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But wag the chin, and get them back to slumber.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN226" id="NOTE_WHIN226"></a>226. Possibly a hit at the <i>Mutakallamin</i>, or scholastic theologians.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN227" id="WHIN227"></a>227.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">These folk are asses, laden with conceit,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And glittering drums, that empty sounds repeat,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And humble slaves are they of name and fame,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Acquire a name, and, lo! they kiss thy feet.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN227" id="NOTE_WHIN227"></a>227. C. L. A. I. <i>Ba afsos</i> is an epithet, like <i>ba khabar</i>, and hence +<i>kharan</i>, the noun qualified by it, takes the <i>izafat</i>. Lumsden, +ii. 259. <i>Pur mash'ala</i>, «full of glitter»; compare +<i>pur mae</i> in No. 179.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">198</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN228" id="WHIN228"></a>228.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">On the dread day of final scrutiny<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou wilt be rated by thy quality;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Get wisdom and fair qualities to-day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For, as thou art, requited wilt thou be.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN228" id="NOTE_WHIN228"></a>228. C. L. A. I.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN229" id="WHIN229"></a>229.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Many fine heads, like bowls, the Brazier made,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thus his own similitude portrayed;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He set one upside down above our heads,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which keeps us all continually afraid.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN229" id="NOTE_WHIN229"></a>229. C. L. A. I. «One upside down,» <i>i.e.</i>, the sky. <i>Kansa</i> is also +spelled <i>kasa</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN230" id="WHIN230"></a>230.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My true condition I may thus explain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In two short verses which the whole contain:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«From love to Thee I now lay down my life,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In hope Thy love will raise me up again.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN230" id="NOTE_WHIN230"></a>230. C. L. A. I. Scan <i>wakiayi</i>. Here <i>hamza</i> stands for <i>ya i +tankir</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN231" id="WHIN231"></a>231.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The heart, like tapers, takes at beauty's eyes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A flame, and lives by that whereby it dies;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And beauty is a flame where hearts, like moths,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Offer themselves a burning sacrifice.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN231" id="NOTE_WHIN231"></a>231. L. Metre Ramal, No. 50. In line 3 the first syllable is short. +See Bl., Prosody, p. 43. In this form the metre is like +Horace's «<i>Miserarum est</i>,» etc.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">199</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN232" id="WHIN232"></a>232.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To please the righteous life itself I sell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, though they tread me down, never rebel;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Men say, «Inform us what and where is hell?»<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ill company will make this earth a hell.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN232" id="NOTE_WHIN232"></a>232. C. L. A. I. Also ascribed to Hafiz.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN233" id="WHIN233"></a>233.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The sun doth smite the roofs with Orient ray<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, Khosrau like, his wine-red sheen display;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Arise, and drink! the herald of the dawn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Uplifts his voice, and cries, «Oh, drink to-day!»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN233" id="NOTE_WHIN233"></a>233. C. L. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN234" id="WHIN234"></a>234.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Comrades! when e'er you meet together here,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Recall your friend to mind, and drop a tear;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And when the circling wine-cups reach his seat,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pray turn one upside down his dust to cheer.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN234" id="NOTE_WHIN234"></a>234. B. A variation of No. 205.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN235" id="WHIN235"></a>235.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">That grace and favour at the first, what meant it?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That lavishing of joy and peace, what meant it?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But now thy purpose is to grieve my heart;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What did I do to cause this change? What meant it?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN235" id="NOTE_WHIN235"></a>235. B. So Job, «He multiplieth my wounds without cause.»</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">200</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN236" id="WHIN236"></a>236.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">These hypocrites who build on saintly show,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Treating the body as the spirit's foe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If they will shut their mouths with lime, like jars,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My jar of grape-juice I will then forego.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN236" id="NOTE_WHIN236"></a>236. L. B. B. reads <i>arra</i>, of which I can make no sense. <i>Bar fark +niham</i>, «I will put aside»; <i>bar fark</i> (line 4), «on their +mouths.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN237" id="WHIN237"></a>237.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Many have come, and run their eager race,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Striving for pleasures, luxuries, or place,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And quaffed their wine, and now all silent lie,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Enfolded in their parent earth's embrace.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN237" id="NOTE_WHIN237"></a>237. C. L. A. I.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN238" id="WHIN238"></a>238.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Then, when the good reap fruits of labours past,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My hapless lot with drunkards will be cast;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If good, may I be numbered with the first,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If bad, find grace and mercy with the last.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN238" id="NOTE_WHIN238"></a>238. C. L. A. I.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN239" id="WHIN239"></a>239.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Of happy turns of fortune take your fill,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Seek pleasure's couch, or wine-cup, as you will;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Allah regards not if you sin, or saint it,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So take your pleasure, be it good or ill.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN239" id="NOTE_WHIN239"></a>239. C. L. N. A. I. J. Alluding to the <i>Hadis</i>, «These are in +heaven, and Allah regards not their sins, and those in hell, +and Allah regards not their good works.» See <i>Gulshan i' +Raz</i>, p. 55.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">201</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN240" id="WHIN240"></a>240.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Heaven multiplies our sorrows day by day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And grants no joys it does not take away;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If those unborn could know the ills we bear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What think you, would they rather come or stay?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN240" id="NOTE_WHIN240"></a>240. C. L. N. A. I. J. This recalls Byron's «Stanzas for Music.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN241" id="WHIN241"></a>241.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Why ponder thus the future to foresee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And jade thy brain to vain perplexity?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cast off thy care, leave Allah's plans to him,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He formed them all without consulting thee.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN241" id="NOTE_WHIN241"></a>241. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN242" id="WHIN242"></a>242.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The tenants of the tombs to dust decay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nescient of self, and all beside are they;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their sundered atoms float about the world,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like mirage clouds, until the judgment day.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN242" id="NOTE_WHIN242"></a>242. C. L. N. A. I. J. In line 4 some MSS. read <i>sharab</i> and +change the order of the lines.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN243" id="WHIN243"></a>243.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O soul! lay up all earthly goods in store,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy mead with pleasure's flowerets spangle o'er;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And know 'tis all as dew, that decks the flowers<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For one short night, and then is seen no more!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN243" id="NOTE_WHIN243"></a>243. C. L. N. A. I. J. There are several variations of this.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">202</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN244" id="WHIN244"></a>244.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Heed not the Sunna, nor the law divine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If to the poor his portion you assign,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And never injure one, nor yet abuse,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I guarantee you heaven, and now some wine!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN244" id="NOTE_WHIN244"></a>244. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. See Koran, ii. 172: «There is no piety +in turning your faces to the east or west, but he is pious +who believeth in God ... and disburseth his wealth +to the needy,» etc.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN245" id="WHIN245"></a>245.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Vexed by this wheel of things, that pets the base,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My sorrow-laden life drags on apace;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like rosebud, from the storm I wrap me close,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And blood-spots on my heart, like tulip, trace.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN245" id="NOTE_WHIN245"></a>245. N.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN246" id="WHIN246"></a>246.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Youth is the time to pay court to the vine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To quaff the cup, with revellers to recline;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A flood of water once laid waste the earth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hence learn to lay you waste with floods of wine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN246" id="NOTE_WHIN246"></a>246. C. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN247" id="WHIN247"></a>247.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The world is baffled in its search for Thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wealth cannot find Thee, no, nor poverty;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou'rt very near us, but our ears are deaf,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Our eyes are blinded that we may not see!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN247" id="NOTE_WHIN247"></a>247. N. So Hafiz, Ode 355 (Brockhaus): «How can our eyes behold +Thee as Thou art?»</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">203</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN248" id="WHIN248"></a>248.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Take care you never hold a drinking-bout<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With an ill-tempered, ill-conditioned lout;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He'll make a vile disturbance all night long,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And vile apologies next day, no doubt.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN248" id="NOTE_WHIN248"></a>248. C. L. N. A. I. J. In line 3 scan <i>badmastiyo</i> and in line 4 +<i>Khwahiyash</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN249" id="WHIN249"></a>249.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The starry aspects are not all benign;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why toil then after vain desires, and pine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To lade thyself with load of fortune's boons,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Only to drop it with this life of thine?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN249" id="NOTE_WHIN249"></a>249. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN250" id="WHIN250"></a>250.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O comrades! here is filtered wine, come drink!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pledge all your charming sweethearts as you drink;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis the grape's blood, and this is what it says,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«To you I dedicate my life-blood! drink!»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN250" id="NOTE_WHIN250"></a>250. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN251" id="WHIN251"></a>251.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Are you depressed? Then take of <i>bhang</i> one grain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of rosy grape-juice take one pint or twain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sufis, you say, must not take this or that,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then go and eat the pebbles off the plain!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN251" id="NOTE_WHIN251"></a>251. N. In line 1 and 2 scan <i>yakjawaki</i> and <i>manaki</i>, <i>ak</i> being the +diminutive, and <i>ya</i> the <i>ya i tankir</i>, displacing the <i>izafat</i>: +Lumsden, ii, 269. <i>Bhang</i>, a narcotic, made from hemp.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">204</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN252" id="WHIN252"></a>252.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I saw a busy potter by the way<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Kneading with might and main a lump of clay;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, lo! the clay cried, «Use me gently, pray;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I was a man myself but yesterday!»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN252" id="NOTE_WHIN252"></a>252. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. <i>Hal</i>, ecstasy.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN253" id="WHIN253"></a>253.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh! wine is richer that the realm of Jam,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">More fragrant than the food of Miriam;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sweeter are sighs that drunkards heave at morn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Than strains of Bu Sa'id and Bin Adham.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN253" id="NOTE_WHIN253"></a>253. C. L. N. A. I. J. Abu Sa'id Abu'l Khair and Ibrahim Bin +Adham are both mentioned in the <i>Nafahat ul Uns</i>. +«Miriam's food.» See Koran, xix. 24. Note <i>izafat</i> dropped +after silent <i>he</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN254" id="WHIN254"></a>254.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Deep in the rondure of the heavenly blue,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There is a cup, concealed from mortals' view,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which all must drink in turn; Oh, sigh not then,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But drink it boldly, when it comes to you!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN254" id="NOTE_WHIN254"></a>254. C. L. A. I. J. <i>Jawr</i>, a «bumper.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN255" id="WHIN255"></a>255.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Though you should live to four, or forty score,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Go hence you must, as all have gone before;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then, be you king, or beggar of the streets,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They'll rate you all the same, no less, no more.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN255" id="NOTE_WHIN255"></a>255. L.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">205</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN256" id="WHIN256"></a>256.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If you seek Him, abandon child and wife,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Arise, and sever all these ties to life;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All these are bonds to check you on your course.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Arise, and cut these bonds, as with a knife.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN256" id="NOTE_WHIN256"></a>256. L. B. So <i>Gulshan i Raz</i>, l. 944.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN257" id="WHIN257"></a>257.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O heart! this world is but a fleeting show,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why should its empty griefs distress thee so?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bow down, and bear thy fate, the eternal pen<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Will not unwrite its roll for thee, I trow!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN257" id="NOTE_WHIN257"></a>257. L. N. B. The «pen» is that with which Allah writes his decrees.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN258" id="WHIN258"></a>258.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Who e'er returned of all that went before,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To tell of that long road they travel o'er?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Leave naught undone of what you have to do,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For when you go, you will return no more.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN258" id="NOTE_WHIN258"></a>258. C. N. L. A. I. J. <i>Amadaye, ya i tankir</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN259" id="WHIN259"></a>259.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Dark wheel! how many lovers thou hast slain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like Mahmud and Ayaz, O inhumane!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Come, let us drink, thou grantest not two lives,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When one is spent, we find it not again.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN259" id="NOTE_WHIN259"></a>259. L. N. Mahmud, the celebrated king of Ghazni, and Ayaz his +favourite. Scan <i>wayaz</i> (<i>alif i wasl</i>).</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">206</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN260" id="WHIN260"></a>260.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Illustrious Prophet! whom all kings obey,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When is our darkness lightened by wine's ray?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Friday, and Saturday, both night and day!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN260" id="NOTE_WHIN260"></a>260. C. L. N. A. I. J. The <i>jim</i> in <i>panjshamba</i> is dropped in scanning. +See Bl., Prosody, p. 10. In line 4 note silent <i>he</i> in +<i>shauba</i> scanned long as well as short.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN261" id="WHIN261"></a>261.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O turn away those roguish eyes of thine!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Be still! seek not my peace to undermine!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou say'st, «Look not.» I might as well essay<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To slant my goblet, and not spill my wine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN261" id="NOTE_WHIN261"></a>261. N. Line 4, a proverb denoting an impossibility.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN262" id="WHIN262"></a>262.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In taverns better far commune with Thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Than pray in mosques, and fail Thy face to see!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O first and last of all Thy creatures Thou,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis Thine to burn, and Thine to cherish me!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN262" id="NOTE_WHIN262"></a>262. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. This is clearly an address to the Deity.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN263" id="WHIN263"></a>263.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To wise and worthy men your life devote,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But from the worthless keep your walk remote;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dare to take poison from a sage's hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But from a fool refuse an antidote.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN263" id="NOTE_WHIN263"></a>263. L. N. Line 2 is in metre 17.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">207</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN264" id="WHIN264"></a>264.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I flew here, as a bird from the wild, in aim<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Up to a higher nest my course to frame,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But, finding here no guide who knows the way,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fly out by the same door where through I came.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN264" id="NOTE_WHIN264"></a>264. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN265" id="WHIN265"></a>265.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">He binds us in resistless Nature's chain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And yet bids us our natures to restrain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Between these counter rules we stand perplexed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Hold the jar slant, but all the wine retain.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN265" id="NOTE_WHIN265"></a>265. L. N. In line 3 scan <i>nahyash</i>. So Lord Brooke in «Mustapha»; +Ward's English Poets, i. 370.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN266" id="WHIN266"></a>266.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They go away, and none is seen returning,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To teach that other world's recondite learning;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Twill not be shown for dull mechanic prayers,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For prayer is naught without true heartfelt yearning.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN266" id="NOTE_WHIN266"></a>266. C. L. N. A. I. The <i>formal</i> prayers of Moslems are rather ascriptions +of praise, and repetitions of texts, than petitions.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN267" id="WHIN267"></a>267.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Go to! Cast dust on those deaf skies, who spurn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy orisons and bootless prayers, and learn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To quaff the cup, and hover round the fair;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of all who go, did ever one return?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN267" id="NOTE_WHIN267"></a>267. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. An answer to the last.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">208</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN268" id="WHIN268"></a>268.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Though Khayyam strings no pearls of righteous deeds,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor sweeps from off his soul sin's noisome weeds,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet will he not despair of heavenly grace,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Seeing that ONE as two he ne'er misreads.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN268" id="NOTE_WHIN268"></a>268. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. <i>Tauhid</i>, or Unitarianism, is the central doctrine +of Islam. So Hafiz, Ode 465.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN269" id="WHIN269"></a>269.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Again to tavern haunts do we repair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And say «Adieu» to the five hours of prayer;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where'er we see a long-necked flask of wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We elongate our necks that wine to share.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN269" id="NOTE_WHIN269"></a>269. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. <i>Takbir</i>, or <i>tekbir</i> the formula «<i>Allah +akbar</i>,» in saying which the mind should be abstracted +from worldly thoughts; hence «renunciation.» See Nicolas.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN270" id="WHIN270"></a>270.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We are but chessmen, destined, it is plain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That great chess-player, Heaven, to entertain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It moves us on life's chess-board to and fro,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And then in death's dark box shuts up again.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN270" id="NOTE_WHIN270"></a>270. L. N. B. <i>Hakikati</i>, see Bl., Prosody 3.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN271" id="WHIN271"></a>271.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">You ask what is this life so frail, so vain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis long to tell, yet will I make it plain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis but a breath blown from the vasty deeps,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And then blown back to those same deeps again!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN271" id="NOTE_WHIN271"></a>271. C. L. N. A. I. J. Some MSS. read <i>naksh</i>. Deeps, <i>i.e.</i>, the +ocean of Not-being.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">209</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN272" id="WHIN272"></a>272.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To-day to heights of rapture have I soared,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yea, and with drunken Maghs pure wine adored;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I am become beside myself, and rest<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In that pure temple, «Am not I your Lord?»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN272" id="NOTE_WHIN272"></a>272. C. L. N. A. I. J. <i>Alasto birabbikum</i>, Allah's words to Adam's +sons: Koran vii. 171. So in Hafiz, Ode 43 (Brockhaus).</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN273" id="WHIN273"></a>273.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My queen (long may she live to vex her slave!)<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To-day a token of affection gave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Darting a kind glance from her eyes, she passed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And said, «Do good and cast it on the wave!»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN273" id="NOTE_WHIN273"></a>273. L. N. Meaning, hope not for a return to your love. <i>Nekuyey</i>, +«a good act,» <i>ya</i> conjunctive and <i>ya i tankir</i>, Vullers, p. 250.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN274" id="WHIN274"></a>274.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I put my lips to the cup, for I did yearn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The hidden cause of length of days to learn;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He leaned his lip to mine, and whispered low,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Drink! for, once gone, you never will return.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN274" id="NOTE_WHIN274"></a>274. C. L. A. B. I. J. Some MSS. give line 4 differently.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN275" id="WHIN275"></a>275.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We lay in the cloak of Naught, asleep and still,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou said'st, «Awake! taste the world's good and ill»;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Here we are puzzled by Thy strange command,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From slanted jars no single drop to spill.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN275" id="NOTE_WHIN275"></a>275. L. Naught, <i>i.e.</i>, Not-being. See note to No. 183.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">210</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN276" id="WHIN276"></a>276.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Thou! who know'st the secret thoughts of all,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In time of sorest need who aidest all,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Grant me repentance, and accept my plea,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O Thou who dost accept the pleas of all!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN276" id="NOTE_WHIN276"></a>276. C. L. N. A. I. J. Note <i>tashdid</i> on <i>rabb</i> dropped.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN277" id="WHIN277"></a>277.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I saw a bird perched on the walls of Tus,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Before him lay the skull of Kai Kawus,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thus he made his moan, «Alas, poor king!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy drums are hushed, thy 'larums have rung truce.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN277" id="NOTE_WHIN277"></a>277. C. L. N. A. Tus was near Nishapur.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN278" id="WHIN278"></a>278.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ask not the chances of the time to be,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And for the past, 'tis vanished, as you see;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This ready-money breath set down as gain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Future and past concern not you or me.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN278" id="NOTE_WHIN278"></a>278. C. L. N. A. I. J. In line 1 note <i>izafat</i> dropped after silent <i>he</i>. +Compare Horace's Ode to Leuconoe.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN279" id="WHIN279"></a>279.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What launched that golden orb his course to run,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What wrecks his firm foundations, when 'tis done,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No man of science ever weighed with scales,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor made assay with touchstone, no, not one!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN279" id="NOTE_WHIN279"></a>279. L. The vanity of science.</p> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="Illustration_SUFI_MYSTICS_GATHERED_FOR_MEDITATION" id="Illustration_SUFI_MYSTICS_GATHERED_FOR_MEDITATION"></a> +<img src="images/p245.jpg" width="500" height="350" alt="SUFI MYSTICS GATHERED FOR MEDITATION. +From an old painting by a Pushtu artist" /> +<span class="caption"><i>SUFI MYSTICS GATHERED FOR MEDITATION<br /> +From an old painting by a Pushtu artist</i></span> +</div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">211</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN280" id="WHIN280"></a>280.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I pray thee to my counsel lend thine ear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cast off this false hypocrisy's veneer;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This life a moment is, the next all time,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sell not eternity for earthly gear!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN280" id="NOTE_WHIN280"></a>280. C. L. N. A. B. I. Note <i>ra</i> separated from its noun, as before. +Vullers, p. 173.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN281" id="WHIN281"></a>281.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ofttimes I plead my foolishness to Thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My heart contracted with perplexity;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I gird me with the Magian zone, and why?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For shame so poor a Musulman to be.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN281" id="NOTE_WHIN281"></a>281. C. L. N. A. I. J. In line 1 scan <i>nadaniyi</i>, dissolving the +long <i>ya</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN282" id="WHIN282"></a>282.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Khayyam! rejoice that wine you still can pour,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And still the charms of tulip cheeks adore;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You'll soon not be, rejoice then that you are,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Think how 'twould be in case you were no more!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN282" id="NOTE_WHIN282"></a>282. C. L. N. A. B. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN283" id="WHIN283"></a>283.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Once, in a potter's shop, a company<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of cups in converse did I chance to see,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And lo! one lifted up his voice, and cried,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Who made, who sells, who buys this crockery?»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN283" id="NOTE_WHIN283"></a>283. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. Men's speculations.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">212</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN284" id="WHIN284"></a>284.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Last night, as I reeled from the tavern door,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I saw a sage, who a great wine-jug bore;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I said, «O Shaikh, have you no shame?» Said he,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Allah hath boundless mercy in his store.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN284" id="NOTE_WHIN284"></a>284. C. L. N. A. I. J. <i>Sar mast</i>, a compound, hence <i>izafat</i> omitted. +<i>Saboyey, hamza</i> (for conjunctive <i>ya</i>) followed by <i>ya i tankir</i>. +See Lumsden, ii. 269.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN285" id="WHIN285"></a>285.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Life's fount is wine, Khizir its guardian,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I, like Elias, find it where I can,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis sustenance for heart and spirit too,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Allah himself calls wine «a boon to man.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN285" id="NOTE_WHIN285"></a>285. C. L. N. A. I. J. Koran, ii. 216. Elias discovered the water +of life.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN286" id="WHIN286"></a>286.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Though wine is banned, yet drink, for ever drink!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By day and night, with strains of music drink!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where'er thou lightest on a cup of wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Spill just one drop, and take the rest and drink!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN286" id="NOTE_WHIN286"></a>286. C. L. N. A. I. J. To spill a drop is a sign of liberality.—Nicolas.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN287" id="WHIN287"></a>287.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Although the creeds number some seventy-three,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I hold with none but that of loving Thee;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What matter faith, unfaith, obedience, sin?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou'rt all we need, the rest is vanity.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN287" id="NOTE_WHIN287"></a>287. N. See note on Quatrain 194. Forms of faith are indifferent. +See <i>Gulshan i Raz</i>, p. 83.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">213</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN288" id="WHIN288"></a>288.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Tell one by one my scanty virtues o'er;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As for my sins, forgive them by the score;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let not my faults kindle Thy wrath to flame;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By blest Muhammad's tomb, forgive once more!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN288" id="NOTE_WHIN288"></a>288. L. N. B. <i>Rasul-ullah</i>: the construction being Arabic, <i>izafat</i> +is needed. Lumsden, ii. p. 251. Also ascribed to Zahir +ud-din Faryabi.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN289" id="WHIN289"></a>289.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Grieve not at coming ill, you can't defeat it,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And what far-sighted person goes to meet it?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cheer up! bear not about a world of grief,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your fate is fixed, and grieving will not cheat it.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN289" id="NOTE_WHIN289"></a>289. L. Line 2 is a question.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN290" id="WHIN290"></a>290.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There is a chalice made with wit profound,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With tokens of the Maker's favour crowned;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet the world's Potter takes his masterpiece,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And dashes it to pieces on the ground!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN290" id="NOTE_WHIN290"></a>290. C. L. A. I. J. So Job, «Is it good unto Thee that Thou shouldest +despise the labour of Thine hands?»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN291" id="WHIN291"></a>291.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In truth wine is a spirit thin as air,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A limpid soul in the cup's earthen ware;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No dull, dense person shall be friend of mine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Save wine-cups, which are dense and also rare.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN291" id="NOTE_WHIN291"></a>291. L. N. B. <i>Layik . man izafat</i> omitted because of the +intervening words. Lumsden, ii. 250.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">214</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN292" id="WHIN292"></a>292.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O wheel of heaven! no ties of bread you feel,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No ties of salt, you flay me like an eel!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A woman's wheel spins clothes for man and wife,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It does more good than you, O heavenly wheel!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN292" id="NOTE_WHIN292"></a>292. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN293" id="WHIN293"></a>293.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Did no fair rose my paradise adorn,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I would make shift to deck it with a thorn;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And if I lacked my prayer-mats, beads, and Shaikh,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Those Christian bells and stoles I would not scorn.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN293" id="NOTE_WHIN293"></a>293. C. L. N. A. I. (under <i>Te</i>). Line 2 is omitted in the translation. +So Pope, «For forms and creeds let graceless zealots +fight.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN294" id="WHIN294"></a>294.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">«If heaven deny me peace and fame,» I said,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Let it be open war and shame instead;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The man who scorns bright wine had best beware,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I'll arm me with a stone, and break his head!»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN294" id="NOTE_WHIN294"></a>294. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN295" id="WHIN295"></a>295.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">See! the dawn breaks, and rends night's canopy:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Arise! and drain a morning draught with me!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Away with gloom! full many a dawn will break<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Looking for us, and we not here to see!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN295" id="NOTE_WHIN295"></a>295. C. L. N A. I. J. <i>Bisyar</i>, «frequently.»</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">215</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN296" id="WHIN296"></a>296.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O you who tremble not at fires of hell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor wash in water of remorse's well,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When winds of death shall quench your vital torch,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beware lest earth your guilty dust expel.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN296" id="NOTE_WHIN296"></a>296. L. Possibly written by some pious reader as an answer to +Khayyam's scoffs. See note on Quatrain 223.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN297" id="WHIN297"></a>297.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This world a hollow pageant you should deem;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All wise men know things are not what they seem;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Be of good cheer, and drink, and so shake off<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This vain illusion of a baseless dream.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN297" id="NOTE_WHIN297"></a>297. L. N. All earthly existence is «<i>Maya</i>»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN298" id="WHIN298"></a>298.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">With maids stately as cypresses, and fair<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As roses newly plucked, your wine-cups share,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or e'er Death's blasts shall rend your robe of flesh<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like yonder rose leaves, lying scattered there!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN298" id="NOTE_WHIN298"></a>298. C. L. N. I. J. The Lucknow commentator says <i>daman i gul</i> +means the maid's cheek.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN299" id="WHIN299"></a>299.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Cast off dull care, O melancholy brother!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Woo the sweet daughter of the grape, no other;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The daughter is forbidden, it is true,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But she is nicer than her lawful mother!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN299" id="NOTE_WHIN299"></a>299. N. «Daughter of the grape,» <i>i.e.</i>, wine, a translation of an +Arabic phrase.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">216</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN300" id="WHIN300"></a>300.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My love shone forth, and I was overcome,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My heart was speaking, but my tongue was dumb;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beside the water-brooks I died of thirst.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Was ever known so strange a martyrdom?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN300" id="NOTE_WHIN300"></a>300. N. <i>Dil rubaye</i>, «that well-known charmer.» Lumsden, ii. +142. <i>Pur sukhan</i>. See note on No. 227.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN301" id="WHIN301"></a>301.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Give me my cup in hand, and sing a glee<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In concert with the bulbul's symphony;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wine would not gurgle as it leaves the flask,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If drinking mute were right for thee and me!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN301" id="NOTE_WHIN301"></a>301. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN302" id="WHIN302"></a>302.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The «Truth» will not be shown to lofty thought,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor yet with lavished gold may it be bought;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But, if you yield your life for fifty years,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From words to «states» you may perchance be brought.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN302" id="NOTE_WHIN302"></a>302. L. Line 3, literally, «Unless you dig up your soul, and eat +blood for fifty years.» «States» of ecstatic union with the +«Truth,» or Deity of the Mystics.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN303" id="WHIN303"></a>303.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I solved all problems, down from Saturn's wreath<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unto this lowly sphere of earth beneath,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And leapt out free from bonds of fraud and lies,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yea, every knot was loosed, save that of death!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN303" id="NOTE_WHIN303"></a>303. C. L. A. I. J.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">217</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN304" id="WHIN304"></a>304.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Peace! the eternal «Has been» and «To be»<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pass man's experience, and man's theory;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In joyful seasons naught can vie with wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To all these riddles wine supplies the key!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN304" id="NOTE_WHIN304"></a>304. C. L. A. B. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN305" id="WHIN305"></a>305.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Allah, our Lord, is merciful, though just;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sinner! despair not, but His mercy trust!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For though to-day you perish in your sins,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To-morrow He'll absolve your crumbling dust.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN305" id="NOTE_WHIN305"></a>305. C. L. N. A. I. J. A very Voltairean quatrain.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN306" id="WHIN306"></a>306.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Your course annoys me, O ye wheeling skies!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unloose me from your chain of tyrannies!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If none but fools your favours may enjoy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then favour me,—I am not very wise!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN306" id="NOTE_WHIN306"></a>306. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN307" id="WHIN307"></a>307.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O City Mufti, you go more astray<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Than I do, though to wine I do give way;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I drink the blood of grapes, you that of men:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which of us is the more bloodthirsty, pray?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN307" id="NOTE_WHIN307"></a>307. C. L. N. A. I. J. Alluding to the selling of justice by Muftis.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">218</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN308" id="WHIN308"></a>308.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Tis well to drink, and leave anxiety<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For what is past, and what is yet to be;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Our prisoned spirits, lent us for a day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A while from season's bondage shall go free!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN308" id="NOTE_WHIN308"></a>308. C. L. N. A. I. J. <i>'Ariyati rawan</i>, «this borrowed soul.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN309" id="WHIN309"></a>309.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When Khayyam quittance at Death's hand receives,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And sheds his outworn life, as trees their leaves,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Full gladly will he sift this world away,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere dustmen sift his ashes in their sieves.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN309" id="NOTE_WHIN309"></a>309. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN310" id="WHIN310"></a>310.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This wheel of heaven, which makes us all afraid,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I liken to a lamp's revolving shade,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sun the candlestick, the earth the shade,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And men the trembling forms thereon portrayed.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN310" id="NOTE_WHIN310"></a>310. C. L. N. A. B. I. <i>Fanus i khiyal</i>, a magic or Chinese lantern.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN311" id="WHIN311"></a>311.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Who was it that did mix my clay? Not I.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who spun my web of silk and wool? Not I.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who wrote upon my forehead all my good,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all my evil deeds? In truth not I.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN311" id="NOTE_WHIN311"></a>311. C. L. N. A. I. In line 2 rhyme shows the word to be <i>rishtai</i>, +not <i>rushtai</i>.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">219</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN312" id="WHIN312"></a>312.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O let us not forecast to-morrow's fears,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But count to-day as gain, my brave compeers!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To-morrow we shall quit this inn, and march<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With comrades who have marched seven thousand years.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN312" id="NOTE_WHIN312"></a>312. C. L. N. A. I. J. Badauni (ii. 337) says the creation of Adam +was 7000 years before his time. Compare Hafiz, <i>Ruba'i</i> 10.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN313" id="WHIN313"></a>313.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ne'er for one moment leave your cup unused!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wine keeps heart, faith, and reason too, amused;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Had Iblis swallowed but a single drop,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To worship Adam he had ne'er refused!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN313" id="NOTE_WHIN313"></a>313. C. L. (in part) N. A. I. J. See Koran, ii. 31.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN314" id="WHIN314"></a>314.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Come, dance! while we applaud thee, and adore<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy sweet Narcissus eyes, and grape-juice pour;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A score of cups is no such great affair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But 'tis enchanting when we reach three score!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN314" id="NOTE_WHIN314"></a>314. N. Narcissus eyes, <i>i.e.</i>, languid.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN315" id="WHIN315"></a>315.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I close the door of hope in my own face,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor sue for favours from good men, or base;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I have but ONE to lend a helping hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He knows, as well as I, my sorry case.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN315" id="NOTE_WHIN315"></a>315. C. L. N. A. I. J. A «<i>Haliya</i>» quatrain, lamenting his own +condition.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">220</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN316" id="WHIN316"></a>316.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah! by these heavens, that ever circling run,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And by my own base lusts I am undone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Without the wit to abandon worldly hopes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And wanting sense the world's allures to shun!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN316" id="NOTE_WHIN316"></a>316. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN317" id="WHIN317"></a>317.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">On earth's green carpet many sleepers lie,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And hid beneath it others I descry,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And others, not yet come, or passed away,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">People the desert of Nonentity!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN317" id="NOTE_WHIN317"></a>317. C. L. N. A. I. J. The sleepers on the earth are those sunk +in the sleep of superstition and ignorance.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN318" id="WHIN318"></a>318.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Sure of Thy grace, for sins why need I fear?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How can the pilgrim faint whilst Thou art near?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On the last day Thy grace will wash me white,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And make my «black record» to disappear.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN318" id="NOTE_WHIN318"></a>318. C. L. N. A. I. J. Lumsden, ii, 72. See Koran, xiii. 47.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN319" id="WHIN319"></a>319.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Think not I dread from out the world to hie,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And see my disembodied spirit fly;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I tremble not at death, for death is true,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis my ill life that makes me fear to die!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN319" id="NOTE_WHIN319"></a>319. C. L. N. A. I. J. «Death is true,» <i>i.e.</i> a certainty. So Sir +Philip Sidney (after M. Aurelius), «Since Nature's works be +good, and death doth serve as Nature's work, why should +we fear to die?»</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">221</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN320" id="WHIN320"></a>320.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Let us shake off dull reason's incubus,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Our tale of days or years cease to discuss,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And take our jugs, and plenish them with wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or e'er grim potters make their jugs of us!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN320" id="NOTE_WHIN320"></a>320. C. L. N. A. B. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN321" id="WHIN321"></a>321.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How much more wilt thou chide, O raw divine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For that I drink, and am a libertine?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou hast thy weary beads, and saintly show,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Leave me my cheerful sweetheart, and my wine!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN321" id="NOTE_WHIN321"></a>321. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN322" id="WHIN322"></a>322.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Against my lusts I ever war, in vain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I think on my ill deeds with shame and pain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I trust Thou wilt assoil me of my sins,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But even so, my shame must still remain.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN322" id="NOTE_WHIN322"></a>322. C. L. N. A. B. I.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN323" id="WHIN323"></a>323.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In these twin compasses, O Love, you see<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One body with two heads, like you and me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which wander round one centre, circlewise.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But at the last in one same point agree.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN323" id="NOTE_WHIN323"></a>323. C. L. N. A. I. Mr. Fitzgerald quotes a similar figure used by +the poet Donne, for which see Ward's «English Poets,» i. +562. The two heads are the points of the compasses.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">222</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN324" id="WHIN324"></a>324.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We shall not stay here long, but while we do,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis folly wine and sweethearts to eschew;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why ask if earth etern or transient be?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Since you must go, it matters not to you.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN324" id="NOTE_WHIN324"></a>324. C. L. N. A. B. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN325" id="WHIN325"></a>325.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In reverent sort to mosque I wend my way,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But, by great Allah, it is not to pray;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No! but to steal a prayer-mat! When 'tis worn,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I go again, another to purvey.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN325" id="NOTE_WHIN325"></a>325. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. To «steal a prayer-mat» is to pray to be +seen of men.—Nicolas. A satire on some hypocrite, perhaps +himself.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN326" id="WHIN326"></a>326.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">No more let fate's annoys our peace consume,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But let us rather rosy wine consume,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The world our murderer is, and wine its blood,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall we not then that murderer's blood consume?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN326" id="NOTE_WHIN326"></a>326. L. N. See Koran, ii. 187.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN327" id="WHIN327"></a>327.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">For Thee I vow to cast repute away,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, if I shrink, the penalty to pay;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Though life might satisfy Thy cruelty,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Twere naught, I'll bear it till the judgment-day!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN327" id="NOTE_WHIN327"></a>327. C. L. N. A. B. I.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">223</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN328" id="WHIN328"></a>328.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In Being's rondure do we stray belated,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Our pride of manhood humbled and abated;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Would we were gone! long since have we been wearied<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With this world's griefs, and with its pleasures sated.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN328" id="NOTE_WHIN328"></a>328. L. N.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN329" id="WHIN329"></a>329.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The world is false, so I'll be false as well,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And with bright wine, and gladness ever dwell!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They say, «May Allah grant thee penitence!»<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He grants it not, and, did he, I'd rebel!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN329" id="NOTE_WHIN329"></a>329. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. A pun in the original.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN330" id="WHIN330"></a>330.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When Death shall tread me down upon the plain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And pluck my feathers, and my life-blood drain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then mould me to a cup, and fill with wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Haply its scent will make me breathe again.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN330" id="NOTE_WHIN330"></a>330. C. L. N. A. B. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN331" id="WHIN331"></a>331.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">So far as this world's dealings I have traced,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I find its favours shamefully misplaced;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Allah be praised! I see myself debarred<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From all its boons, and wrongfully disgraced.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN331" id="NOTE_WHIN331"></a>331. C. L. N. A. I. <i>Alam hama</i>, etc., «states entirely gratuitous.» +Write <i>baran</i> without a <i>madd</i>. Bl., Prosody, p. 11. Compare +Shakespeare, Sonnet 66.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">224</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN332" id="WHIN332"></a>332.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Tis dawn! my heart with wine I will recruit,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And dash to bits the glass of good repute;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My long-extending hopes I will renounce,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And grasp long tresses, and the charming lute.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN332" id="NOTE_WHIN332"></a>332. L. N. B.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN333" id="WHIN333"></a>333.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Though I had sinned the sins of all mankind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I know Thou would'st to mercy be inclined;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou sayest, «I will help in time of need»<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One needier than I where wilt Thou find?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN333" id="NOTE_WHIN333"></a>333. C. L. N. A. I. J. The <i>waw</i> in <i>'afw</i> is a consonant, and therefore +takes <i>kasra</i> for the <i>izafat</i>, without the intervention of +conjunctive <i>ya</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN334" id="WHIN334"></a>334.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Am I a wine-bibber? What if I am?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gueber or infidel? Suppose I am?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Each sect miscalls me, but I heed them not,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I am my own, and, what I am, I am.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN334" id="NOTE_WHIN334"></a>334. C. L. N. A. I. J. <i>Zan i khud</i> for <i>azan i khud</i>, «my own +property.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN335" id="WHIN335"></a>335.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">All my life long from drink I have not ceased,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And drink I will to-night on Kadr's feast;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And throw my arms about the wine-jar's neck,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And kiss its lip, and clasp it to my breast!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN335" id="NOTE_WHIN335"></a>335. C. L. N. A. I. J. <i>Kadr</i> the night of power. Koran, xcvi. 1.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">225</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN336" id="WHIN336"></a>336.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I know what is, and what is not, I know<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The lore of things above, and things below;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But all this lore will cheerfully renounce,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If one a higher grade than drink can show.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN336" id="NOTE_WHIN336"></a>336. L. N. B. Line 1, Being and Not-being, «Grade,» <i>i.e.</i>, of learning.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN337" id="WHIN337"></a>337.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Though I drink wine, I am no libertine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor am I grasping, save of cups of wine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I scruple to adore myself, like you;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For this cause to wine-worship I incline.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN337" id="NOTE_WHIN337"></a>337. C. L. N. A. I. J. A hit at the vain and covetous Mollas. Also +ascribed to Anwari.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN338" id="WHIN338"></a>338.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To confidants like you I dare to say<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What mankind really are—moulded of clay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Affliction's clay, and kneaded in distress,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They taste the world awhile, then pass away.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN338" id="NOTE_WHIN338"></a>338. C. L. N. A. I. J. Note the archaic form.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN339" id="WHIN339"></a>339.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We make the wine-jar's lip our place of prayer,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And drink in lessons of true manhood there,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And pass our lives in taverns, if perchance<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The time mis-spent in mosques we may repair.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN339" id="NOTE_WHIN339"></a>339. L. N. This quatrain is probably Mystical.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">226</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN340" id="WHIN340"></a>340.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Man is the whole creation's summary,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The precious apple of great wisdom's eye;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The circle of existence is a ring,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whereof the signet is humanity.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN340" id="NOTE_WHIN340"></a>340. C. L. N. A. I. Man is the microcosm. See <i>Gulshan i Raz</i>, p. +15. «The captain jewel of the carcanet.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN341" id="WHIN341"></a>341.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">With fancies, as with wine, our heads we turn,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Aspire to heaven, and earth's low trammels spurn;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But, when we drop this fleshly clog, 'tis seen<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From dust we came, and back to dust return.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN341" id="NOTE_WHIN341"></a>341. L. N.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN342" id="WHIN342"></a>342.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If so it be that I did break the fast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Think not I meant it; no! I thought 'twas past;—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That day more weary than a sleepless night,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And blesséd breakfast-time had come at last!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN342" id="NOTE_WHIN342"></a>342. L. N. <i>Roza khwardan</i>, «to avoid fasting.» In line 2, for +<i>bekhabar</i> read <i>bakhabar</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN343" id="WHIN343"></a>343.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I never drank of joy's sweet cordial,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But grief's fell hand infused a drop of gall;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor dipped my bread in pleasure's piquant salt,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But briny sorrow made me smart withal!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN343" id="NOTE_WHIN343"></a>343. C. L. N. A. I. Line 4, literally, «eat a roast of my own liver.»</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">227</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN344" id="WHIN344"></a>344.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">At dawn to tavern haunts I wend my way,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And with distraught Kalendars pass the day;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O Thou! who know'st things secret, and things known,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Grant me Thy grace, that I may learn to pray!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN344" id="NOTE_WHIN344"></a>344. C. L. N. A. I. J. <i>Khafiyyat</i> means «manifest,» as well as «concealed.» +Lucknow commentator.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN345" id="WHIN345"></a>345.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The world's annoys I rate not at one grain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So I eat once a day I don't complain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, since earth's kitchen yields no solid food,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I pester no man with petitions vain.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN345" id="NOTE_WHIN345"></a>345. C. L. N. A. I. J. In line 3 the <i>Alif</i> in <i>az</i> is not treated as an +<i>Alif i wasl</i>. Bl., Pros. 10.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN346" id="WHIN346"></a>346.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Never from worldly toils have I been free,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Never for one short moment glad to be!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I served a long apprenticeship to fate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But yet of fortune gained no mastery.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN346" id="NOTE_WHIN346"></a>346. C. L. N. A. I. J. <i>Ek dam zadan</i>, «For one moment.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN347" id="WHIN347"></a>347.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">One hand with Koran, one with wine-cup dight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I half incline to wrong, and half to right;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The azure-marbled sky looks down on me<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A sorry Moslem, yet not heathen quite.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN347" id="NOTE_WHIN347"></a>347. C. L. N. A. I. J. Khayyam here describes himself as <i>akrates</i> +rather than <i>akolastos</i>, «<i>Video meliora proboque</i>,» etc.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">228</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN348" id="WHIN348"></a>348.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Khayyam's respects to Mustafa convey,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And with due reverence ask him to say,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why it has pleased him to forbid pure wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When he allows his people acid whey?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small">348 and 349. L. These two quatrains are also found in Whalley's +Morababad edition. <i>Mustafa</i>, <i>i.e.</i>, Muhammad. So Avicenna. +See Renan, Averroes, 171.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN349" id="WHIN349"></a>349.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Tell Khayyam, for a master of the schools,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He strangely misinterprets my plain rules:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where have I said that wine is wrong for all?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis lawful for the wise, but not for fools.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN350" id="WHIN350"></a>350.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My critics call me a philosopher,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But Allah knows full well they greatly err;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I know not even what I am, much less<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why on this earth I am a sojourner!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN350" id="NOTE_WHIN350"></a>350. C. L. A. I. J. Filsafat meant the Greek philosophy as cultivated +by Persian rationalists, in opposition to theology. +Renan, Averroes, p. 91.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN351" id="WHIN351"></a>351.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The more I die to self, I live the more,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The more abase myself, the higher soar;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, strange! the more I drink of Being's wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">More sane I grow and sober than before.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN351" id="NOTE_WHIN351"></a>351. L. Clearly Mystical.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">229</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN352" id="WHIN352"></a>352.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Quoth rose, «I am the Yusuf flower, I swear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For in my mouth rich golden gems I bear»:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I said, «Show me another proof.» Quoth she,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Behold this blood-stained vesture that I wear!»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN352" id="NOTE_WHIN352"></a>352. B. L. Yusuf is the type of manly beauty. The yellow stamens +are compared to his teeth. So Jami, in <i>Yusuf wa Zulaikha</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN353" id="WHIN353"></a>353.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I studied with the masters long ago,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And long ago did master all they know;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Here now the end and issue of it all,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From earth I came, and like the wind I go!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN353" id="NOTE_WHIN353"></a>353. L. B. Mr. Fitzgerald compares the dying exclamation of +Nizam ul-Mulk, «I am going in the hands of the wind!» +<i>Mantik ut Tair</i>, 1. 4620.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN354" id="WHIN354"></a>354.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Death finds us soiled, though we were pure at birth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With grief we go, although we came with mirth;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Watered with tears, and burned with fires of woe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, casting life to winds, we rest in earth!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN354" id="NOTE_WHIN354"></a>354. C. L. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN355" id="WHIN355"></a>355.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To find great Jamshid's world-reflecting bowl<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I compassed sea and land, and viewed the whole;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But, when I asked the wary sage, I learned<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That bowl was my own body, and my soul!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN355" id="NOTE_WHIN355"></a>355. L. King Jamshid's cup, which reflected the whole world, is +the Holy Grail of Persian poetry. Meaning «man is the +microcosm.» See note on No. 340. In line 2 scan <i>naghnudem</i>.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">230</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN356" id="WHIN356"></a>356.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Me, cruel Queen! you love to captivate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And from a knight to a poor pawn translate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You marshal all your force to tire me out,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You take my rooks with yours, and then checkmate!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN356" id="NOTE_WHIN356"></a>356. C. L. A. I. J. The pun on <i>rukh</i>, «cheek,» and <i>rukh</i>, «castle,» +is untranslatable.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN357" id="WHIN357"></a>357.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If Allah wills me not to will aright,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How can I frame my will to will aright?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Each single act I will must needs be wrong,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Since none but He has power to will aright.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN357" id="NOTE_WHIN357"></a>357. C. L. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN358" id="WHIN358"></a>358.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">«For once, while roses are in bloom,» I said,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«I'll break the law, and please myself instead,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With blooming youths, and maidens' tulip cheeks<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The plain shall blossom like a tulip-bed.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN358" id="NOTE_WHIN358"></a>358. L. N. <i>Rozi</i>, <i>ya i batni</i>, or <i>tankir</i> (?).</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN359" id="WHIN359"></a>359.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Think not I am existent of myself,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or walk this blood-stained pathway of myself;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This being is not I, it is of Him.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pray what, and where, and whence is this «myself»?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN359" id="NOTE_WHIN359"></a>359. C. L. A. I. J. In line 3 I omit <i>wa</i> after <i>Lu bud</i>. Meaning, +Man's real existence is not of himself, but of the «Truth,» +the universal <i>Noumenon</i>.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">231</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN360" id="WHIN360"></a>360.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Endure this world without my wine I cannot!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drag on life's load without my cups I cannot!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I am the slave of that sweet moment, when<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They say, «Take one more goblet,» and I cannot!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN360" id="NOTE_WHIN360"></a>360. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN361" id="WHIN361"></a>361.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">You, who both day and night the world pursue,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thoughts of that dread day of doom eschew,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bethink you of your latter end; be sure<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As time has treated others, so 'twill you!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN361" id="NOTE_WHIN361"></a>361. C. L. N. A. I.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN362" id="WHIN362"></a>362.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O man, who art creation's summary,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Getting and spending too much trouble thee!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Arise, and quaff the Etern Cupbearer's wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And so from troubles of both worlds be free!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN362" id="NOTE_WHIN362"></a>362. C. L. N. A. I. J. So Wordsworth, «The world is too much +with us,» etc. The Sufis rejected <i>talab ud dunya</i>, «worldliness,» +and <i>talab nl ukharat</i>, «other-worldliness,» for +<i>talab nl maula</i>, «disinterested godliness.» So Madame +Guyon taught «Holy Indifference.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN363" id="WHIN363"></a>363.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In this eternally revolving zone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Two lucky species of men are known;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One knows all good and ill that are on earth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One neither earth's affairs, nor yet his own.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN363" id="NOTE_WHIN363"></a>363. C. L. N. A. I. J. <i>Taman</i>, «entirely.» The two classes seem to +be practical men and mystics.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">232</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN364" id="WHIN364"></a>364.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Make light to me the world's oppressive weight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And hide my failings from the people's hate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And grant me peace to-day, and on the morrow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Deal with me as Thy mercy may dictate!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN364" id="NOTE_WHIN364"></a>364. C. L. N A. I. J. In line 4 scan <i>anchaz</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN365" id="WHIN365"></a>365.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Souls that are well informed of this world's state,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Its weal and woe with equal mind await:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For, be it weal we meet, or be it woe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The weal doth pass, and woe too hath its date.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN365" id="NOTE_WHIN365"></a>365. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. 'Twill all be one a hundred years hence.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN366" id="WHIN366"></a>366.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Lament not fortune's want of constancy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But up! and seize her favours ere they flee;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If fortune always cleaved to other men,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How could a turn of luck have come to thee?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN366" id="NOTE_WHIN366"></a>366. C. L. N. A. I. J. This was a saying of Kisra Parviz to his +Sultana. Bicknell's Hafiz, p. 73.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN367" id="WHIN367"></a>367.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Chief of old friends! hearken to what I say,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let not heaven's treacherous wheel your heart dismay;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But rest contented in your humble nook,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And watch the games that wheel is wont to play.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN367" id="NOTE_WHIN367"></a>367. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">233</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN368" id="WHIN368"></a>368.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Hear now Khayyam's advice, and bear in mind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Consort with revellers, though they be maligned,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cast down the gates of abstinence and prayer,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yea, drink, and even rob, but, oh! be kind!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN368" id="NOTE_WHIN368"></a>368. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. A rather violent extension of the doctrine, +Mercy is better than sacrifice.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN369" id="WHIN369"></a>369.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This world a body is, and God its soul,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And angels are its senses, who control<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Its limbs—the creatures, elements, and spheres;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The ONE is the sole basis of the whole.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN369" id="NOTE_WHIN369"></a>369. L. N. So Pope, «All are but parts,» etc.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN370" id="WHIN370"></a>370.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Last night that idol who enchants my heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With true desire to elevate my heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gave me his cup to drink; when I refused,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He said, «Oh, drink to gratify my heart!»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN370" id="NOTE_WHIN370"></a>370. N.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN371" id="WHIN371"></a>371.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Would'st thou have fortune bow her neck to thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Make it thy care to feed thy soul with glee;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And hold a creed like mine, which is to drain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The cup of wine, not that of misery.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN371" id="NOTE_WHIN371"></a>371. So the Ecclesiast, «There is nothing better for a man than that +he should eat, and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in +his labour.»</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">234</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN372" id="WHIN372"></a>372.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Though you survey O my enlightened friend,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This world of vanity from end to end,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You will discover there no other good<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Than wine and rosy cheeks, you may depend!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN372" id="NOTE_WHIN372"></a>372. N. Note <i>izafat</i> dropped after <i>sahib</i>. Bl., Prosody, p. 14.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN373" id="WHIN373"></a>373.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Last night upon the river bank we lay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I with my wine-cup, and a maiden gay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So bright it shone, like pearl within its shell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The watchman cried, «Behold the break of day!»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN373" id="NOTE_WHIN373"></a>373. N. <i>Nigare</i>. Here <i>ya</i> may be <i>ya i tankir</i>, the <i>izafat</i> being +dispensed with (Lumsden, ii. 269) [?], or perhaps <i>ya i +tausifi</i> before the «sifat» <i>marvzum</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN374" id="WHIN374"></a>374.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Have you no shame for all the sins you do,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sins of omission and commission too?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Suppose you gain the world, you can but leave it,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You cannot carry it away with you!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN374" id="NOTE_WHIN374"></a>374. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN375" id="WHIN375"></a>375.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In a lone waste I saw a debauchee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He had no home, no faith, no heresy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No God, no truth, no law, no certitude;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where in this world is man so bold as he?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN375" id="NOTE_WHIN375"></a>375. L. N. A <i>beshara'</i> or antinomian Sufi.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">235</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN376" id="WHIN376"></a>376.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Some look for truth in creeds, and forms, and rules;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Some grope for doubts or dogmas in the schools;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But from behind the veil a voice proclaims,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Your road lies neither here nor there, O fools.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN376" id="NOTE_WHIN376"></a>376. C. L. N. A. I. Truth, hidden from theologians and philosophers, +is revealed to mystics. See <i>Gulshan i Raz</i>, p. 11.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN377" id="WHIN377"></a>377.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In heaven is seen the bull we name Parwin,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beneath the earth another lurks unseen;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thus to wisdom's eyes mankind appear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A drove of asses, two great bulls between!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN377" id="NOTE_WHIN377"></a>377. L. N. The bulls are the constellation Taurus, and that which +supports the earth.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN378" id="WHIN378"></a>378.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The people say, «Why not drink somewhat less?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What reasons have you for such great excess?»<br /></span> +<span class="i0">First, my Love's face, second, my morning draught;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Can there be clearer reasons, now confess?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN378" id="NOTE_WHIN378"></a>378. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN379" id="WHIN379"></a>379.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Had I the power great Allah to advise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I'd bid him sweep away this earth and skies,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And build a better, where, unclogged and free,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The clear soul might achieve her high emprise.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN379" id="NOTE_WHIN379"></a>379. C. L. N. A. I. J. This recalls the celebrated speech of Alphonso +X., king of Castile.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">236</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN380" id="WHIN380"></a>380.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This silly sorrow-laden heart of mine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is ever pining for that Love of mine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When the Cupbearer poured the wine of love,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With my heart's blood he filled this cup of mine!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN380" id="NOTE_WHIN380"></a>380. C. L. N. A. I. Meaning, «the wine of life, or existence, poured +by the Deity into all beings at creation.» See <i>Gulshan i +Raz</i>, p. 80.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN381" id="WHIN381"></a>381.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To drain the cup, to hover round the fair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Can hypocritic arts with these compare?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If all who love and drink are going wrong,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There's many a wight of heaven may well despair!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN381" id="NOTE_WHIN381"></a>381. L. N. B.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN382" id="WHIN382"></a>382.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Tis wrong with gloomy thoughts your mirth to drown,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To let grief's millstone weigh your spirits down;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Since none can tell what is to be, 'tis best<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With wine and love your heart's desires to crown.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN382" id="NOTE_WHIN382"></a>382. C. L. N. A. B. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN383" id="WHIN383"></a>383.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Tis well in reputation to abide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis shameful against heaven to rail and chide;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Still, head had better ache with over drink,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Than be puffed up with Pharisaic pride!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN383" id="NOTE_WHIN383"></a>383. C. L. N. A. I. J. Compare «Tartufe,» i. 6.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">237</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN384" id="WHIN384"></a>384.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Lord! pity this prisoned heart, I pray,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pity this bosom stricken with dismay!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pardon these hands that ever grasp the cup,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">These feet that to the tavern ever stray!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN384" id="NOTE_WHIN384"></a>384. N.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN385" id="WHIN385"></a>385.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Lord! from self-conceit deliver me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sever from self, and occupy with Thee!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This self is captive to earth's good and ill,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Make me beside myself, and set me free!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN385" id="NOTE_WHIN385"></a>385. C. L. N. A. I. J. A Mystic's prayer.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN386" id="WHIN386"></a>386.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Behold the tricks this wheeling dome doth play,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And earth laid bare of old friends torn away!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O live this present moment, which is thine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Seek not a morrow, mourn not yesterday!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN386" id="NOTE_WHIN386"></a>386. L. B. An odd expression.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN387" id="WHIN387"></a>387.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Since all man's business in this world of woe<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is sorrow's pangs to feel, and grief to know,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Happy are they that never come at all,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And they that, having come, the soonest go!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN387" id="NOTE_WHIN387"></a>387. C. L. A. B. I. J. Compare the chorus in the «Œdipus Coloneus.»</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">238</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN388" id="WHIN388"></a>388.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">By reason's dictates it is right to live,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But of ourselves we know not how to live,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So Fortune, like a master, rod in hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Raps our pates well to teach us how to live!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN388" id="NOTE_WHIN388"></a>388. L. Fortune's buffets.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN389" id="WHIN389"></a>389.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Nor you nor I can read the etern decree,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To that enigma we can find no key;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They talk of you and me <i>behind</i> the veil,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But, if that veil be lifted, where are <i>we</i>?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN389" id="NOTE_WHIN389"></a>389. C. L. A. I. J. Meaning, We are part of the «veil» of phenomena, +which hides the Divine Noumenon. If that be swept +away what becomes of us?</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN390" id="WHIN390"></a>390.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Love, for ever doth heaven's wheel design<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To take away thy precious life, and mine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sit we upon this turf, 'twill not be long<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere turf shall grow upon my dust, and thine!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN390" id="NOTE_WHIN390"></a>390. L. N. B.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN391" id="WHIN391"></a>391.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When life has fled, and we rest in the tomb,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They'll place a pair of bricks to mark our tomb;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, a while after, mould our dust to bricks,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To furnish forth some other person's tomb!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN391" id="NOTE_WHIN391"></a>391. L. N. A. I.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">239</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN392" id="WHIN392"></a>392.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Yon palace, towering to the welkin blue,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where kings did bow them down, and homage do,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I saw a ringdove on its arches perched,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thus she made complaint, «Coo, Coo, Coo, Coo!»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN392" id="NOTE_WHIN392"></a>392. C. L. N. A. I. J. Mr. Binning found this quatrain inscribed +on the ruins of Persepolis—Fitzgerald. Coo (<i>Ku</i>) means +«Where are they?»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN393" id="WHIN393"></a>393.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We come and go, but for the gain, where is it?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And spin life's woof, but for the warp, where is it?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And many a righteous man has burned to dust<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In heaven's blue rondure, but their smoke, where is it?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN393" id="NOTE_WHIN393"></a>393. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. So Ecclesiastes, «There is no remembrance +of the wise, more than of the fool.» «Smoke,» <i>i.e.</i>, trace.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN394" id="WHIN394"></a>394.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Life's well-spring lurks within that lip of thine!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let not the cup's lip touch that lip of thine!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beshrew me, if I fail to drink his blood,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For who is he, to touch that lip of thine?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN394" id="NOTE_WHIN394"></a>394. C. L. N. A. I. J. To a sweetheart.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN395" id="WHIN395"></a>395.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Such as I am, Thy power created me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy care hath kept me for a century!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through all these years I make experiment,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If my sins or Thy mercy greater be.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN395" id="NOTE_WHIN395"></a>395. C. L. N. A. I. J. God's long-suffering.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">240</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN396" id="WHIN396"></a>396.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">«Take up thy cup and goblet, Love,» I said,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Haunt purling river bank, and grassy glade;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Full many a moon-like form has heaven's weel<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oft into cup, oft into goblet, made!»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN396" id="NOTE_WHIN396"></a>396. C. L. N. A. B. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN397" id="WHIN397"></a>397.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We buy new wine and old, our cups to fill,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And sell for two grains this world's good and ill;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Know you where you will go to after death?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Set wine before me, and go where you will!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN397" id="NOTE_WHIN397"></a>397. L. N. and J. give lines 1 and 2 differently.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN398" id="WHIN398"></a>398.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Was e'er man born who never went astray?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Did ever mortal pass a sinless day?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If I do ill, do not requite with ill!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Evil for evil how can'st Thou repay?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN398" id="NOTE_WHIN398"></a>398. L. N. Line 3 and 4 are paraphrased somewhat freely.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN399" id="WHIN399"></a>399.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Bring forth that ruby gem of Badakhshan,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That heart's delight, that balm of Turkistan;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They say 'tis wrong for Musulmen to drink,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But ah! where can we find a Musulman?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN399" id="NOTE_WHIN399"></a>399. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">241</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN400" id="WHIN400"></a>400.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My body's life and strength proceed from Thee!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My soul within and spirit are of Thee!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My being is of Thee, and Thou art mine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And I am Thine, since I am lost in Thee!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN400" id="NOTE_WHIN400"></a>400. L. «In him we live and move, and have our being.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN401" id="WHIN401"></a>401.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Man, like a ball, hither and thither goes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As fate's resistless bat directs the blows;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But He, who gives thee up to this rude sport,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He knows what drives thee, yea, He knows, He knows!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN401" id="NOTE_WHIN401"></a>401. C. L. A. I. J. Line 4 is in metre 22, consisting of ten syllables, +all long.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN402" id="WHIN402"></a>402.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Thou who givest sight to emmet's eyes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And strength to puny limbs of feeble flies,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To Thee we will ascribe Almighty power,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And not base, unbecoming qualities.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN402" id="NOTE_WHIN402"></a>402. L. An echo of the Asharian's discussions on the Divine attributes.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN403" id="WHIN403"></a>403.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Let not base avarice enslave thy mind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor vain ambition in its trammels bind;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Be sharp as fire, as running water swift,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not, like earth's dust, the sport of every wind!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN403" id="NOTE_WHIN403"></a>403. L. C. A. I. J.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">242</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN404" id="WHIN404"></a>404.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Tis best all other blessings to forego<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For wine, that charming Turki maids bestow;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Kalendars' raptures pass all things that are,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From moon on high down into fish below!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN404" id="NOTE_WHIN404"></a>404. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. For <i>mah</i> L. reads <i>hahk</i> probably a Sufi +gloss. Kalendars, bibulous Sufis. Fish, that whereon the +earth was said to rest.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN405" id="WHIN405"></a>405.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Friend! trouble not yourself about your lot,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let futile care and sorrow be forgot;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Since this life's vesture crumbles into dust,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What matters stain of word or deed, or blot?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN405" id="NOTE_WHIN405"></a>405. L. N.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN406" id="WHIN406"></a>406.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O thou who hast done ill, and ill alone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thinkest to find mercy at the throne,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hope not for mercy! for good left undone<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cannot be done, nor evil done undone!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN406" id="NOTE_WHIN406"></a>406. N. A. I. This quatrain is by Abu Sa'id Abu'l Khair; and is +an answer to No. 420, which is attributed to Avicenna.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN407" id="WHIN407"></a>407.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Count not to live beyond your sixtieth year,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To walk in jovial courses persevere;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And ere your skull be turned into a cup,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let wine-cups ever to your hand adhere!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN407" id="NOTE_WHIN407"></a>407. L. N. B.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">243</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN408" id="WHIN408"></a>408.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">These heavens resemble an inverted cup,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whereto the wise with awe keep gazing up;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So stoops the bottle o'er his love, the cup,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Feigning to kiss, and gives her blood to sup!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN408" id="NOTE_WHIN408"></a>408. C. L. N. A. B. I. Blood, an emblem of hate.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN409" id="WHIN409"></a>409.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I sweep the tavern threshold with my hair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For both world's good and ill I take no care;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Should the two worlds roll to my house, like balls,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When drunk, for one small coin I'd sell the pair!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN409" id="NOTE_WHIN409"></a>409. L. N. B.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN410" id="WHIN410"></a>410.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The drop wept for his severance from the sea,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But the sea smiled, for «I am all,» said he,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«The Truth is all, nothing exists beside,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That one point circling apes plurality.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN410" id="NOTE_WHIN410"></a>410. N. This is in Ramal metre, No. 50. Compare <i>Gulshan i Raz</i>, +line 710.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN411" id="WHIN411"></a>411.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Shall I still sigh for what I have not got,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or try with cheerfulness to bear my lot?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fill up my cup! I know not if the breath<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I now am drawing is my last, or not!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN411" id="NOTE_WHIN411"></a>411. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. Some MSS. place this quatrain under +<i>Radif ya</i>.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">244</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN412" id="WHIN412"></a>412.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Yield not to grief, though fortune prove unkind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor call sad thoughts of parted friends to mind;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Devote thy heart to sugary lips, and wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cast not thy precious life unto the wind!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN412" id="NOTE_WHIN412"></a>412. L. N. B.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN413" id="WHIN413"></a>413.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Of mosque and prayer and fast preach not to me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rather go drink, were it on charity!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yea, drink, Khayyam, your dust will soon be made<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A jug, or pitcher, or a cup, may be!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN413" id="NOTE_WHIN413"></a>413. N. «Imperial Cćsar, dead, and turned to clay +Might stop a hole to keep the wind away.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN414" id="WHIN414"></a>414.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Bulbuls, doting on roses, oft complain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How forward breezes rend their veils in twain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sit we beneath this rose, which many a time<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has sunk to earth, and sprung from earth again.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN414" id="NOTE_WHIN414"></a>414. L. N. B. So Moschus on the mallows.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN415" id="WHIN415"></a>415.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Suppose the world goes well with you, what then?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When life's last page is read and turned, what then?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Suppose you live a hundred years of bliss,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yea, and a hundred years besides, what then?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN415" id="NOTE_WHIN415"></a>415. C. L. N A. I. J. See Vullers, p. 100.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">245</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN416" id="WHIN416"></a>416.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How is it that of all the leafy tribe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cypress and lily men as «free» describe?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This has a dozen tongues, yet holds her peace,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That has a hundred hands which take no bribe.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN416" id="NOTE_WHIN416"></a>416. L. N. Sa'di in the <i>Gulistan</i>, Book viii., gives another explanation +of this expression. «Tongues, stamens, and hands, +branches.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN417" id="WHIN417"></a>417.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Cupbearer, bring my wine-cup, let me grasp it!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bring that delicious darling, let me grasp it!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That pleasing chain which tangles in its coils<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wise men and fools together, let me grasp it!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN417" id="NOTE_WHIN417"></a>417. L. N. <i>Bipechand</i> seems a plural of dignity.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN418" id="WHIN418"></a>418.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Alas! my wasted life has gone to wrack!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What with forbidden meats, and lusts, alack!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And leaving undone what 'twas right to do,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And doing wrong, my face is very black!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN418" id="NOTE_WHIN418"></a>418. C. L. N. A. I. These whimsical outbursts of self-reproach in the +midst of antinomian utterances are characteristic of Khayyam.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN419" id="WHIN419"></a>419.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I could repent of all, but of wine, never!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I could dispense with all, but with wine, never!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If so be I became a Musulman,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Could I abjure my Magian wine? no, never!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN419" id="NOTE_WHIN419"></a>419. L. N. The Magians sold wine.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">246</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN420" id="WHIN420"></a>420.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We rest our hopes on Thy free grace alone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor seek by merits for our sins to atone;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mercy drops where it lists, and estimates<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ill done as undone, good undone as done.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN420" id="NOTE_WHIN420"></a>420. L. N. A. I. This quatrain is also ascribed to the celebrated +philosopher Avicenna. See No. 406.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN421" id="WHIN421"></a>421.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This is the form Thou gavest me of old,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wherein Thou workest marvels manifold;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Can I aspire to be a better man,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or other than I issued from Thy mould?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN421" id="NOTE_WHIN421"></a>421. C. L. N. A. I. This is a variation of No. 221.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN422" id="WHIN422"></a>422.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Lord! to Thee all creatures worship pay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To Thee both small and great for ever pray,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou takest woe away, and givest weal,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Give then, or, if it please Thee, take away!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN422" id="NOTE_WHIN422"></a>422. L. Scan <i>bandagita</i>, omitting <i>fatha</i> before <i>te</i>. Vullers, p. 197.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN423" id="WHIN423"></a>423.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">With going to and fro in this sad vale<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou art grown double, and thy credit stale,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy nails are thickened like a horse's hoof,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy beard is ragged as an ass's tail.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN423" id="NOTE_WHIN423"></a>423. C. L. A. I. J. A description of old age.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">247</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN424" id="WHIN424"></a>424.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O unenlightened race of humankind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ye are a nothing, built on empty wind!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yea, a mere nothing, hovering in the abyss,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A void before you, and a void behind!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN424" id="NOTE_WHIN424"></a>424. C. L. A. I. J. The technical name for existence between two +non-existences is <i>Takwin</i>. Bl. <i>Ain i Akbari</i>, p. 198. +Compare the term «<i>nunc stans</i>,» applied to Time by the +Schoolmen.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN425" id="WHIN425"></a>425.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Each morn I say, «To-night I will repent<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of wine, and tavern haunts no more frequent»;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But while 'tis spring, and roses are in bloom,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To loose me from my promise, O consent!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN425" id="NOTE_WHIN425"></a>425. C. L. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN426" id="WHIN426"></a>426.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Vain study of philosophy eschew!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rather let tangled curls attract your view;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And shed the bottle's life-blood in your cup,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or e'er death shed your blood, and feast on you.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN426" id="NOTE_WHIN426"></a>426. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. <i>Bigorezi bi</i>, «better that you should eschew.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN427" id="WHIN427"></a>427.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O heart! can'st thou the darksome riddle read,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where wisest men have failed, wilt thou succeed?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Quaff wine, and make thy heaven here below,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who knows if heaven above will be thy meed?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN427" id="NOTE_WHIN427"></a>427. C. L. N. A. B. I. J.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">248</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN428" id="WHIN428"></a>428.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They that have passed away, and gone before,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sleep in delusion's dust for evermore;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Go, boy, and fetch some wine, this is the truth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their dogmas were but air, and wind their lore!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN428" id="NOTE_WHIN428"></a>428. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. So Ecclesiastes, «I gave my heart to +know wisdom ... and perceived that this also is +vanity.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN429" id="WHIN429"></a>429.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O heart! when on the Loved One's sweets you feed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You lose yourself, but find your Self indeed;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, when you drink of His entrancing cup,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You hasten your escape from quick and dead!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN429" id="NOTE_WHIN429"></a>429. C. L. N. A. I. J. Die to self, to live in God, your true self. +See Max Müller, Hibbert Lectures, p. 375.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN430" id="WHIN430"></a>430.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Though I am wont a wine-bibber to be,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why should the people rail and chide at me?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Would that all evil actions made men drunk,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For then no sober people should I see!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN430" id="NOTE_WHIN430"></a>430. C. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN431" id="WHIN431"></a>431.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Child of four elements and sevenfold heaven,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who fume and sweat because of these eleven,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drink! I have told you seventy times and seven,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Once gone, nor hell will send you back, nor heaven.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN431" id="NOTE_WHIN431"></a>431. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">249</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN432" id="WHIN432"></a>432.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">With many a snare Thou dost beset my way,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And threatenest, if I fall therein, to slay;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy rule resistless sways the world, yet Thou<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Imputest sin, when I do but obey!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN432" id="NOTE_WHIN432"></a>432. B. N. Allah is the <i>Fa'il i hakiki</i>, the only real agent, according +to the Sufi view, <i>Hukmi tu Kuni</i>, «Thou givest +thy order.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN433" id="WHIN433"></a>433.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To Thee, whose essence baffles human thought,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Our sins and righteous deeds alike seem naught,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">May Thy grace sober me, though drunk with sins,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And pardon all the ill that I have wrought!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN433" id="NOTE_WHIN433"></a>433. L. N.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN434" id="WHIN434"></a>434.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If this life were indeed an empty play,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Each day would be an <i>'lid</i> of festal day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And men might conquer all their hearts' desire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fearless of after penalties to pay!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN434" id="NOTE_WHIN434"></a>434. N. N takes <i>taklid</i> in the sense of «authority,» but I think it +alludes to Koran, xxix. 64. See <i>Gulshan i Raz</i>, p. 50.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN435" id="WHIN435"></a>435.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O wheel of heaven, you thwart my heart's desire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And rend to shreds my scanty joy's attire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The water that I drink you foul with earth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And turn the very air I breathe to fire!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN435" id="NOTE_WHIN435"></a>435. C. L. N. A. I.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">250</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN436" id="WHIN436"></a>436.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O soul! could you but doff this flesh and bone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You'd soar a sprite about the heavenly throne;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Had you no shame to leave your starry home,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And dwell an alien on this earthly zone?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN436" id="NOTE_WHIN436"></a>436. C. L. N. B. A. I.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN437" id="WHIN437"></a>437.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah, potter, stay thine hand' with ruthless art<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Put not to such base use man's mortal part!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">See, thou art mangling on thy cruel wheel<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Faridun's fingers, and Kai Khosrau's heart!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN437" id="NOTE_WHIN437"></a>437. C. L. N. A. I. Faridun and Kai Khosrau were ancient kings +of Persia. Kai Khosrau is usually identified with Cyrus.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN438" id="WHIN438"></a>438.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O rose! all beauties' charms thou dost excel,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As wine excels the pearl within its shell;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O fortune! thou dost ever show thyself<br /></span> +<span class="i0">More strange, although I seem to know thee well!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN438" id="NOTE_WHIN438"></a>438. N. <i>Mimani</i>, You resemble.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN439" id="WHIN439"></a>439.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">From this world's kitchen crave not to obtain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Those dainties, seeming real, but really vain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which greedy worldlings gorge to their own loss;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Renounce that loss, so loss shall prove thy gain!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN439" id="NOTE_WHIN439"></a>439. L. N. B.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">251</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN440" id="WHIN440"></a>440.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Plot not of nights, thy fellows' peace to blight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So that they cry to God the live-long night;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor plume thee on thy wealth and might, which thieves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">May steal by night, or death, or fortune's might.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN440" id="NOTE_WHIN440"></a>440. N. <i>Ta bar nikashand</i>, «Let us abstain from oppressing people, +so that they may not heave a sigh, saying, O Lord.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN441" id="WHIN441"></a>441.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This soul of mine was once Thy cherished bride,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What caused Thee to divorce her from Thy side?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou didst not use to treat her thus of yore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why then now doom her in the world to abide?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN441" id="NOTE_WHIN441"></a>441. L. N.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN442" id="WHIN442"></a>442.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah! would there were a place of rest from pain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which we, poor pilgrims, might at last attain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And after many thousand wintry years,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Renew our life, like flowers, and bloom again!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN442" id="NOTE_WHIN442"></a>442. C. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN443" id="WHIN443"></a>443.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">While in love's book I sought an augury;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">An ardent youth cried out in ecstasy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«Who owns a sweetheart beauteous as the moon,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Might wish his moments long as years to be!»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN443" id="NOTE_WHIN443"></a>443. C. L. N. A. I. Compare the «<i>sortes Virgilianć.</i>» Line 4 is +freely paraphrased.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">252</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN444" id="WHIN444"></a>444.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Winter is past, and spring-tide has begun,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Soon will the pages of life's book be done!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Well saith the sage, «Life is a poison rank,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And antidote, save grape-juice, there is none.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN444" id="NOTE_WHIN444"></a>444. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN445" id="WHIN445"></a>445.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Beloved, if thou a reverend Molla be,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Quit saintly show, and feigned austerity,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And quaff the wine that Murtaza purveys,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And sport with Houris 'neath some shady tree!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN445" id="NOTE_WHIN445"></a>445. N. Note the change from the imperative to the aorist. In line +4 scan <i>Murtazasha</i>. <i>Murtaza</i> (Ali) is the celestial cupbearer.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN446" id="WHIN446"></a>446.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Last night I dashed my cup against a stone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In a mad drunken freak, as I must own,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And lo! the cup cries out in agony,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«You too, like me, shall soon be overthrown.»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN446" id="NOTE_WHIN446"></a>446. C. L. N. A. B. I. <i>Saboyiy, ya i batni</i>, joined to the noun by +euphonic or conjunctive <i>ya</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN447" id="WHIN447"></a>447.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My heart is weary of hypocrisy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cupbearer, bring some wine, I beg of thee!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This hooded cowl and prayer-mat pawn for wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then will I boast me in security.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN447" id="NOTE_WHIN447"></a>447. N.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">253</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN448" id="WHIN448"></a>448.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Audit yourself, your truce account to frame,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">See! you go empty, as you empty came;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You say, «I will not drink and peril life,»<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But, drink or no, you must die all the same!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN448" id="NOTE_WHIN448"></a>448. C. L. N. A. I.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN449" id="WHIN449"></a>449.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Open the door! O entrance who procurest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And guide the way, O Thou of guides the surest!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Directors born of men shall not direct me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their counsel comes to naught, but Thou endurest!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN450" id="WHIN450"></a>450.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In slandering and reviling you persist,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Calling me infidel and atheist:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My errors I will not deny, but yet<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Does foul abuse become a moralist?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN450" id="NOTE_WHIN450"></a>450. C. L. N. A. I. In line 1 scan <i>goyi-yaz</i>, Bl., Prosody, p. 10. +The <i>tashdid</i> of <i>mukin</i> is dropped.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN451" id="WHIN451"></a>451.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To find a remedy, put up with pain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Chafe not at woe, and healing thou wilt gain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Though poor, be ever of a thankful mind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis the sure method riches to obtain.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN451" id="NOTE_WHIN451"></a>451. L. N. <i>Dawayiy</i>. The first <i>ya</i> is the conjunctive <i>ya</i> (Vullers, +p. 16), the second <i>ya i tankir</i>.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">254</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN452" id="WHIN452"></a>452.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Give me a skin of wine, a crust of bread<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A pittance bare, a book of verse to read;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With thee, O love, to share my lowly roof,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I would not take the Sultan's realm instead!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN452" id="NOTE_WHIN452"></a>452. N. B. <i>Tange</i>, the <i>izafat</i> is displaced by <i>ya i tankir</i>, according +to Lumsden, ii. 269.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN453" id="WHIN453"></a>453.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Reason not of the five, nor of the four,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Be their dark problems one, or many score;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We are but earth, go, minstrel, bring the lute,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We are but air, bring wine, I ask no more!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN453" id="NOTE_WHIN453"></a>453. N. C. L. A. I. J. give only the first line of this. Five senses, +four elements.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN454" id="WHIN454"></a>454.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Why argue on Yasin and on Barat?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Write me the draft for wine they call Barat!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The day my weariness is drowned in wine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Will seem to me as the great night Barat!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN454" id="NOTE_WHIN454"></a>454. C. L. N. A. I. J. <i>Yasin</i> is the 64th, and Barat the 9th, chapter +of the Koran. <i>Barat</i>, the «night of power.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN455" id="WHIN455"></a>455.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Whilst thou dost wear this fleshy livery,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Step not beyond the bounds of destiny;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bear up, though very Rustums be thy foes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And crave no boon from friends like Hatim Tai!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN455" id="NOTE_WHIN455"></a>455. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">255</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN456" id="WHIN456"></a>456.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">These ruby lips, and wine, and minstrel boys,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And lute, and harp, your dearly cherished toys,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are mere redundancies, and you are naught,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till you renounce the world's delusive joys.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN456" id="NOTE_WHIN456"></a>456. L. N. <i>Hashw</i>, mere «stuffing,» leather and prunella.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN457" id="WHIN457"></a>457.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Bow down, heaven's tyranny to undergo,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Quaff wine to face the world, and all its woe;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your origin and end are both in earth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But now you are <i>above</i> earth, not <i>below</i>!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN457" id="NOTE_WHIN457"></a>457. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN458" id="WHIN458"></a>458.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">You know all secrets of this earthly sphere,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why then remain a prey to empty fear?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You cannot bend things to your will, but yet<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cheer up for the few moments you are here!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN458" id="NOTE_WHIN458"></a>458. C. L. N. A. I. J. Scan <i>chim wakifiyay</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN459" id="WHIN459"></a>459.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Behold, where'er we turn our ravished eyes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sweet verdure springs, and crystal Kausars rise;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And plains, once bare as hell, now smile as heaven:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Enjoy this heaven with maids of Paradise!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN459" id="NOTE_WHIN459"></a>459. C. L. N. A. B. I. J.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">256</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN460" id="WHIN460"></a>460.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Never in this false world on friends rely<br /></span> +<span class="i0">(I give this counsel confidentially),<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Put up with pain, and seek no antidote,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Endure your grief, and ask no sympathy!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN460" id="NOTE_WHIN460"></a>460. N.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN461" id="WHIN461"></a>461.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Of wisdom's dictates two are principal,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Surpassing all your lore traditional;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Better to fast than eat of every meat,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Better to live alone than mate with all!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN461" id="NOTE_WHIN461"></a>461. N. <i>Hadis i na goyayiy.</i> The unwritten revelations, or traditions, +opposed to <i>Qur'an</i> (Koran), the «reading.» So <i>sruti</i> +is opposed to <i>smriti</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN462" id="WHIN462"></a>462.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Why unripe grapes are sharp, prithee explain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And then grow sweet, while wine is sharp again?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When one has carved a block into a lute,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Can he from that same block a pipe obtain?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN462" id="NOTE_WHIN462"></a>462. L. N.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN463" id="WHIN463"></a>463.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When dawn doth silver the dark firmament,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why shrills the bird of dawning his lament?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is to show in dawn's bright looking-glass<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How of thy careless life a night is spent.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN463" id="NOTE_WHIN463"></a>463. C. L. N. A. I. J. So Job, «Hast spread the sky as a molten +looking-glass.»</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">257</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN464" id="WHIN464"></a>464.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Cupbearer, come! from thy full-throated ewer<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pour blood-red wine, the world's despite to cure!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where can I find another friend like wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So genuine, so solacing, so pure?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN464" id="NOTE_WHIN464"></a>464. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN465" id="WHIN465"></a>465.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Though you should sit in sage Aristo's room,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or rival Cćsar on his throne of Rūm,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drain Jemshid's goblet, for your end's the tomb,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yea, were you Bahram's self, your end's the tomb!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN465" id="NOTE_WHIN465"></a>465. N. <i>Jamhur</i>, a name of Buzurjimihr, <i>Wazir</i> of Nushirwan. +<i>Faghfur</i>, the Chinese emperor.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN466" id="WHIN466"></a>466.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">It chanced into a potter's shop I strayed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He turned his wheel and deftly plied his trade,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And out of monarchs' heads, and beggars' feet,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fair heads and handles for his pitchers made!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN466" id="NOTE_WHIN466"></a>466. C. N. L. A. I. J. <i>Paya</i>, «the treadle.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN467" id="WHIN467"></a>467.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If you have sense, true senselessness attain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the Etern Cupbearer's goblet drain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If not, true senselessness is not for you,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not every fool true senselessness can gain!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN467" id="NOTE_WHIN467"></a>467. L. N. Meaning, the «truly Mystical darkness of ignorance.» +See <i>Gulshan i Raz</i>, p. 13.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">258</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN468" id="WHIN468"></a>468.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Love! before you pass death's portal through,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And potters make their jugs of me and you,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pour from this jug some wine, of headache void,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And fill your cup, and fill my goblet too!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN468" id="NOTE_WHIN468"></a>468. C. L. N. A. I. J. Headache, in allusion to the wine of Paradise, +Koran, lvi. 17.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN469" id="WHIN469"></a>469.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Love! while yet you can, with tender art,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lift sorrow's burden from your lover's heart;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your wealth of graces will not always last,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But slip from your possession, and depart!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN469" id="NOTE_WHIN469"></a>469. C. L. N. A. I. J. Some MSS. read <i>zinhar</i> for <i>zihar</i>, either +will scan.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN470" id="WHIN470"></a>470.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Bestir thee, ere death's cup for thee shall flow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And blows of ruthless fortune lay thee low;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Acquire some substance <i>here</i>, there is none <i>there</i>,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For those who thither empty-handed go!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN470" id="NOTE_WHIN470"></a>470. L. N. Line 2 is in metre 4. Meaning, «Work while it is day.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN471" id="WHIN471"></a>471.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Who framed the lots of quick and dead but Thou?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who turns the troublous wheel of heaven but Thou?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Though we are sinful slaves, is it for Thee<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To blame us? Who created us but Thou?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN471" id="NOTE_WHIN471"></a>471. L. N. A. I.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">259</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN472" id="WHIN472"></a>472.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O wine, most limpid, pure, and crystalline,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Would I could drench this silly frame of mine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With thee, that passers by might think 'twas thou,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And cry, «Whence comest thou, fair master wine?»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN472" id="NOTE_WHIN472"></a>472. L. N.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN473" id="WHIN473"></a>473.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A Shaikh beheld a harlot, and quoth he,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">«You seem a slave to drink and lechery»;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And she made answer, «What I seem I am,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But, Master, are you all you seem to be?»<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN473" id="NOTE_WHIN473"></a>473. L. N. The technical name of quatrains like this is <i>suwal o +jawab</i>, or <i>muraja'at</i>. Gladwin, Persian Rhetoric, p. 40.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN474" id="WHIN474"></a>474.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If, like a ball, earth to my house were borne,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When drunk, I'd rate it at a barley-corn;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Last night they offered me in pawn for wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But the rude vintner laughed that pledge to scorn.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN474" id="NOTE_WHIN474"></a>474. C. L. N. A. I. J. Note the <i>yas i tankir</i> in <i>Kuye</i>, <i>juye</i>, and +<i>giraye</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN475" id="WHIN475"></a>475.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Now in thick clouds Thy face Thou dost immerse,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And now display it in this universe;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou the spectator, Thou the spectacle,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sole to Thyself Thy glories dost rehearse.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN475" id="NOTE_WHIN475"></a>475. C. L. N. A. I. J. Compare the Vulgate, «<i>ludens in orbe terrarum</i>,» +and <i>Gulshan i Raz</i>, p. 14.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">260</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN476" id="WHIN476"></a>476.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Better to make one soul rejoice with glee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Than plant a desert with a colony;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rather one freeman bind with chains of love,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Than set a thousand prisoned captives free!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN476" id="NOTE_WHIN476"></a>476. L.N.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN477" id="WHIN477"></a>477.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O thou who for thy pleasure dost impart<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A pang of sorrow to thy fellow's heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Go! mourn thy perished wit, and peace of mind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thyself hast slain them, like the fool thou art!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN477" id="NOTE_WHIN477"></a>477. C. L. N A. I. J.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN478" id="WHIN478"></a>478.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Wherever you can get two maunds of wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Set to, and drink it like a libertine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whoso acts thus will set his spirit free<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From saintly airs like yours, and grief like mine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN478" id="NOTE_WHIN478"></a>478. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. <i>Chu mane</i>, «of one like me.» So in No. +170 (the note which is wrong). Vullers, p. 254. Literally, +«mustaches and beards.»</p> + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN479" id="WHIN479"></a>479.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">So long as I possess two maunds of wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bread of the flower of wheat, and mutton chine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And you, O Tulip cheek, to share my hut,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not every Sultan's lot can vie with mine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN479" id="NOTE_WHIN479"></a>479. C. L. N. A. B. I.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">261</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN480" id="WHIN480"></a>480.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They call you wicked, if to fame you're known,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And an intriguer, if you live alone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Trust me, though you were Khizr or Elias,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis best to know none, and of none be known.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN480" id="NOTE_WHIN480"></a>480. C. N. I.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN481" id="WHIN481"></a>481.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Yes! here am I with wine and feres again!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I did repent, but, ah! 'twas all in vain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Preach not to me of Noah and his flood,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But pour a flood of wine to drown my pain!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN481" id="NOTE_WHIN481"></a>481. C. L. N. A. I. J. <i>Tauba i Nassuh</i>, a repentance not to be repented +of. Nicolas. In line 2 note the <i>izafat</i> dropped +after silent <i>he</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN482" id="WHIN482"></a>482.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">For union with my love I sigh in vain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The pangs of absence I can scarce sustain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My grief I dare not tell to any friend;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O trouble strange, sweet passion, bitter pain!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN482" id="NOTE_WHIN482"></a>482. N. These quatrains are called <i>firakiya</i>, and are rare in Khayyam.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN483" id="WHIN483"></a>483.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Tis dawn! I hear the loud Muezzin's call,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And here am I before the vintner's hall;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This is no time of piety. Be still!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And drop your talk and airs devotional!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN483" id="NOTE_WHIN483"></a>483. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">262</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN484" id="WHIN484"></a>484.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Angel of joyful foot! the dawn is nigh;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pour wine, and lift your tuneful voice on high,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sing how Jemshids and Khosraus bit the dust,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whelmed by the rolling months, from Tir to Dai!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN484" id="NOTE_WHIN484"></a>484. C. L. N. A. I. <i>Tir</i> and <i>Dai</i>, April and December.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN485" id="WHIN485"></a>485.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Frown not at revellers, I beg of thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For all thou keepest righteous company;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But drink, for, drink or no, 'tis all the same,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If doomed to hell, no heaven thou'lt ever see.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN485" id="NOTE_WHIN485"></a>485. C. L. N. A. I. J. Koran, xvi. 38: «Some of them there were, +whom Allah guided, and there were others doomed to err.»</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN486" id="WHIN486"></a>486.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I wish that Allah would rebuild these skies,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And earth, and that at once, before my eyes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And either raze my name from off his roll,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or else relieve my dire necessities!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN486" id="NOTE_WHIN486"></a>486. N. This rather sins against Horace's canon, «<i>Nec Deus intersit</i>,» +etc.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN487" id="WHIN487"></a>487.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Lord! make thy bounty's cup for me to flow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And bread unbegged for day by day bestow;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yea, with thy wine make me beside myself.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No more to feel the headache of my woe!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN487" id="NOTE_WHIN487"></a>487. C. L. N. A. I. J.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">263</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN488" id="WHIN488"></a>488.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Omar! of burning heart, perchance to burn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In hell, and feed its bale-fires in thy turn,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Presume not to teach Allah clemency,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For who art thou to teach, or He to learn?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN488" id="NOTE_WHIN488"></a>488. C. L. N. A. I. J. The Persian preface states that, after his +death, Omar appeared to his mother in a dream, and repeated +this quatrain to her. For the last line I am indebted +to Mr. Fitzgerald.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN489" id="WHIN489"></a>489.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Cheer up! your lot was settled yesterday!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Heedless of all that you might do or say,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Without so much as «By your leave» they fixed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your lot for all the morrows yesterday!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN489" id="NOTE_WHIN489"></a>489. C. L. A. B. I. Predestination.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN490" id="WHIN490"></a>490.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I never would have come, had I been asked,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I would as lief not go, if I were asked,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, to be short, I would annihilate<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All coming, being, going, were I asked!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN490" id="NOTE_WHIN490"></a>490. C. L. N. (in part) A. B. I. J. So the Ecclesiast, «Therefore I +hated life,» etc.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN491" id="WHIN491"></a>491.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Man is a cup, his soul the wine therein,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Flesh is a pipe, spirit the voice within;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O Khayyam, have you fathomed what man is?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A magic lantern with a light therein!<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">264</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN492" id="WHIN492"></a>492.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O skyey wheel, all base men you supply<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With baths, mills, and canals that run not dry,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While good men have to pawn their goods for bread:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pray, who would give a fig for such a sky?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN492" id="NOTE_WHIN492"></a>492. B. L. In line 3 I read <i>nih and</i> for <i>nihand</i>, which will not +scan. Line 4 is slightly paraphrased.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN493" id="WHIN493"></a>493.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A potter at his work I chanced to see,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pounding some earth and shreds of pottery;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I looked with eyes of insight, and methought<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Twas Adam's dust with which he made so free!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN493" id="NOTE_WHIN493"></a>493. C. L. A. I. J. Note the arrangement of the prepositions <i>bar</i> +. . <i>bazer</i>. Bl., Prosody, xiii.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN494" id="WHIN494"></a>494.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Saki knows my <i>genus properly</i>,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To all woe's <i>species</i> he holds a key,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whene'er my <i>mood</i> is sad, he brings me wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And that makes all the <i>difference</i> to me!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN494" id="NOTE_WHIN494"></a>494. C. L. A. I. A play on terms of Logic.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN495" id="WHIN495"></a>495.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Dame Fortune! all your acts and deeds confess<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That you are foul oppression's votaress;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You cherish bad men, and annoy the good;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is this from dotage, or sheer foolishness?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN495" id="NOTE_WHIN495"></a>495. C. L. A. I. J. <i>Mu'takif</i>, a devotee.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">265</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN496" id="WHIN496"></a>496.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">You, who in carnal lusts your time employ,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wearing your precious spirit with annoy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Know that these things you set your heart upon<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sooner or later must the soul destroy!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN497" id="WHIN497"></a>497.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Hear from the spirit world this mystery:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Creation is summed up, O man, in thee;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Angel and demon, man and beast art thou,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yea, thou <i>art</i> all thou dost <i>appear</i> to be!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN497" id="NOTE_WHIN497"></a>497. L. Man, the microcosm. Line 2 is one syllable short.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN498" id="WHIN498"></a>498.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If popularity you would ensue,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Speak well of Moslem, Christian, and Jew;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So shall you be esteemed of great and small,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And none will venture to speak ill of you.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN498" id="NOTE_WHIN498"></a>498. L.</p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN499" id="WHIN499"></a>499.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O wheel of heaven, what have I done to you,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That you should thus annoy me? Tell me true;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To get a drink I have to cringe and stoop,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And for my bread you make me beg and sue.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN499" id="NOTE_WHIN499"></a>499. L. <i>Abruy</i>, «honour.»</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">266</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><a name="WHIN500" id="WHIN500"></a>500.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">No longer hug your grief and vain despair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But in this unjust world be just and fair;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And since the issue of the world is naught,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Think you are naught, and so shake off dull care!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="small"><a name="NOTE_WHIN500" id="NOTE_WHIN500"></a>500. L. B. In line 3 scan <i>nesatiyast</i>.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">267</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2 class="p6"><small>THE</small><br /> + +QUATRAINS OF OMAR KHAYYAM<br /> + +<small>TRANSLATED INTO PROSE FROM THE<br /> +FRENCH VERSION OF</small><br /> + +MONSIEUR J.B. NICOLAS</h2> +<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">269</a></span></p> + + + + +<h3 class="p6"><a name="THE_QUATRAINS_OF_KHAYYAM" id="THE_QUATRAINS_OF_KHAYYAM"></a>THE QUATRAINS OF KHAYYAM</h3> + + +<p>This grand old poet, who flourished in the 11th century +and who brought into Khorasan the delights of the +Court of the Seldjoukides, still, in our day, continues +to charm with the pleasures of the palace of the Kadjars +at Teheran. But the difficulty, on the one hand, of +translating a writer so essentially abstract in his philosophic +thought, so Mystically foreign in his figurative +expressions (too often presented in the form of a repulsive +materialism), and on the other, the embarrassment I could +foresee in the correcting of proofs at so great a distance +from Paris, and above all the feeling of my incapacity +for undertaking so great a work, always prevented my +publishing anything up to the present time.</p> + +<p>On my last journey to Paris, I met some friends eager +for something new in the way of Oriental literature, +among whom I am pleased to mention Madam Blanchecotte, +moralist and poet, known through her many witty +and impassioned publications. After having listened to +the brief quotations which I was able to cite to them +from the quatrains of the poet with whom we are now +occupied, they so strongly urged me to publish a complete +translation, and put so much emphasis on their demand +and so much kindness in their offers of service, that I +decided to conform to their desires in editing this work +to-day.</p> + +<p>I should, however, still have considered it beyond my +powers, without the co-operation of Hassan-Ali-Khan, +minister plenipotentiary from Persia at the Court of the +Tuileries, who put himself out to aid me with his profound +erudition and valuable advice.</p> + +<p>The history of Khayyam, bound to that of two persons +who played a great rôle in the annals of the country,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">270</a></span> +is, I believe, of sufficient interest to warrant my telling +it here as it has been transmitted to us by the Persian +historians.</p> + +<p>Khayyam, born in a village situated near Nishapur, +in Khorasan, went to complete his studies at the celebrated +<i>medresseh</i> of that city, towards the end of the year 1042 +of the Christian era. Accounts tell us that this college +had acquired at that time the reputation of producing +pupils of rare distinction, from among whom men of +talent and remarkable skill often sprung up and rapidly +attained to the highest positions in the empire.</p> + +<p>Abdul-Kassem and Hassan-Sebbah, fellow-students with +Khayyam, were the two comrades to whom he was especially +attached, notwithstanding a divergence of character +and opinion which would seem to indicate in him +another choice. One day Khayyam asked his two friends, +in a jesting manner, if a compact entered into among +them, and based upon absolute necessity, for that one of +the three whom Fortune most favored to come to the aid +of the other two, heaping benefits upon them, would appear +to them a childish thing. «No, no,» answered +they, «the idea is excellent and we will adopt it with all +eagerness.» Immediately the three friends clasped hands +and vowed that when the time came they would be +faithful to their agreement. This pact but stimulated +the emulation of the three young people. They applied +themselves to their studies with more ardor even than +was demanded of them, since in accordance with the +tradition of the college, the high places belong to those +who merit them.</p> + +<p>Khayyam, of a sweet and modest nature, was rather +given to the contemplation of divine things than to the +pleasures of worldly life. This tendency and the kind of +study he cultivated made of him a Mystic poet, a philosopher +at once skeptical and fatalistic, a Sufi—in a word, +what most Oriental poets are.</p> + +<p>Abdul-Kassem, on the contrary, ambitious and positive +in the full acceptation of the word, anxious to come into +power, applied himself principally to the study of the +history of his country, which presented to him numerous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">271</a></span> +examples of celebrated men who, by their merit +and courage, had come into the highest offices, and +where, besides, he found excellent lessons in all branches +of administration. He became an illustrious statesman. +As for Hassan-Sebbah, as ambitious as his fellow-student +Abdul-Kassem, but less skilful, and more violent than +he in the application of means, artful and jealous of the +superiority of his comrades, he followed somewhere nearly +the same studies, holding ever to the purpose of serving +himself by the ruin of all those who dared to oppose his +advancement in the career he had chosen. He also became +celebrated, as will be shown farther on in this +preface, through the cruelties he committed and the blood +he spilled.</p> + +<p>Their studies ended, the three friends left college and +separated to return to their own homes, where they remained +a certain length of time without renown. Abdul-Kassem, +however, was not long in making himself +advantageously known at the Court of Alp-Arslan, the +second king of the dynasty of the Seldjoukides, through +divers writings on the subject of administration, and +soon became the private secretary of that monarch, then +under-secretary of State, and finally Prime Minister.</p> + +<p>Alp-Arslan, in putting this skilful administrator at +the head of affairs in his empire, conferred upon him +the honorary title of Nizam-el-Moulk, «Regulator of the +Empire,» a title which, among the Persians, replaces +the name of the person to whom it is granted. The +historians of that time write in eulogy of this great +man and, attributing to his virtues and his ability the +success and prosperity of Alp-Arslan's reign, hold in +profound admiration the discernment of that monarch, +who knew how to attach to himself a minister endowed +with so much skill in directing the affairs of his vast +Principalities, which attained, under his administration, +the highest degree of glory of which the Persian annals +make mention.</p> + +<p>It was towards that epoch, where Nizam-el-Moulk (for +henceforth it is by this title that we shall designate +him) had arrived at the apogee of his power, that his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">272</a></span> +two friends came to recall to him the contract concluded +amongst them. «What do you demand of me?» +he said to them.</p> + +<p>«I only ask,» responded Khayyam, «that I may enjoy +the revenues of my native village. I am a Sufi +and not ambitious; if you accede to my request, I +could, under my paternal roof, far from the inseparable +fetters of the things of this world, cultivate poesy, +which delights my soul, and peaceably contemplate the +works of the Creator, which is acceptable to my mind.»</p> + +<p>«As for me,» said Hassan-Sebbah, «I ask a place at +Court.»</p> + +<p>The minister granted everything: the young poet returned +to his village, of which he became chief, and +Hassan-Sebbah took his place at Court, where, crafty +courtier that he was, he was not long in getting into +the good graces of the monarch. But, although he had +already acquired the highest distinction possible, thanks +to the effective aid of Nizam-el-Moulk, his envious and +zealous mind could not accommodate itself to the kind +of submission in which he found himself, face to face +with his benefactor. He immediately went to work to +overturn and supplant him.</p> + +<p>To this end, he commenced to insinuate to Alp-Arslan +that the royal finances were not in good state, the minister +having neglected the collecting of taxes, and not having +rendered an account upon this important subject for +three years. The Prince gave ear to these treacherous +criticisms, and immediately Nizam-el-Moulk was sent +for to Court, where Alp-Arslan asked him, in presence +of all the great dignitaries, called together for this purpose, +for a complete account of uncollected taxes and +a definite statement of all finances of State. Nizam-el-Moulk +excused himself as best he could for the delay +of which his Majesty complained, on the ground of certain +circumstances beyond his control, and promised to occupy +himself seriously with the question, with the aim of being +able to present a complete accounting in six months' time. +The Prince appeared satisfied and allowed the minister +to retire. But he had scarcely passed the sill of the palace<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">273</a></span> +door when Hassan-Sebbah, approaching the King remarked +that if anything were needed to prove the +incapacity of the minister in a matter of this kind, it +was to be found precisely in the extraordinary delay that +he asked for putting the finances of the Empire in order. +This observation struck the Prince, who asked the courtier +making it if he wished to take charge of this work, and if +he would engage to have it finished in a shorter space +of time. Upon the affirmative response of the artful +Hassan, who only asked for forty days for the accomplishment +of the task, an order was given to Nizam-el-Moulk +to put the archives of the finances immediately at his +disposition, the <i>moustofis</i> (writings of the Chief Justice) +and all the details of the management. Hassan, delighted +at finding himself so suddenly at the head of +the most important branch of the administration, already +considered the complete ruin of Nizam-el-Moulk as assured. +The latter, on his side, perceived, but a little too +late, the imprudence he had been guilty of in placing +in so high a position a man whom he ought to have +known, and concerning whom he should have been on +his guard. However, he did not despair of frustrating, +scheme against scheme, the well-advanced projects of +his ambitious antagonist. Knowing by experience how +corruptible the men of his time were, and recognizing, +too, the proverbial greediness and weakness of character +of the confidant of Hassan-Sebbah to whom the latter believed +it possible to trust the work that he had undertaken +upon the order of Alp-Arslan, he did not hesitate to +furnish to one of his favorites, upon whose faithfulness +he knew he could count, sums large enough to be irresistible +in the carrying out of the plan which he had conceived.</p> + +<p>The favorite of the minister, a safe man, accustomed to +this kind of service, so skilfully used this money that he +was not long in winning the good graces of Hassan's +weak and interested confidant, and was thus able to furnish +to his master all the information which he awaited +with impatience, and of which he could make good use +when the right moment was come. That moment was the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">274</a></span> +expiration of the forty days which Hassan-Sebbah had +demanded.</p> + +<p>On the appointed day all was ready, and Hassan seemed +to triumph; but Nizam-el-Moulk had on that very day +when the voluminous record which his adversary had prepared +was to be put before the King in official audience, +given his favorite some final instructions which should +throw Hassan into confusion. This faithful and adroit +servitor went to find the confidant, whose confidence he +had gained by means of gifts, and begged him to show +him the wonderful statement which Nizam-el-Moulk had +declared could not be finished in less than six months, +and his master had had the skill to complete in forty +days. Hassan's confidant was occupied at this moment, +and besides, suspected nothing; he turned over to his +friend the <i>defter</i>—the bundle of detached leaflets which +formed the record. He, putting to good use the distraction +of the confidant, detached the <i>defter</i> and, in the +twinkling of an eye, confounded the order of the leaves, +as his master had recommended to him. Then, placing +the <i>defter</i> on the carpet, he launched forth into pompous +eulogy upon the skill of Hassan-Sebbah and of his worthy +acolyte who had so actively participated in this eminent +work. Some hours afterward Alp-Arslan received in +grand audience his ministers and officers of the Empire, +to assist at the solemn presentation of the financial accounting +of Hassan-Sebbah.</p> + +<p>Nizam-el-Moulk humbly kept himself in one corner of +the audience hall, awaiting the result of his stratagem. +Upon the signal of Alp-Arslan, Hassan-Sebbah deposited +at the monarch's feet a <i>fhrist</i>, a little book (an index), +by means of which the Prince could call, in the order of +the provinces, for the leaflets contained in the <i>defter</i>, +which Hassan-Sebbah took from the hands of his trusted +helper. At the first call, Hassan sought in vain the desired +leaflet. He was haunted by treachery and was +troubled; the rumor that this incident provoked in the +hall, the presence of the King who was irritated at finding +such disorder in a compilation of this importance, +added to Hassan's confusion, and he was immediately<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">275</a></span> +forced to retire, after a severe reprimand on the part of +Alp-Arslan. Nizam-el-Moulk was avenged; he respectfully +approached the King and made the observation to +him that it was hardly to be expected that there would +be much regularity in so serious a work, done in such +haste by incapable people.</p> + +<p>After this check, Hassan never again appeared at Court. +History tells us that he went on a voyage to Syria, where +he adopted the dogmas of the Ishmaelite sect, dogmas +that he resolved to import into Persia, adding to them +other novelties more in accordance with the opinions of +the Sufis, then very numerous in the kingdom, with the +aim of forming an army and becoming thus a terror +to his enemies. He did, in fact, return to Persia, but +concealed himself carefully, in order to escape the notice +of Nizam-el-Moulk, whose sentiments towards him he +suspected. He went back to his native city, Rhei, after +having lived for some time at Ispahan, where, emboldened +by the facility with which he made new recruits and +aided by his neophytes, he formed no less a project than +that of making the sovereign himself tremble on his +throne. At Rhei he drew around him some malcontents, +who did not hesitate to adopt the dogmas that he taught +them, and who declared themselves ready to second him +in his designs. He then resolved to go, with a limited +number of his disciples, and fortify himself in the mountain +of Alamout, near the city of Kazbin, where he commenced +to make raids on the surrounding country, by +means of which he provided for the needs of the moment +and prepared an equipment for his little troop, which +soon began to be formidable.</p> + +<p>It was about this time that Alp-Arslan died, leaving +his vast estates to his son, Malek-Chah, whom he strongly +recommended to confide the administration to Nizam-el-Moulk, +his faithful and pious minister. But this minister +did not long enjoy these new favors. Malek-Chah, having +had the weakness to lend his ear to the calumnious reports +of his enemies, took away from him his turban and his +inkstand, insignia of the high functions which he had +so nobly fulfilled. This disgrace, facilitating a particular<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">276</a></span> +vengeance, caused the death of the great statesman. +They found him one morning, stretched out under his +tent in the royal camp, assassinated by a satellite of +Hassan-Sebbah. Before he expired, according to the story +of the chronicle, he had time to write a piece of verse +to Malek-Chah, in which he recommended to his benevolence +his twelve sons, to whom, he said, he bequeathed +his old and loyal services.</p> + +<p>Hassan-Sebbah did not the less continue his bloody +excursions, respecting neither rank nor sex, cutting the +throats of all that came under his hand, without pity. +Malek-Chah, frightened, was obliged to send troops to +put an end to these expeditions, which made trouble and +confusion in the whole extent of the Empire. But +Hassan's followers increased daily, and soon this chief +saw himself strong enough to repulse the royal troops +in a vigorous attack, and compel them to beat a retreat. +After this success, Hassan put no limit to his exploits, +and acquired such renown that nothing appeared to be +able to resist him.</p> + +<p>The death of Malek-Chah took place unexpectedly soon +after that of Nizam-el-Moulk, and Hassan, hastening to +profit by some experiments of the celebrated Sultan +Sandjar, Malek-Chah's successor, there were incessant wars +in the different branches of the House of Seldjoukides, +wars which prolonged themselves until the death of +Tougroul III., or from forty to forty-five years. Sultan +Sandjar, rightly disturbed at the progress of Hassan's +invasion, resolved to entirely destroy a band of brigands +in his territory, whose depredations and murders had +spread terror in all the provinces. To this end, he re-organized +an army with which he marched in person +against the aggressors; but, arrived at a certain distance +from Mount Alamout, he saw one morning, upon waking, +a dagger sunk in the earth near the bolster of his bed, +whose blade pierced a note addressed to him, where he +read, with fright, these words:</p> + +<blockquote><p>«O Sandjar! know that if I had not wished to respect your days, +the hand which sunk this dagger in the earth could as well have +sunk it in your heart.»</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">277</a></span></p> + +<p>It is said that the Sultan was so overcome by the +reading of this note, which revealed to him the marvellous +power of Hassan-Sebbah over his trusty followers, +that he relinquished for the time being his plan of attack.</p> + +<p>But let us return to Khayyam, who, remaining a +stranger to all these alternatives of wars, intrigues, and +revolts with which this epoch was so filled, lived tranquilly +in his native village, giving himself up to a +passionate study of the philosophy of the Sufis. Surrounded +by numerous friends he sought with them, in +study and entertainment, that ecstatic contemplation which +others believe that they find in uttering cries and screams +until the voice is gone, as the crying dervishes do; +or in the circular movements that are practiced with +frenzy until vertigo ensues, as by the whirling dervishes; +or finally, in the atrocious tortures which the +Hindoos inflict upon themselves, until they lose consciousness. +The Persian historians state that Khayyam loved +especially to converse and drink with his friends, in the +moonlight on a terrace before his house, seated upon a +carpet, surrounded by singers and musicians, with a cup-bearer, +who, cup in hand, presented it in turn to the +joyous guests. We believe we cannot better terminate +this rapid biographical and historic sketch than in adding +to the life and works of our poet two very characteristic +quotations.</p> + +<p>During one of these evenings of which we are speaking, +there suddenly came a gust of wind which extinguished +the candles and overturned the pitcher of wine that was +imprudently placed too near the edge of the terrace. The +pitcher was broken and the wine spilled. Immediately +Khayyam, irritated, improvised this impious quatrain, addressed +to the All-Powerful:</p> + +<p>«Thou hast broken my pitcher of wine, my God! +Thus hast Thou shut upon me the gate of joy, O Lord! +It is I who drink, and it is Thou who committest the +disorder of drunkenness! Oh! (would that my mouth were +filled with earth!) couldst Thou be drunk, my Lord?»</p> + +<p>The poet, after having pronounced this, casting his +eyes upon a mirror, perceived that his face was black as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">278</a></span> +coal. It was a punishment from heaven. Then he made +this other quatrain, not less audacious than the first, and +which expresses in an absolute manner, the repulsion of +the poet for the doctrine of future punishment written in +the Koran, and preached so ardently by the mullahs. +The Sufis consider this doctrine not only in direct opposition +to their own, but as unworthy the pity and clemency +of the Divinity. Here is the quatrain:</p> + +<p>«What man here below has not sinned, can you say? +And how could he have lived, had he not committed sin, +can you tell? So, if I do wrong and you punish me +wrongly, what is the difference which exists between +you and me, I ask?»</p> + +<p>But let us come to the complete thought of the poet +which deduces itself so energetically and with so much +unity through the fantasy or the mysticism of his quatrains.</p> + +<p class="right"> +J.B. Nicolas. +</p> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—The Translator being unfortunately familiar with at least +seven translations and paraphrases of Omar, has found it by no +means easy to expunge from memory the various renderings of the +text. This «sponging out» was necessary in order that a faithful +presentation of Nicolas' version of Omar should be made. With +this comment, he leaves the translation to be judged on its possible +merit, adding only this—that, declining metre (Fitzgerald's own +domain), he has sought to clothe the prose in verbal sonance which +should not disguise or mar the inherent music of the Omarian brook. +Fidelity to the text, however, has been the first consideration.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="right"> +R.A. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">279</a></span></p> + + +<h2 class="p6"><a name="THE_QUATRAINS_OF_OMAR_KHAYYAM" id="THE_QUATRAINS_OF_OMAR_KHAYYAM"></a>THE QUATRAINS OF OMAR KHAYYAM</h2> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC1" id="NIC1"></a>1.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">One morning, coming from the tavern I heard a voice<br /></span> +<span class="i0">which said: Come, joyous drinkers, youthful fools, arise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and fill with me a cup of wine, ere Fate shall come to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">fill the cup of our existence.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC2" id="NIC2"></a>2.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Thou who in the universe art the object chosen<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of my heart! Thou who art more dear than the soul<br /></span> +<span class="i0">which gives me life, than the eyes which give me light!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O Idol, though in life there be no thing more precious<br /></span> +<span class="i0">than this life, Thou art indeed a hundred times more<br /></span> +<span class="i0">precious than that life.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC3" id="NIC3"></a>3.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Who led thee here this night, thus given up to wine?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who, indeed, raising the veil which hid thee, has been<br /></span> +<span class="i0">able to lead thee here? Who, finally, brought thee as<br /></span> +<span class="i0">rapidly as the wind which fans the fire that still burned<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in thy absence?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC4" id="NIC4"></a>4.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We meet but chagrin and misfortune in this world,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">which serves us as a tent for the time. Alas! No problem<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of creation has been solved for us, and behold! we<br /></span> +<span class="i0">leave it with hearts full of regret at knowing naught<br /></span> +<span class="i0">about it.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">280</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC5" id="NIC5"></a>5.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Khadja, give us lawfully a single one of our desires;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">reserve thy breath and lead us into the way of God.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Surely we walk aright, it is thou that seest crosswise;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">heal, then, thine eyes and leave us here in peace.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC6" id="NIC6"></a>6.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Come, come, arise, and, for the healing of my heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">one problem solve for me: yet quickly bring me a pitcher<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of wine, and let us drink before they make pitchers out<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of our own dust.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC7" id="NIC7"></a>7.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When I am dead, wash me with the juice of the vine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in place of prayer, sing above my tomb the praise of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the cup and the wine, and, if you would find me again<br /></span> +<span class="i0">at the day of doom, seek me in the dust of the tavern<br /></span> +<span class="i0">floor.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC8" id="NIC8"></a>8.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Since no one has ever been able to answer thee from<br /></span> +<span class="i0">one day to the next, hasten to glad thy heart filled with<br /></span> +<span class="i0">sadness. Drink, O adorable Moon! drink from thy silver<br /></span> +<span class="i0">cup, for long shalt thou turn in the firmament without<br /></span> +<span class="i0">finding us here again.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">281</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC9" id="NIC9"></a>9.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Would that the lover [the true believer] were intoxicated<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the whole year, mad, absorbed with wine, covered<br /></span> +<span class="i0">with dishonor! For, when we have sound reason, chagrin<br /></span> +<span class="i0">assails us on all sides; but when we are in wine, well,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">let come what will!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC10" id="NIC10"></a>10.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In Heaven's name! with what hope does the sage attach<br /></span> +<span class="i0">his heart to the illusory treasures of this palace of misfortune?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh! that the One who gave me the name of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">drunkard would recant his error, for how can he see the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">tavern's sign from his exalted abode.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC11" id="NIC11"></a>11.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Koran, which is but a name for The Sublime<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Word, is, however, read only from time to time and not<br /></span> +<span class="i0">with constancy; while ever on the brim of the cup<br /></span> +<span class="i0">is found a verse full of light which one can read always<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and everywhere.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC12" id="NIC12"></a>12.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Thou that drinkest not wine shouldst not for this reason<br /></span> +<span class="i0">blame the drunkard, for I am ready to renounce God,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">myself, should He order me to renounce wine. Thou<br /></span> +<span class="i0">glorifiest thyself for not drinking wine, but such glory<br /></span> +<span class="i0">but ill befits those who commit acts a hundredfold more<br /></span> +<span class="i0">reprehensible than drunkenness.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">282</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC13" id="NIC13"></a>13.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Though my body be beautiful, and the perfume it exhales<br /></span> +<span class="i0">agreeable, though the color of my face rival that<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of the tulip, and my figure be supple as the cypress,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">it has not been demonstrated why my celestial author<br /></span> +<span class="i0">placed me upon this earth.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC14" id="NIC14"></a>14.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I would drink so much wine that the odor should come<br /></span> +<span class="i0">out of the earth when I have been returned to it, and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that drinkers who wish to visit my tomb may fall<br /></span> +<span class="i0">senseless from the sole effect of this odor.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC15" id="NIC15"></a>15.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In the region of hope, form as many friends as you<br /></span> +<span class="i0">can; in the time of existence, bind yourself to a perfect<br /></span> +<span class="i0">friend, for, know well that a hundred Kaabas, made<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of earth and water, are not worth one heart. Leave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">then, thy Kaabas and rather seek a heart.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC16" id="NIC16"></a>16.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When I take in my hand a cup of wine and, in the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">joy of my soul, become intoxicate, then, in that state of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">fire which devours me, I see a hundred miracles grow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">real, and words, clear as the most limpid water, come to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">explain the mystery of all things.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">283</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC17" id="NIC17"></a>17.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Since the duration of a day is only two stages, make<br /></span> +<span class="i0">haste to drink wine, the limpid wine; for know well<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that you near the end of your vanishing existence. And,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">since you know that this world drags all to decay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">be wise, and, also, day and night be drenched in wine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC18" id="NIC18"></a>18.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We who give ourselves up to the will of wine offer<br /></span> +<span class="i0">with joy our souls in holocaust to the laughing lips of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the juice divine. Oh! rapturous sight! Our cup-bearer<br /></span> +<span class="i0">holds in one hand the neck of the flask and in the other<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the cup overflowing, as if inviting us to receive the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">purest of the blood!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC19" id="NIC19"></a>19.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Yes, we, seated in the midst of this treasure in ruins,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">surrounded by wine and dancers, have put in pawn [in<br /></span> +<span class="i0">order to procure them] all that we possess: soul, heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">goods—everything but the cup. We are thus freed from<br /></span> +<span class="i0">hope of pardon and fear of punishment. We are beyond<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the air, the earth, and fire and water.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC20" id="NIC20"></a>20.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The distance which separates incredulity from faith is<br /></span> +<span class="i0">but a breath,—that which separates doubt from certainty<br /></span> +<span class="i0">is equally but a breath. Let us, then, pass this precious<br /></span> +<span class="i0">space of a breath gaily, for our life also is only separated<br /></span> +<span class="i0">[from death] by the space of a breath.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">284</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC21" id="NIC21"></a>21.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Wheel of Destiny! destruction comes of thy implacable<br /></span> +<span class="i0">hate. Tyranny for thee is an act of predilection<br /></span> +<span class="i0">which thou hast committed from the commencement of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">centuries; and thou, also, O Earth, if one search in thy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">bosom, what inappreciable treasures will he not find there!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC22" id="NIC22"></a>22.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My turn of existence has slipped around in a few days.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It has passed as passes the wind over the desert. Then,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">while remains to me a breath of life, two days shall<br /></span> +<span class="i0">be for which I never need be troubled, the day which<br /></span> +<span class="i0">has not come and that which now has passed.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC23" id="NIC23"></a>23.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This priceless ruby comes from a mine of its own, this<br /></span> +<span class="i0">rare pearl is pregnant with a character its own; our<br /></span> +<span class="i0">different dogmas on this matter are erroneous, since the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">enigma of perfect love is explained in a language of its<br /></span> +<span class="i0">own [and that is not conveyed to us].<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC24" id="NIC24"></a>24.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Since to-day is my turn for youth, I intend to pass it<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in drinking wine, for that is my pleasure. Begin not to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">talk of its bitterness, to speak ill of this delicious juice,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">for it is agreeable, and is only bitter because it enforces<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the bitterness of my life.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">285</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC25" id="NIC25"></a>25.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O my poor heart! Since thy lot is to be bruised to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">death by chagrin, since nature wills that thou be wounded<br /></span> +<span class="i0">each day with some new torment, tell me, O my soul,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">why stay you in my body, since you must finally leave<br /></span> +<span class="i0">it some day?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC26" id="NIC26"></a>26.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Thou canst not count to-day on seeing the day after<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to-morrow; even to think of this to-morrow would be the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">part of folly; if thy heart is awakened, lose not in inaction<br /></span> +<span class="i0">this instant of life [which remains to thee] and for<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the duration of which I see no warranty.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC27" id="NIC27"></a>27.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">It is not necessary to knock at every door unless there<br /></span> +<span class="i0">be a reason for it. It is better to accommodate oneself<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to the good and the bad here below, for hereafter we<br /></span> +<span class="i0">can only enjoy the number of moves which destiny presents<br /></span> +<span class="i0">upon the chessboard of this terrestrial ball.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC28" id="NIC28"></a>28.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This jug [earthen vessel] has been, like me, a loving<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and unhappy creature; it has sighed for a lock of some<br /></span> +<span class="i0">young beauty's hair; this handle that you see attached to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">its neck was an amorous arm passed about the neck of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">some girl.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">286</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC29" id="NIC29"></a>29.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Before your time or mine, there were many twilights,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">many dawns, and it is not without reason that the movement<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of rotation is enforced upon the heavens. Be careful<br /></span> +<span class="i0">as you place your foot upon this dust, for it has,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">without doubt, formed the eyes of someone young and fair.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC30" id="NIC30"></a>30.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The temple of idols and the Kaaba are places of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">adoration; the chime of the bells is but a hymn chanted to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the praise of the All-Powerful. The <i>mehrab</i> [Mohammedan<br /></span> +<span class="i0">pulpit], the church, the chapel, the cross are, in truth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">but different stations for rendering homage to the Deity.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC31" id="NIC31"></a>31.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Existing things were already predestined upon the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">tablet of creation. The brush [of the universe] did not<br /></span> +<span class="i0">paint good and bad. With destiny God imprinted whatever<br /></span> +<span class="i0">should be so imprinted, and the efforts that we<br /></span> +<span class="i0">make in these directions are wholly lost.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC32" id="NIC32"></a>32.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I can but vaguely tell my secret to the bad or to the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">good. I cannot elaborate or explain my thought, which<br /></span> +<span class="i0">is essentially brief. I see a place of which I can only<br /></span> +<span class="i0">trace a description; I possess a secret which I cannot unveil.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">287</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC33" id="NIC33"></a>33.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">False money is not current among us. The broom has<br /></span> +<span class="i0">rid our joyous dwelling of it completely. An old man,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">returning from the tavern, said to me: Drink wine, my<br /></span> +<span class="i0">friend, for other lives shall follow yours in your long<br /></span> +<span class="i0">sleep.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC34" id="NIC34"></a>34.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In the face of the decrees of Providence, nothing avails<br /></span> +<span class="i0">but resignation. Among men nothing avails but seeming<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and hypocrisy. I have employed every ruse, the strongest<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that the human mind can invent, but destiny has always<br /></span> +<span class="i0">overturned my projects.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC35" id="NIC35"></a>35.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If a stranger shows you fidelity, consider him as a kinsman;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">but if a kinsman endeavors to betray you, regard<br /></span> +<span class="i0">him as an enemy. If poison cures you, consider it an<br /></span> +<span class="i0">antidote, and if the antidote does not agree with you,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">regard it as a poison.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC36" id="NIC36"></a>36.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Except Thy absence there is nothing of worth that can<br /></span> +<span class="i0">bruise to the quick; he cannot be acute who is not taken<br /></span> +<span class="i0">with Thy subtle charms, and, although there exist in<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy mind no care for any one, there is none who may<br /></span> +<span class="i0">not be preoccupied with Thee.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">288</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC37" id="NIC37"></a>37.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">As long as I am not drunk, my happiness is incomplete.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When I am overcome with wine, ignorance replaces<br /></span> +<span class="i0">my reason. But there exists an intermediary state<br /></span> +<span class="i0">between drunkenness and sound reason. Oh! with what<br /></span> +<span class="i0">happiness do I enslave myself to such a state, since in it<br /></span> +<span class="i0">there is life!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC38" id="NIC38"></a>38.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Who will believe that He who fashioned the cup could<br /></span> +<span class="i0">think of destroying it? All these beautiful heads, all<br /></span> +<span class="i0">these beautiful arms, all these dainty hands, are by what<br /></span> +<span class="i0">love created and by what hate destroyed?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC39" id="NIC39"></a>39.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">It is the effect of thy ignorance which makes thee fear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">death and abhor annihilation, for it is evident that from<br /></span> +<span class="i0">this annihilation shoots up a branch of immortality.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Since my soul has been revived by the breath of Jesus,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">eternal death has fled far from me.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC40" id="NIC40"></a>40.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Imitate the tulip which flowers at New-year's; take, like<br /></span> +<span class="i0">her, a cup in thy hand and, if the occasion presents itself,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">drink, drink of wine in happiness with some fair girl<br /></span> +<span class="i0">whose cheeks are tinted with the color of this flower, for<br /></span> +<span class="i0">this blue wheel [dome], like a breath of wind, can suddenly<br /></span> +<span class="i0">overturn thee.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">289</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC41" id="NIC41"></a>41.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Since things are not allowed to come to pass as we desire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to what purpose are our designs and our efforts?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We are constantly tormenting ourselves, speaking to ourselves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">with sighs of regret. Ah! we have arrived too late;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">too soon will it be necessary for us to depart!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC42" id="NIC42"></a>42.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Since the celestial wheel and that of destiny have never<br /></span> +<span class="i0">been favorable, what matters it whether we are able to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">count seven heavens or believe that there are eight?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There are [I repeat it] two days for which I need not<br /></span> +<span class="i0">care; the day which has not come and that which now<br /></span> +<span class="i0">is gone.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC43" id="NIC43"></a>43.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Khayyam! why so much sorrow for a sin committed?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What comfort more or less do you find in this self-torment?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He who has not sinned cannot enjoy the sweetness<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of pardon. It is for sin that pardon must exist; in<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that event why entertain a fear?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC44" id="NIC44"></a>44.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">No one has access to the secrets of God behind the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">mysterious curtain; no one [even in mind] can penetrate<br /></span> +<span class="i0">there; we have no other dwelling than the earthly<br /></span> +<span class="i0">mind. Oh, regret! for this also is an enigma not less<br /></span> +<span class="i0">difficult to comprehend.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">290</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC45" id="NIC45"></a>45.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Long time have I delved in this inconstant world, this<br /></span> +<span class="i0">momentary shelter; and in my searches have employed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">all faculties with which I am endowed. Ah, well! and I<br /></span> +<span class="i0">have found the moon to pale before the light of Thy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">visage, that the cypress is deformed beside Thy beauteous<br /></span> +<span class="i0">form.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC46" id="NIC46"></a>46.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In the mosque, in the <i>medresseh</i> [school annexed to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the mosque], in the church, and in the synagogue, they<br /></span> +<span class="i0">have a horror of Hell and seek for Paradise, but the seed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of such disquiet never germinates in the hearts of those<br /></span> +<span class="i0">who penetrate the secrets of the All-Powerful.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC47" id="NIC47"></a>47.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">You have traveled over the world! Ah, well! all that<br /></span> +<span class="i0">you have seen is nothing; all that you have seen and all<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that you have heard are equally nothing. You have gone<br /></span> +<span class="i0">from one end of the universe to the other, all that is<br /></span> +<span class="i0">nothing; you have summed it all up in one corner of your<br /></span> +<span class="i0">room, all that is nothing, still nothing.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC48" id="NIC48"></a>48.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">One night I saw in thought a sage who said to me:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sleep, O my friend, has never caused the rose of happiness<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to bloom for anyone; why lend yourself to aught so<br /></span> +<span class="i0">similar to death? Rather drink wine, for you will sleep<br /></span> +<span class="i0">enough when buried in the earth.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">291</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC49" id="NIC49"></a>49.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Had the human heart an exact knowledge of the secrets<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of life, it would also know, at the point of death,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the secrets of God. If to-day, when you are with yourself,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">you know nothing, what will you know to-morrow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">when you shall be separated from yourself?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC50" id="NIC50"></a>50.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The day when the heavens shall be confounded, when<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the stars shall be obscured, I will stop Thee upon Thy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">way, O Idol! and, taking Thee by the hem of Thy robe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">will ask of Thee why Thou hast robbed me of life [after<br /></span> +<span class="i0">giving it to me].<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC51" id="NIC51"></a>51.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We should tell no secrets to the vilely indiscreet; from<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the nightingale, even, should we conceal them. Consider,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">then, the torment you inflict on human souls by forcing<br /></span> +<span class="i0">them to disrobe thus before the gaze of all.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC52" id="NIC52"></a>52.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Cupbearer! since time is here, ready to break down<br /></span> +<span class="i0">you and me, this world for neither you nor me can be a<br /></span> +<span class="i0">place of permanence. But, equally, be well convinced<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that while this jug of wine is here 'twixt you and me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">our God is in our hands.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">292</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC53" id="NIC53"></a>53.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Long time, indeed, with cup in hand, I walked among<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the flowers; nevertheless none of my projects has been<br /></span> +<span class="i0">realized in this world. But, although wine has not led<br /></span> +<span class="i0">me to the goal of my desires, I will not stray from its<br /></span> +<span class="i0">path, for when one follows a road he cannot retrogress.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC54" id="NIC54"></a>54.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Put a cup of wine in my hand, for my heart is inflamed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and my life slips away as quicksilver. Arise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">then, for the favors of fortune are only a dream; arise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">for the fire of thy youth is running away like the water<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of a torrent.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC55" id="NIC55"></a>55.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We are the idolaters of love, but the Musulman differs<br /></span> +<span class="i0">from us; we are like the pitiful ant, but Salomon is our<br /></span> +<span class="i0">foe. Our visages should aye be paled with love, and our<br /></span> +<span class="i0">apparel in rags, and yet the mart for silken stuffs is here<br /></span> +<span class="i0">below.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC56" id="NIC56"></a>56.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To drink wine and rejoice is my gospel of life. To<br /></span> +<span class="i0">be as indifferent to heresy as to religion is my creed. I<br /></span> +<span class="i0">asked the bride of the human race [the world] what her<br /></span> +<span class="i0">dowry was, and she answered: My dowry consists in the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">joy of my heart.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">293</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC57" id="NIC57"></a>57.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I am worthy neither of Hell nor a celestial abode; God<br /></span> +<span class="i0">knows from what clay he has moulded me. Heretical as<br /></span> +<span class="i0">a dervish and foul as a lost woman, I have neither<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wealth, nor fortune, nor hope of Paradise.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC58" id="NIC58"></a>58.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Thy passion, man, resembles in all things a house dog<br /></span> +<span class="i0">which never leaves his kennel. It has the slyness of the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">fox, it lies low like a hare, and to the rage of the tiger<br /></span> +<span class="i0">adds the voracity of a wolf.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC59" id="NIC59"></a>59.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How beautiful they are, these different greens which<br /></span> +<span class="i0">mingle on the edge of a brook! One thinks they must<br /></span> +<span class="i0">have had their birth upon the lips of one divinely fair.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Place not thy foot upon them with disdain; they spring<br /></span> +<span class="i0">from dust which, once a face, was tinted with the colors<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of a rose.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC60" id="NIC60"></a>60.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Each heart that God illumines with the light of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">love, as it frequents the mosque or synagogue, inscribes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">its name upon the book of love, and is set free from<br /></span> +<span class="i0">fear of Hell while it awaits the joys of Paradise.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">294</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC61" id="NIC61"></a>61.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A cup of wine is better than the kingdom of Kawous,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and preferable to Kobad's throne or to the realm of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thous. The sighs to which, at dawn, a lover is the prey<br /></span> +<span class="i0">are sweeter than the groans of praying hypocrites.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC62" id="NIC62"></a>62.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Though sin hath made me ugly and forlorn, not without<br /></span> +<span class="i0">hope am I like some idolater relying on his temple<br /></span> +<span class="i0">gods. So, on the morn I die of yesternight's carouse,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">give me some wine and call the one Beloved, for Hell<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and Paradise are one to me.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC63" id="NIC63"></a>63.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If I drink wine 'tis not for mere desire; nor for the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">rousing of the mob or insult to the Faith. No, 'tis for a<br /></span> +<span class="i0">passing knowledge of relief from self. No other motive<br /></span> +<span class="i0">could enwreath the cup.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC64" id="NIC64"></a>64.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Men claim fore-knowledge, predicating Hell or Heaven.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How plain their fault! How asinine their faith! For<br /></span> +<span class="i0">know that if all lovers of the fair and of the cup deserve<br /></span> +<span class="i0">a Hell, then Paradise will be a void.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">295</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC65" id="NIC65"></a>65.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In Cheeban [a month] I must not embrace the vine; in<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Redjeb I am consecrate to Him. By right these sixty<br /></span> +<span class="i0">suns to Allah and his Prophet are assigned: let Ramazan<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in mercy bring the cooling cup again.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC66" id="NIC66"></a>66.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Now Ramazan has come, the vintage passed, and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">pledging of the cup and simple customs are afar. Yet<br /></span> +<span class="i0">full the wine pots are, and still untouched, and houris wait<br /></span> +<span class="i0">for us in fond suspense.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC67" id="NIC67"></a>67.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This rolling hostelry we call the world, where light and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">darkness alternate, is but the ruin of a Jamshid's entertainment<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of a hundred Kings, or e'en a faint memento<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of a host of hunters like to Bahram's self.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC68" id="NIC68"></a>68.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To-day when fortune's rose is burgeoning, fill high the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">cup. Drink deep, O friend, drink deep, for time is not<br /></span> +<span class="i0">thy friend or ever willingly repeats a day like this.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">296</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC69" id="NIC69"></a>69.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This palace where great Bahram loved to drink now<br /></span> +<span class="i0">herds the young gazelle, and in it lions sleep. Where<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bahram snared the swift wild ass, the snare of Time has<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in its turn snared him.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC70" id="NIC70"></a>70.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The clouds expand and weep upon the earth. No<br /></span> +<span class="i0">longer can we live without the amaranthine cup. The<br /></span> +<span class="i0">tender green glads weary eyes to-day, but oh! that emerald<br /></span> +<span class="i0">verdure growing from our dust, whose sight will it<br /></span> +<span class="i0">rejoice?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC71" id="NIC71"></a>71.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To-day, which we call Adine [Wednesday], leave<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the tiny cup and drink wine from a bowl. If other days<br /></span> +<span class="i0">you drank but one fair bowl, to-day drink two, for Adine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">ranks its fellow days, save one.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC72" id="NIC72"></a>72.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O heart! since this world makes you sad, since souls<br /></span> +<span class="i0">so pure must leave the tenement of clay, go, sit upon<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the verdure of the field sometimes, ere verdure springs<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in turn from your own dust.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">297</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC73" id="NIC73"></a>73.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This wine, which by its nature hath a multitude of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">forms, which now is animal and now is plant, can never<br /></span> +<span class="i0">cease to be, for its imperishable self ordains a lasting<br /></span> +<span class="i0">life though forms may disappear.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC74" id="NIC74"></a>74.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">No smoke ascends above my holocaust of crime: could<br /></span> +<span class="i0">man ask more? This hand, which man's injustice raises<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to my head, no comfort brings, even though it touch the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">hem of saintly robes.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC75" id="NIC75"></a>75.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The one on whom you surely most rely, will be your<br /></span> +<span class="i0">enemy, if but you cleanse the eyes that are within. Far<br /></span> +<span class="i0">better, for the short time which remains, to count but<br /></span> +<span class="i0">little on our friends. The talk of men to-day is but a<br /></span> +<span class="i0">broken reed.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC76" id="NIC76"></a>76.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O heedless man! this veil of flesh is naught; this nine-fold<br /></span> +<span class="i0">vault of brilliant heaven is naught. Then give thyself<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to joy in this disordered place [the world], for life is<br /></span> +<span class="i0">but an instant wed to it, and that is equally naught.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">298</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC77" id="NIC77"></a>77.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Now bring me dancers, wine, and a houri with charming,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">ravishing features—if houris there be. Or find a<br /></span> +<span class="i0">beautiful brook within a green ravine, if such there be.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ask nothing better; think no more of Hell's hot penalties,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">for, verily, none is, nor any Paradise more fair than<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that I sing, if Paradise there be.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC78" id="NIC78"></a>78.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Came an old man from out the tavern drunk, his<br /></span> +<span class="i0">prayer-rug on his shoulders and a bowl of wine in<br /></span> +<span class="i0">hand. I said to him: Aged man! what meaneth this?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He answered me: Drink wine, my friend, for this world<br /></span> +<span class="i0">is naught but wind.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC79" id="NIC79"></a>79.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A nightingale, inebriate [with love of the rose], within<br /></span> +<span class="i0">a garden saw the roses laughing with a cup of wine. To<br /></span> +<span class="i0">me he came and whispered in my ear, in tones appropriate<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to the circumstance: Be on thy guard, my friend; one<br /></span> +<span class="i0">cannot hold the life that slips away.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC80" id="NIC80"></a>80.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Naught is thy body but a tent, Khayyam, thy soul is<br /></span> +<span class="i0">its inhabitant, and its last, long home annihilation is.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When thy soul leaves the tent, the slaves arise and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">strike it ere they pitch it for the oncoming soul.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">299</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC81" id="NIC81"></a>81.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Khayyam, who sewed the tents of philosophic lore, is<br /></span> +<span class="i0">suddenly engulfed within the crucible of grief, and there<br /></span> +<span class="i0">is burned. The shears of Fate have cut the thread of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">his existence; the Auctioneer of Life has sold him for<br /></span> +<span class="i0">a song.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC82" id="NIC82"></a>82.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In springtime let me sit upon the edge of a broad<br /></span> +<span class="i0">field with one fair girl, and wine in plenty if wine is at<br /></span> +<span class="i0">hand. Though this may culpable be thought, I should<br /></span> +<span class="i0">be worse than any dog did I not dream of Paradise.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC83" id="NIC83"></a>83.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Rose-colored wine in crystal cups delights. It charms<br /></span> +<span class="i0">when sipped to lutes' melodious airs or to the plaintive<br /></span> +<span class="i0">throbbing of the harp. The devotee who knows not of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the joy that is in wine is charming [to himself] or<br /></span> +<span class="i0">when a thousand miles between us yawn.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC84" id="NIC84"></a>84.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The time we pass in this world has no worth without<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the wine-cup and the wine. It also needs the swelling<br /></span> +<span class="i0">sound of Irak's flute. Incessant watching of things here<br /></span> +<span class="i0">below has told me that in pleasure and in joy alone are<br /></span> +<span class="i0">worth: the rest is naught.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">300</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC85" id="NIC85"></a>85.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Be on thy guard, my friend, for soon thou wilt be<br /></span> +<span class="i0">separate from thy soul; thou then shalt go behind the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">curtain of God's secrecy. Drink, for thou knowest not<br /></span> +<span class="i0">whence thou here hast come; make haste, for thou art<br /></span> +<span class="i0">ignorant where thou shalt go.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC86" id="NIC86"></a>86.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Since we must die, why do we live? Why agonize to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">reach a problematic bliss? Since, for some unknown<br /></span> +<span class="i0">cause, we may not here remain, why not concern ourselves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">about the future pilgrimage? Why disregard our<br /></span> +<span class="i0">fate?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC87" id="NIC87"></a>87.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Occasion makes me sing the praise of wine when I surround<br /></span> +<span class="i0">myself with men and things I love. O Devotee!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">canst thou be happy here below knowing that wisdom is<br /></span> +<span class="i0">your Lord? Then know, at least, that wisdom is my<br /></span> +<span class="i0">slave.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC88" id="NIC88"></a>88.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The world will ever count me as depraved. Natheless<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I am not guilty, Men of Holiness! Look on yourselves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and question what you are. Ye say I contravene the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Koran's law. Yet I have only known the sins of drunkenness,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">debauchery and leasing.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">301</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC89" id="NIC89"></a>89.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Free yourselves from your own passions and insatiate<br /></span> +<span class="i0">greed and lo! you shall go out poor as a mendicant.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Look, rather, unto what you are, whence you have come,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and learn what you are doing and where bound.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC90" id="NIC90"></a>90.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The universe is but a point in our poor round of life;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the Djeihoun [Oxus] but a feeble trace of tears and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">blood; Hell but a spark of useless worry which we give<br /></span> +<span class="i0">ourselves, and Paradise an instant of repose, which here<br /></span> +<span class="i0">below we rarely catch.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC91" id="NIC91"></a>91.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A slave in dire revolt am I: where is Thy will? Black<br /></span> +<span class="i0">with all sin my heart: where is Thy light and Thy control?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If Thou giv'st Paradise to our obedience alone<br /></span> +<span class="i0">[to Thy laws], it is a debt of which Thou quit'st<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thyself and in such case we need Thy pity and benevolence.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC92" id="NIC92"></a>92.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I know not at all whether He who created me belongs<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to a delicious Paradise or a detestable Hell. [But I do<br /></span> +<span class="i0">know] that a cup of wine, a charming girl and a zither<br /></span> +<span class="i0">at the edge of a green field are three things which I enjoy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">at present, and that you will find them in the promise<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that is made you of a future Paradise.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">302</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC93" id="NIC93"></a>93.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I drink wine, and those who are opposed to it come<br /></span> +<span class="i0">from the left and from the right to ask me to abstain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">from it, because, say they, wine is an enemy of religion.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But, for that very reason I would drink it, now that I<br /></span> +<span class="i0">hold myself an adversary of faith, because we are permitted<br /></span> +<span class="i0">by God to drink the blood of an enemy.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC94" id="NIC94"></a>94.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The light of the moon has cut the black robe of night:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">drink then of wine, for one finds not often moments so<br /></span> +<span class="i0">precious. Yes, abandon thyself to joy, for this same<br /></span> +<span class="i0">moon will shine over the surface of the earth a long time<br /></span> +<span class="i0">[after our day].<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC95" id="NIC95"></a>95.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Impute not to the wheel of the heavens all the good<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and all the bad which are in man, all the joys and sorrows<br /></span> +<span class="i0">which come to us by destiny; for this wheel, friend, is<br /></span> +<span class="i0">a thousand times more embarrassed than thou, in the path<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of love [divine].<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC96" id="NIC96"></a>96.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There is no shield which is proof against an arrow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">hurled by Destiny. Grandeur, money, gold all go for<br /></span> +<span class="i0">nothing. The more I consider the things of this world,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the more I see that the only good is good, all else is<br /></span> +<span class="i0">nothing.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">303</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC97" id="NIC97"></a>97.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A heart which does not contain in itself complete abstinence<br /></span> +<span class="i0">[from things here below] is to be pitied, for it is<br /></span> +<span class="i0">at all times the prey of regret. It is only the heart free<br /></span> +<span class="i0">from care that can be joyous; all that exists beyond this<br /></span> +<span class="i0">is but a subject of torment.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC98" id="NIC98"></a>98.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">He who has had the intelligence to sow joy in his<br /></span> +<span class="i0">heart has not lost a single day in sorrow; he has employed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">his faculties in seeking the will of God, or has procured<br /></span> +<span class="i0">repose for his soul by taking a cup of wine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC99" id="NIC99"></a>99.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When God fashioned the clay of my body, he knew<br /></span> +<span class="i0">what would be the result of my acts. It is not without<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His orders that I have committed the sins of which I am<br /></span> +<span class="i0">guilty; in that case, why should I burn in hell-fire at<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the last day?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC100" id="NIC100"></a>100.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If thou hast drunk wine every consecutive day of the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">week, take care not to deprive thyself of it on Wednesday,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">for, according to our religion, there is no difference<br /></span> +<span class="i0">between this day and Saturday. Be an adorer of the All-Powerful<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and not an adorer of days.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">304</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC101" id="NIC101"></a>101.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O my God! Thou art merciful, and mercy is kindness.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why then has the first sinner been thrown out of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the terrestrial Paradise? If Thou pardonest me when<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I obey Thee, it is not mercy. Mercy is present only<br /></span> +<span class="i0">when Thou pardonest me as the sinner that I am.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC102" id="NIC102"></a>102.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Leave knowledge and take the cup in thy hand. Disturb<br /></span> +<span class="i0">thyself not about Paradise or Hell, but seek rather<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the <i>Koocer</i> [the celestial river of wine]. Sell thy silken<br /></span> +<span class="i0">turban to buy wine and have no more fear. Rid thyself<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of that head-dress and envelop thy head in a simple woolen<br /></span> +<span class="i0">band [emblem of Sufism].<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC103" id="NIC103"></a>103.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Tell me, friend, have I acquired riches in this world?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No. Have I given myself up to time as it was slipping<br /></span> +<span class="i0">away? No. I am the torch of joy; but that torch once<br /></span> +<span class="i0">extinguished, I am nothing. I am the cup of Djem [the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">royal cup], but that cup once broken, I am no longer<br /></span> +<span class="i0">anything.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC104" id="NIC104"></a>104.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Where are the dancers? Where is the wine? Quick!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that I may do honor to the gourd! Happy the heart<br /></span> +<span class="i0">who remembers his morning cup! Oh! there are three<br /></span> +<span class="i0">things in this world which are dear to me: a head lost in<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine, an amorous girl, and the noise of the dawn.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">305</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC105" id="NIC105"></a>105.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Since life so soon slips away, what matters it whether<br /></span> +<span class="i0">it be sweet or bitter? Since the soul must pass through<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the lips, what matters whether it be at Nishapur or at<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Balkh? Drink then of wine, for after thee and me, the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">moon will long pass on from its last quarter to its first,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and from the first to last.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC106" id="NIC106"></a>106.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This caravan of life passes in curious guise! Be on thy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">guard, my friend, for it is joy that thus escapes! Disturb<br /></span> +<span class="i0">not thyself with the sorrow which to-morrow waits<br /></span> +<span class="i0">our friends, and bring me my cup quickly, for the night<br /></span> +<span class="i0">fast slips away!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC107" id="NIC107"></a>107.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">He who has made the foundations of the world, the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wheel of the heavens, how He has crucified the heart of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">man with affliction! How many ruby-colored lips has He<br /></span> +<span class="i0">buried in this little globe of earth! How many locks of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">hair perfumed with musk has He hidden in the bosom of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the dust!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC108" id="NIC108"></a>108.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O careless men! be not duped by this world, since<br /></span> +<span class="i0">you know its pursuits. Throw not to the wind your<br /></span> +<span class="i0">precious lives; hasten to seek a friend [God], and quickly<br /></span> +<span class="i0">drink of wine.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">306</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC109" id="NIC109"></a>109.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O my companions! pour me some wine and thus<br /></span> +<span class="i0">change my face, from yellow as amber, to the color of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the ruby. When I am dead, lave me in wine, and of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the wood of the vine make my coffin and bier.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC110" id="NIC110"></a>110.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The day when the celestial war-horse of the golden<br /></span> +<span class="i0">stars was saddled, when the planet Jupiter and the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pleiades were created, from that day the Divan [Chief<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Justice] of destiny fixed our lot. In what respect, then,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">are we guilty, since such is the part that was made<br /></span> +<span class="i0">for us?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC111" id="NIC111"></a>111.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh! what damage may the vessels filled to flowing do,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and how incomplete are they who possess riches! The<br /></span> +<span class="i0">eyes of beautiful Turkish women are a feast to the heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">yet they are simple learners from the slaves who own<br /></span> +<span class="i0">them.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC112" id="NIC112"></a>112.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">It is necessary that our existence be effaced from the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">book of life, that we expire in the arms of death. O<br /></span> +<span class="i0">charming cupbearer, go, gaily bring me wine since my<br /></span> +<span class="i0">poor earth to earth must come.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">307</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC113" id="NIC113"></a>113.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">At this moment, when my heart is not yet deprived of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">life, it seems to me that there are few problems that I<br /></span> +<span class="i0">have not solved. However, when I call intelligence to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">my aid, when I examine myself with care, I perceive<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that my existence has slipped away and that I have still<br /></span> +<span class="i0">defined nothing.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC114" id="NIC114"></a>114.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Those who adore the <i>seddjadeh</i> [prayer-rug] are asses,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">since they throw themselves, with full consent, into the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">charge of devotees and hypocrites. What is most singular<br /></span> +<span class="i0">about them is that they, under a mantle of piety,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">preach Islamism and are, in reality, worse than idolaters.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC115" id="NIC115"></a>115.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When the tree of my existence shall be cut down, when<br /></span> +<span class="i0">my members shall be dispersed, let them make pitchers<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of my dust and fill these pitchers with wine; then shall<br /></span> +<span class="i0">my dust be revived [through the wine contained in<br /></span> +<span class="i0">them].<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC116" id="NIC116"></a>116.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Thou, God, before whom sin is without consequence,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">tell him who possesses intelligence to proclaim this important<br /></span> +<span class="i0">point: that in the eyes of a philosopher it is an<br /></span> +<span class="i0">absolute absurdity to make divine fore-knowledge in league<br /></span> +<span class="i0">with sin.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">308</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC117" id="NIC117"></a>117.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In the first place, my being was given me without my<br /></span> +<span class="i0">consent, which makes my own existence a lasting problem<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to me. Then, we leave this world with regret, and without<br /></span> +<span class="i0">having accomplished the aim of our coming, of our<br /></span> +<span class="i0">stay, or our departure.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC118" id="NIC118"></a>118.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When my sins come back to mind, the fire which then<br /></span> +<span class="i0">burned in my heart makes my boldness stream forth;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">for everywhere is it established that when a slave repents,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">a generous master pardons him.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC119" id="NIC119"></a>119.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">These potters who constantly plunge their fingers into<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the clay, who employ all their mind, all their intelligence,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">all their faculties to mould it, even to the crushing of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">it with their feet and striking with their hands, of what<br /></span> +<span class="i0">think they? It is the same clay as the human body that<br /></span> +<span class="i0">they are treating thus.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC120" id="NIC120"></a>120.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Those who, through knowledge, are the cream of the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">world; who, with intelligence scan the heights of the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">heavens, they also, like the firmament, have their heads<br /></span> +<span class="i0">turned in their search for divine knowledge, and are<br /></span> +<span class="i0">taken with vertigo and dimness of sight.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">309</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC121" id="NIC121"></a>121.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">God has promised us wine in Paradise. In that case<br /></span> +<span class="i0">why should He prohibit it in this world? One day an<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Arab in a state of drunkenness cut the hams of Hamzah's<br /></span> +<span class="i0">camel with his sword. It is only for him that our<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Prophet makes wine illicit.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC122" id="NIC122"></a>122.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Since at this moment there only remains to you the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">memory of pleasure passed away; since for a perfect friend<br /></span> +<span class="i0">you have only a cup of wine; finally, since that is all you<br /></span> +<span class="i0">own, rejoice at least in this possession and let the cup<br /></span> +<span class="i0">not slip from your hands.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC123" id="NIC123"></a>123.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh! for the time when we shall be no more and the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">world shall still be here! There will remain no fame or<br /></span> +<span class="i0">trace of us. The world was not unfinished when we<br /></span> +<span class="i0">came; naught will be changed when we have gone<br /></span> +<span class="i0">from it.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC124" id="NIC124"></a>124.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Those whose feet have trodden the world, who have<br /></span> +<span class="i0">run over it for the sake of appropriating the riches of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the two hemispheres to themselves, they are not the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">ones, I believe, who have ever been able to explain the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">true state, the real situation of things here below.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">310</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC125" id="NIC125"></a>125.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O regret! The capital [of life] has slipped from our<br /></span> +<span class="i0">hands. Alas! many hearts have been through death<br /></span> +<span class="i0">drowned in blood, and no one returns from the other<br /></span> +<span class="i0">world that I may ask him news of the travelers who<br /></span> +<span class="i0">have gone.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC126" id="NIC126"></a>126.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">These numerous great lords, so proud of their titles,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">are so gnawed by cares and sorrows that existence to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">them is a burden. And most ridiculous it is that they<br /></span> +<span class="i0">deign not to call by the name of men those who, unlike to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">them, are not slaves to their passions.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC127" id="NIC127"></a>127.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This lofty Wheel, whose trade it is to tyrannize, has<br /></span> +<span class="i0">never loosed for man the knot of any difficulty. Wherever<br /></span> +<span class="i0">it has seen an ulcerated heart, there has it come to add<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wound unto wound.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC128" id="NIC128"></a>128.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Alas! the period of adolescence reaches home. The<br /></span> +<span class="i0">springtime of our pleasures slips away! That bird of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">gaiety which is called <i>youth</i>, alas! I know not when it<br /></span> +<span class="i0">came nor when it flew away!<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">311</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC129" id="NIC129"></a>129.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In the midst of this whirlpool of the world, hasten to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">gather some fruit. Seat thyself upon the throne of gaiety<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and bring the cup to thy lips. God is indifferent both<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to creed and sin; enjoy then here below, what pleases<br /></span> +<span class="i0">thee.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC130" id="NIC130"></a>130.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Do you see those two or three imbeciles who hold the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">world in their hands, and who, in their candid ignorance,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">believe themselves the wisest in the universe? Do not<br /></span> +<span class="i0">disturb yourself for, in their high content, they deem<br /></span> +<span class="i0">all heretics who are not asses [like themselves].<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC131" id="NIC131"></a>131.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Would that the tavern could always be animated by<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the presence of drinkers, that fire would reach the hem<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of the holy robe of devotees, that their monk's frock might<br /></span> +<span class="i0">be torn to tatters and their blue woolen garment be trampled<br /></span> +<span class="i0">under the feet of the drinkers.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC132" id="NIC132"></a>132.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How long wilt thou be a dupe to colors and perfumes?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When wilt thou cease to seek out good and bad?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou mightest be the source of Zemzem, thou mightest<br /></span> +<span class="i0">even be the water of life since thou wouldst not know how<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to escape entering the bosom of the earth.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">312</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC133" id="NIC133"></a>133.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Renounce not the drinking of wine if you have any,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">for a hundred repentances follow one such resolution.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The roses scatter their blossoms, the nightingales fill the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">air with their song, and would it be reasonable to renounce<br /></span> +<span class="i0">drinking in a moment like this?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC134" id="NIC134"></a>134.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">As long as the friend [God] will pour for me the wine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">which rejoices my soul, as long as the heavens have<br /></span> +<span class="i0">not deposited a hundred kisses upon my head and feet,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">whatever they may do, when the moment comes, to induce<br /></span> +<span class="i0">me to renounce drinking, how can I renounce it,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">God not having ordered me to?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC135" id="NIC135"></a>135.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Whoever has constancy will not renounce drinking wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">for wine has within itself the virtue of the water of life.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If any one renounce it during the month of Ramazan, let<br /></span> +<span class="i0">him at least abstain from engagement in prayer.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC136" id="NIC136"></a>136.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When I am dead, smooth to the level of the soil the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">dust of my tomb, that I may thus be an example to other<br /></span> +<span class="i0">men. Then, mix with wine the earth of my body and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">make of it—a cover for a wine-jar.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">313</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC137" id="NIC137"></a>137.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Khayyam! although the Wheel of the Heavens has,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in setting up his tent, closed the door to discussions, [it<br /></span> +<span class="i0">is evident, nevertheless,] that the cupbearer of eternity<br /></span> +<span class="i0">[God] has produced, in the form of globules of wine in<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the cup of creation, a thousand other Khayyams like<br /></span> +<span class="i0">thee.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC138" id="NIC138"></a>138.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Give thyself to gaiety, for sorrow will be infinite. The<br /></span> +<span class="i0">stars will continue movement in the firmament, and the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">bricks which will be made of thy body will serve to construct<br /></span> +<span class="i0">palaces for others.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC139" id="NIC139"></a>139.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Pass joyously thy life, for many other travelers will file<br /></span> +<span class="i0">through this world; the soul will cry after the body from<br /></span> +<span class="i0">which it will be separated, and the head, the seat of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the passions, will be trampled under the potter's feet.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC140" id="NIC140"></a>140.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Happy the heart of him who has passed unknown,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">who has not been clothed in a robe of ceremony, nor in<br /></span> +<span class="i0">luxurious garments, nor in stuffs of great price, who,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">like the <i>simourg</i>, is lifted into the skies to the place of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">his delight as the owl sits among the ruins of this world.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">314</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC141" id="NIC141"></a>141.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Drinkers alone know how to appreciate the language<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of the roses and of wine, and not the feeble in heart or<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the poor in spirit. Those who have no idea of what is<br /></span> +<span class="i0">occult, to them ignorance is pardonable, for drunkards<br /></span> +<span class="i0">alone can understand what belongs to such an order of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of things.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC142" id="NIC142"></a>142.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Once in the tavern, one can make his ablutions only<br /></span> +<span class="i0">with wine. There, when a name is soiled, it cannot be<br /></span> +<span class="i0">restored. Bring, then, some wine, since the veil of our<br /></span> +<span class="i0">shame is torn in such a manner that it cannot be repaired.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC143" id="NIC143"></a>143.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Pierced with a vain hope, I have thrown to the wind<br /></span> +<span class="i0">a part of my existence, and that without having known<br /></span> +<span class="i0">here below a day of happiness. That which I fear now<br /></span> +<span class="i0">is that time will prevent me from seizing the opportunity<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to make amends for the past.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC144" id="NIC144"></a>144.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Alas! my heart has not been able to find any remedy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">[for its grief], my soul has arrived at the edge of my<br /></span> +<span class="i0">lips [death], without having attained the object of its love.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Alas! my life has passed in ignorance, and the enigma<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of this love has not been explained.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">315</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC145" id="NIC145"></a>145.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In the regions of the soul, it is necessary to walk with<br /></span> +<span class="i0">discernment; upon the things of this world, it is well to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">be silent. While we have our eyes, our tongues, and our<br /></span> +<span class="i0">ears, we should be without eyes, without tongues, and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">without ears.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC146" id="NIC146"></a>146.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In this world, he who commands a loaf of bread and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">who can cover his body with any garment whatsoever,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">he who is neither master nor servant, tell him to live<br /></span> +<span class="i0">content, for he has a sweet existence.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC147" id="NIC147"></a>147.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">One should not plant in his heart the tree of sadness.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On the contrary, he should ever peruse the book of joy.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One should drink wine, and follow the trend of his own<br /></span> +<span class="i0">heart, for behold, the length of time remaining to you in<br /></span> +<span class="i0">this world is quickly measured.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC148" id="NIC148"></a>148.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Has Thy empire gained in splendor by my obeisance,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O God? Or have my sins retrenched in any degree Thy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">immensity? Pardon, O God, and do not punish, for I<br /></span> +<span class="i0">know well that Thou punishest late and pardonest early.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">316</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC149" id="NIC149"></a>149.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">It would be troublesome if my hand, accustomed to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">seize the cup, took the Koran and depended upon Mohammedan<br /></span> +<span class="i0">diet. With you it is different; you are a dry<br /></span> +<span class="i0">devotee, while I am a depraved one, moist [through drink],<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and the only fire I know is kindled by wine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC150" id="NIC150"></a>150.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Upon earth, no one presses to his heart a charmer with<br /></span> +<span class="i0">cheeks of the tints of a rose without the time comes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that he feels the sting of the thorn. See the comb: before<br /></span> +<span class="i0">it could caress the perfumed hair of the beauty, it<br /></span> +<span class="i0">had to be cut into many teeth.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC151" id="NIC151"></a>151.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Would that I had constantly in my hand the juice of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the vine! Would that my love for these beautiful idols,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that are like houris, might never leave my heart! They<br /></span> +<span class="i0">say to me: God has ordered you to renounce these things.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh! should He give me such a command, I would not<br /></span> +<span class="i0">obey it. Far be the thought!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC152" id="NIC152"></a>152.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Behold, I must go, and life is saddened by my going; for,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">out of a hundred precious pearls but one have I pierced.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Alas! thanks to the ignorance of men, a hundred thousand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">things of deepest import yet remain unheard.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">317</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC153" id="NIC153"></a>153.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To-day the season smiles; 'tis neither hot nor cold. The<br /></span> +<span class="i0">clouds have washed away the dust which dimmed the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">roses; and nightingales seem whispering to the yellow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">flowers that wine is balm for all.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC154" id="NIC154"></a>154.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The day when I shall know myself no more, and when<br /></span> +<span class="i0">they will speak of me as of a fable, then I desire [do<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I dare say it?] that my clay be made into a jar for wine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and destined to service at the tavern.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC155" id="NIC155"></a>155.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Drink thou of wine before thy name shall vanish from<br /></span> +<span class="i0">this world, for, when this nectar enters thy heart, sorrow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">disappears. Unbind strand by strand the hair of thy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">charming idol, before the jointure of thy frame itself is<br /></span> +<span class="i0">loosed.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC156" id="NIC156"></a>156.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O idol! ere sorrow comes to assail thee, order rose-colored<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine. Thou art not gold, O imbecile! to believe<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that after burial in the earth, you can be drawn from it<br /></span> +<span class="i0">again.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">318</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC157" id="NIC157"></a>157.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This world has not derived any advantage from my<br /></span> +<span class="i0">coming here below. Its glory and its dignity are equally<br /></span> +<span class="i0">unaffected by my departure. My two ears have never<br /></span> +<span class="i0">heard any one say why I have come, or why I am forced<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to go again.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC158" id="NIC158"></a>158.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">All thy secrets are known to the wisdom of Heaven<br /></span> +<span class="i0">[God]· He knows them hair by hair and vein by vein.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I admit that by power of hypocrisy you may be able<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to deceive men, but what will you do before Him who<br /></span> +<span class="i0">knows your misdeeds one by one in every detail?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC159" id="NIC159"></a>159.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Wine gives wings to those attacked by melancholy;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine is a mole of beauty upon the cheek of intelligence,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">we have not drunk of it during the Ramazan which<br /></span> +<span class="i0">has passed, but now the eve of [the month of] Burak<br /></span> +<span class="i0">hath arrived and we shall make amends.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC160" id="NIC160"></a>160.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Live in joy, for the time is coming when all the creatures<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that you see will disappear under the earth; drink,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">drink of wine, and never abandon yourself to the sorrow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of this world. Those who come after you only too soon<br /></span> +<span class="i0">become a prey to it.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">319</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC161" id="NIC161"></a>161.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There is not a night when my mind is not in a state of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">stupefaction. There is not one when my breast is not<br /></span> +<span class="i0">inundated with pearls that flow from my eyes. The disquiet<br /></span> +<span class="i0">which possesses me keeps the bowl of my head from<br /></span> +<span class="i0">filling itself with wine, can a bowl overturned ever be<br /></span> +<span class="i0">filled?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC162" id="NIC162"></a>162.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When my nature has seemed disposed to fasting and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">prayer, I have a moment's hope that I am going to attain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the aim of my desires; but alas! a breath of wind has<br /></span> +<span class="i0">sufficed to destroy the efficacy of my ablutions, and a<br /></span> +<span class="i0">mouthful of wine has annihilated my fast.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC163" id="NIC163"></a>163.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">All my being is attracted by the sight of beautiful,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">rose-colored faces; my hand is aye ready to seize a cup<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of wine. Oh, I wish to enjoy for its part what belongs<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to each of my members, ere these same members are<br /></span> +<span class="i0">lost in the Whole.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC164" id="NIC164"></a>164.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A worldly love knows not how to produce reflection.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is like a fire half extinguished which no longer gives<br /></span> +<span class="i0">heat. A true love should know neither tranquillity, nor<br /></span> +<span class="i0">repose, nor nourishment, nor sleep for months and years,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">day nor night.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">320</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC165" id="NIC165"></a>165.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How long wilt thou pass thy life in adoring thyself, and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">seeking the cause of annihilation of thy being? Drink<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine, for a life that is followed by death is better spent<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in sleep or drunkenness.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC166" id="NIC166"></a>166.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To-morrow I shall have surmounted the mountain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">which separates us, and with indescribable happiness<br /></span> +<span class="i0">take the cup in my hand. My mistress longs for me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the day is bright; if I do not hasten to enjoy myself<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in such a moment, when shall I find enjoyment?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC167" id="NIC167"></a>167.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There are people who through outrageous presumption<br /></span> +<span class="i0">are sunk in pride; and others who abandon themselves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to the houris of celestial palaces. When the curtain is<br /></span> +<span class="i0">raised, we shall see that they have fallen far, far, far,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">from Thee [O God]!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC168" id="NIC168"></a>168.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We are assured that there is a Paradise for us peopled<br /></span> +<span class="i0">with houris, and that we shall find there limpid wine and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">honey. It must then be permitted us to love women and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine here below, for is not this our end and aim?<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">321</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC169" id="NIC169"></a>169.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They pretend that there exists a Paradise where there<br /></span> +<span class="i0">are houris, where the <i>Koocer</i> flows, where there is limpid<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine, honey and sugar. Oh! fill quickly a cup of wine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and put it in my hand, for one present joy is worth more<br /></span> +<span class="i0">than a thousand promised for the future.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC170" id="NIC170"></a>170.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Even a mountain would dance for joy if you soaked it<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in wine. Poor is the fool who scorns the cup. You dare<br /></span> +<span class="i0">order me to renounce the juice of the vine! Know then<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that wine is a soul which helps to bring man to perfection.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC171" id="NIC171"></a>171.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">From time to time my heart finds itself much straitened<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in its cage. Shameful is it to be mixed with water<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and clay. I have often thought of destroying this prison,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">but my foot would come in contact with a stone and slip<br /></span> +<span class="i0">on the stirrup of the Koran's law.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC172" id="NIC172"></a>172.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They say that the moon of Ramazan [month of fasting]<br /></span> +<span class="i0">is about to appear and that wine must no longer be<br /></span> +<span class="i0">thought of. It is well; but let me during the remainder<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of Cheeban [the month preceding] drink such<br /></span> +<span class="i0">a quantity of it that I may remain drunk up to the day<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of the fast.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">322</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC173" id="NIC173"></a>173.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Cease, if ye are my friends, all vain discourse, and,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to relieve my mental pains pour out the wine. And<br /></span> +<span class="i0">when to dust my frame returns, the self-same dust<br /></span> +<span class="i0">collect and make it brick to stop some crevice in the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">tavern wall.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC174" id="NIC174"></a>174.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The beverage of our existence is sometimes limpid,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">sometimes muddy. Our garments are at one time of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">coarse wool, at another of finest fabric. All this is insignificant<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to a clear mind; but is it insignificant to die?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC175" id="NIC175"></a>175.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">No one has penetrated the secrets of the Principle<br /></span> +<span class="i0">[First Cause]. No one has taken a step outside himself.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I look about and see only insufficiency from pupil to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">master, insufficiency in all that the mother brings forth.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC176" id="NIC176"></a>176.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Restrain thy envy of the things of this world if thou<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wishest to be happy; break the bonds which enchain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">thee to the good and the bad here below; live contented,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">for the periodic movement of the heavens takes its course,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and this life will not be of long duration.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">323</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC177" id="NIC177"></a>177.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">No one has had access behind the curtain of destiny;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">no one has knowledge of the secrets of Providence. For<br /></span> +<span class="i0">seventy-two years I have reflected day and night, I have<br /></span> +<span class="i0">learned nothing anywhere, and the enigma remains unexplained.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC178" id="NIC178"></a>178.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They say that at the last day there will be judgments,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and that our dear Friend [God] will be in anger. But<br /></span> +<span class="i0">from pure goodness only goodness emanates. Be then<br /></span> +<span class="i0">without fear, for finally you will see that He is full of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">gentleness.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC179" id="NIC179"></a>179.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Drink wine, since it is that which will put an end to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the disquiet of thy heart; it will deliver thee from thy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">meditations upon the seventy-two sects of the globe. Do<br /></span> +<span class="i0">not abstain from this alchemy for, if thou drinkest but a<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>men</i> [a measure] of it, it will destroy for thee a thousand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">infirmities.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC180" id="NIC180"></a>180.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Wine has been prohibited, perhaps, but it is only prohibited<br /></span> +<span class="i0">according to the person who drinks it, according<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to the quantity drunk, and according to the individual<br /></span> +<span class="i0">with whom we drink it. These points once observed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">who would drink it if not the wise?<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">324</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC181" id="NIC181"></a>181.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">For myself, I should pour some wine into a cup that<br /></span> +<span class="i0">would contain a pint. I should be content with two<br /></span> +<span class="i0">cups; but first I should divorce myself thrice from religion<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and reason, and then espouse the daughter of the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">vine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC182" id="NIC182"></a>182.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Yes, I drink wine, and whoever like me is far-seeing<br /></span> +<span class="i0">will find that this act is insignificant in the eyes of the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Divinity. From all eternity God has known that I would<br /></span> +<span class="i0">drink wine. If I did not drink it, His prescience would<br /></span> +<span class="i0">be pure ignorance.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC183" id="NIC183"></a>183.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The drinker, if he is rich, ruins himself. The disorder<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of his drunkenness provokes scandal in the world. For<br /></span> +<span class="i0">this I should put an emerald in the bowl of my ruby pipe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">effectually to blind the serpent of my grief.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC184" id="NIC184"></a>184.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There are some ignorant beings who have never passed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">a night in quest of truth, who have never taken a step<br /></span> +<span class="i0">outside themselves, who show themselves clothed in the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">garments of great lords and who are pleased to slander<br /></span> +<span class="i0">those whose conduct is irreproachable.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">325</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC185" id="NIC185"></a>185.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When the azure of dawn shows itself, have the sparkling<br /></span> +<span class="i0">cup in thine hand. They say that truth is bitter in the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">mouth of mortals. That is a plausible reason for wine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">being truth itself.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC186" id="NIC186"></a>186.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This is the moment when the verdure begins to ornament<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the world, when, like the hand of Moses, the buds begin<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to show themselves upon the branches; when, revivified,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">as if by the breath of Jesus, the plants spring forth from<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the earth; when finally the clouds begin to ope their<br /></span> +<span class="i0">eyes and weep.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC187" id="NIC187"></a>187.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Keep from the trouble and vexation of aiming to acquire<br /></span> +<span class="i0">white silver or yellow gold. Eat with thy friend,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">ere thy warm breath be cooled, for after thee come enemies<br /></span> +<span class="i0">who will eat thee.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC188" id="NIC188"></a>188.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Each mouthful of wine which the cupbearer pours into<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the cup helps to extinguish the fire of anger in thy burning<br /></span> +<span class="i0">eyes. Has it not been said, O great God, that wine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">is an elixir which drives from the heart a hundred sorrows<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that oppress it?<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">326</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC189" id="NIC189"></a>189.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When the violet has tinted her cheeks, when the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">zephyr has made the roses bloom, then he who is wise in<br /></span> +<span class="i0">company with the fact will drink wine until he can dash<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the cup against a stone [showing emptiness].<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC190" id="NIC190"></a>190.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The devotee knows not how to appreciate as well as<br /></span> +<span class="i0">we Thy divine pity. A stranger can never know Thee<br /></span> +<span class="i0">as perfectly as a friend. [They pretend] that Thou hast<br /></span> +<span class="i0">said: If you commit sin, I will send you into Hell. Go<br /></span> +<span class="i0">now—tell that to one who knows Thee not.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC191" id="NIC191"></a>191.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A cup of wine is worth the empire of the universe;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the brick which covers the jar is worth a thousand lives.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The napkin with which one wipes lips moistened with<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine is indeed worth a thousand turbans.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC192" id="NIC192"></a>192.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Friends! meet together [after my death]. Once reunited,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">rejoice in being together and, when the cupbearer<br /></span> +<span class="i0">takes in his hand a cup of old wine, remember poor<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Khayyam and drink to his memory.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">327</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC193" id="NIC193"></a>193.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Not a single time has the Wheel of Heaven been propitious<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to me, never for one instant has it allowed me<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to hear a sweet voice, not a day has it given me a<br /></span> +<span class="i0">second of happiness but that very day it has plunged<br /></span> +<span class="i0">me into an abyss of grief.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC194" id="NIC194"></a>194.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A cup of wine is worth a hundred hearts, a hundred<br /></span> +<span class="i0">creeds, a mouthful of this juice divine is worth the Empire<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of China. What is there, truly, on the earth preferable<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to wine? It is a bitter that is a hundred times<br /></span> +<span class="i0">sweeter than life.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC195" id="NIC195"></a>195.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Wheel of Heaven only multiplies our griefs! It<br /></span> +<span class="i0">places nothing here below that it does not soon bear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">away. Oh! if those who have not yet come knew<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the suffering this world inflicts, they would guard themselves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">well from coming here.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC196" id="NIC196"></a>196.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Drink, drink this wine which gives eternal life; drink,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">for it is the source of youthful joy; it burns like fire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">but, like life's essence, drives away your care. Then<br /></span> +<span class="i0">drink!<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">328</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC197" id="NIC197"></a>197.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Friend, to what good art thou preoccupied with<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>being</i>? Why trouble thus thy heart, thy soul with idle<br /></span> +<span class="i0">thoughts? Live happily, pass thy time joyously, for you<br /></span> +<span class="i0">were not asked your opinion about the making of things<br /></span> +<span class="i0">as they are.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC198" id="NIC198"></a>198.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The inhabitants of the tomb are returned to earth in<br /></span> +<span class="i0">dust; the atoms [of which they are composed] are scattered<br /></span> +<span class="i0">here and there, separated one from the other.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Alas! what is this drink in which the human race is<br /></span> +<span class="i0">soaked and which holds it thus in dizzy ignorance of all<br /></span> +<span class="i0">things, even to the day of doom?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC199" id="NIC199"></a>199.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O heart! act as if all the good things of this world<br /></span> +<span class="i0">belonged to you; imagine that this house is provided<br /></span> +<span class="i0">with everything, that it is richly furnished, and live joyously<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in this domain of disorder. Realize that thou restest<br /></span> +<span class="i0">here for two or three days, and that thereafter thou<br /></span> +<span class="i0">shalt rise and go away.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC200" id="NIC200"></a>200.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The dogmas of religion admit only that which places<br /></span> +<span class="i0">you under obligation to the Divinity. That morsel of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">bread that you have, refuse not to others; keep from<br /></span> +<span class="i0">speaking evil; render evil to no one, and it is I who<br /></span> +<span class="i0">promise you a future life: bring wine.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">329</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC201" id="NIC201"></a>201.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Dragged through the rapid course of time, which accords<br /></span> +<span class="i0">its favors only to the least worthy, my life is passed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in a gulf of grief and sorrow. In this garden of being,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">my heart is hard as is the green bud of a rose; and like<br /></span> +<span class="i0">a tulip, it is dipped in blood.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC202" id="NIC202"></a>202.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What belongs to youth is wine, the limpid juice of the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">vine and the society of beauty; and since water once<br /></span> +<span class="i0">brought ruin to this world by annihilating it, it is our<br /></span> +<span class="i0">part to drown ourselves in wine, to pass our life in<br /></span> +<span class="i0">drunkenness complete.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC203" id="NIC203"></a>203.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Bring wine from this ruby vessel and pour it into a<br /></span> +<span class="i0">simple crystal cup; bring that thing habitual and dear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to every noble man. Since you know that all beings are<br /></span> +<span class="i0">but dust, and that a two-day tempest makes them disappear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">bring wine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC204" id="NIC204"></a>204.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Thou, the quest of whom holds all in dizziness and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">distress, the dervish and the rich are equally void of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">means of reaching Thee. Thy name is in the speech<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of all, but all are deaf; Thou art present to the eyes of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">all, but all are blind.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">330</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC205" id="NIC205"></a>205.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In company with one dear friend, how pleasing to me<br /></span> +<span class="i0">is a cup of wine. When I become the prey of care, it<br /></span> +<span class="i0">is fitting that my eyes should be filled with tears. Oh!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">this abject world has nothing lasting for us, and best it<br /></span> +<span class="i0">is to dwell inebriate.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC206" id="NIC206"></a>206.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Keep thyself from drinking wine in the company of a<br /></span> +<span class="i0">boorish, violent character, having no mind or self-control,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">for such a man knows only how to cause unpleasantness.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For the time, thou wouldst have to undergo the disorder<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of his drunkenness, his vociferations, his folly. And the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">next day, his prayers for excuse and pardon would come<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to weary thy head.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC207" id="NIC207"></a>207.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Since you only possess what God has given you, torment<br /></span> +<span class="i0">not yourself to obtain the object of your covetousness.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Keep from burdening the heart too much, for the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">final drama consists in leaving all and passing beyond.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC208" id="NIC208"></a>208.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O my soul! drink this limpid nectar which has not<br /></span> +<span class="i0">been stirred; drink it in memory of the charming idols<br /></span> +<span class="i0">which ravish the heart. Wine is the blood of the vine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">my friend, and the vine says to thee: Drink of me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">since I render it lawful to you.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">331</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC209" id="NIC209"></a>209.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In the season of flowers, drink rose-colored wine; drink<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to the plaintive sounds of the lute, to the melodious noise<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of the harp. As for me, I drink and rejoice in it; may<br /></span> +<span class="i0">it be salutary to me! If you do not drink, why not be<br /></span> +<span class="i0">willing that I should? Go, then, and eat pebbles!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC210" id="NIC210"></a>210.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Art thou sad? Take a piece of hasheesh as large as a<br /></span> +<span class="i0">grain of barley, or drink a small measure of rose-colored<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine. Then you will become a Sufi. But, if you will<br /></span> +<span class="i0">not drink of this or partake of that, nothing remains for<br /></span> +<span class="i0">you but to eat pebbles; go, eat some pebbles!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC211" id="NIC211"></a>211.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But yesterday, I saw a potter in a bazaar treading<br /></span> +<span class="i0">most vigorously the clay he was molding. The clay<br /></span> +<span class="i0">seemed to say to him: I also have been like thee; treat<br /></span> +<span class="i0">me, then, with less harshness.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC212" id="NIC212"></a>212.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If thou drinkest wine, drink it with intelligent people,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">drink it in company with thy ravishing idols, with smiles<br /></span> +<span class="i0">upon their lips and their cheeks tinted with the colors of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the tulip. Drink not too much or speak boastingly of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">it; make it not a refrain, but drink a little from time<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to time in quietude.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">332</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC213" id="NIC213"></a>213.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Wine should be drunk in the company of slender creatures<br /></span> +<span class="i0">who ravish the heart with the color of their cheeks.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Art thou bitten by the serpent of grief, friend—drink, then,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of this antidote. I myself drink of it and plume myself<br /></span> +<span class="i0">on the strength of it; would that it might be propitious!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If you drink it not, why not be willing that I should?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Go, eat some earth.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC214" id="NIC214"></a>214.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Here is the Dawn; arise, O beardless youth, and quickly<br /></span> +<span class="i0">fill this crystal cup with ruby wine, for [later], you could<br /></span> +<span class="i0">seek long time ere finding such a moment of existence as<br /></span> +<span class="i0">is lent us in this world of nothingness.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC215" id="NIC215"></a>215.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Twixt wine and Jemshid's throne, give me the wine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the bouquet of the cup is sweeter than the Virgin's<br /></span> +<span class="i0">heaven-sent fruits. The morning sigh of one inebriate<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the bygone night is more melodious than the longdrawn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">lamentations of Adhem or Bou-Saďd.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC216" id="NIC216"></a>216.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O my heart! since the foundation, even, of the things<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of this world is only a fiction, why do you venture thus<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in an infinite gulf of sorrow? Trust yourself to destiny,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">endure the evil, for the lot which the heavenly brush<br /></span> +<span class="i0">has traced for you will not be effaced.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">333</a></span></div></div> + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC217" id="NIC217"></a>217.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Of all those who have taken the long road, who is there<br /></span> +<span class="i0">now returned of whom I may ask news? O friend! beware<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of putting any hope whatever in this sordid world,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">for, know well that thou here shalt ne'er return.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC218" id="NIC218"></a>218.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Since each of these nights and each of these days cuts<br /></span> +<span class="i0">off a part of thy existence, allow not the nights or the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">days to cover thee with dust. Pass them gaily, for how<br /></span> +<span class="i0">long, alas! shalt thou be absent, while the nights and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">days will still be here!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC219" id="NIC219"></a>219.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This wheel of heaven which tells its secrets to no man,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">has killed a thousand Mahmouds [Sultans] and a thousand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ayaz [favorites]; drink wine, for the life of none<br /></span> +<span class="i0">shall ever be restored. Alas! not one of all those who<br /></span> +<span class="i0">left the world can again return!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC220" id="NIC220"></a>220.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Thou who rulest the whole universe! knowest Thou<br /></span> +<span class="i0">what are the days when wine rejoices the soul? They<br /></span> +<span class="i0">are: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Friday and Saturday, all day long.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">334</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC221" id="NIC221"></a>221.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Being, exquisite in thy enticing and coquettish charm!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">be seated: rise no more and thus appease the fire of a<br /></span> +<span class="i0">thousand torments. Thou enjoinest me not to look upon<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thee; but it is as if Thou shouldst order me to incline<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the cup and forbid me spilling its contents.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC222" id="NIC222"></a>222.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Better to be with Thee in the tavern, and there tell<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thee my secret thoughts, than to go without Thee and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">make a prayer in the mosque. Yea, O Creator of all<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that was and all that is! such is my faith, whether Thou<br /></span> +<span class="i0">burnest me, or accordest me Thy favor.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC223" id="NIC223"></a>223.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Consort with honest and intelligent men. Flee a thousand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">miles away from the ignorant. If a man of mind<br /></span> +<span class="i0">give thee poison, drink it; if an ignorant one present<br /></span> +<span class="i0">thee an antidote, pour it upon the ground.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC224" id="NIC224"></a>224.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The clouds are still spread out above the roses and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">seem to cover them as with a veil. The desire for wine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">is not yet satiated in my heart. Then go not to rest, it is<br /></span> +<span class="i0">not yet the hour. O my soul, drink of the wine; drink,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">for the sun is still upon the horizon.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">335</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC225" id="NIC225"></a>225.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Like unto a sparrow-hawk, I am flying away from this<br /></span> +<span class="i0">world of mysteries, hoping to lift myself to a higher<br /></span> +<span class="i0">world; but, fallen, here below, and finding no one worthy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to share my secret thoughts, I go out through the door<br /></span> +<span class="i0">by which I entered.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC226" id="NIC226"></a>226.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Thou hast put in us an irresistible passion [which is<br /></span> +<span class="i0">equivalent to an order from Thee], and, on the other<br /></span> +<span class="i0">hand, forbiddest us to give way to it. Poor human<br /></span> +<span class="i0">beings are in extreme embarrassment between this order<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and this prohibition, for it is as if Thou commandest me<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to upset the cup but refrain from spilling the contents.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC227" id="NIC227"></a>227.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They are gone, these transients, and no one of them<br /></span> +<span class="i0">has returned to tell the secrets concealed behind the curtain.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O devotee! it is by humility that spiritual affairs<br /></span> +<span class="i0">take favorable turn and not by prayer, for, what is<br /></span> +<span class="i0">prayer without sincerity and humility?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC228" id="NIC228"></a>228.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Throw dust upon the vault of heaven and drink some<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine; seek out the fair, for where see you a subject for<br /></span> +<span class="i0">pardon, a subject for prayer, since, of all those who<br /></span> +<span class="i0">have gone away, no one has returned?<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">336</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC229" id="NIC229"></a>229.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Although on my necklace of duty I have never strung<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the pearl of submission, as is Thy due, although never<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in my heart have I swept the dust from Thy steps, I<br /></span> +<span class="i0">have never despaired reaching the sill of Thy throne of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">pity, for never have I importuned Thee with my troubles.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC230" id="NIC230"></a>230.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Let us recommence the course of our pleasures and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">say the <i>tekbir</i> [farewell] to the five prayers. Everywhere,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">where the flask is present, you will see, like the neck of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the flask itself, our necks stretching out towards the cup.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC231" id="NIC231"></a>231.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Here below, we are only the puppets with which the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wheel of Heaven is amused. This is a truth and not a<br /></span> +<span class="i0">metaphor. We are in fact the playthings upon this human<br /></span> +<span class="i0">checkerboard, which finally we leave to enter one<br /></span> +<span class="i0">by one the coffin of annihilation.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC232" id="NIC232"></a>232.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">You ask me what is this phantasmagoria of things here<br /></span> +<span class="i0">below. To tell you the whole truth regarding it would<br /></span> +<span class="i0">be too long: it is a fantastic image which comes out of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">a vast sea, and which re-enters, later, the same vast sea.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">337</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC233" id="NIC233"></a>233.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To-day we are lost in love, we are in deep distress,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and finally inebriate, within the temple of our idols<br /></span> +<span class="i0">render to the cult of wine its due. To-day, entirely separate<br /></span> +<span class="i0">from our being, we shall have attained the step of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the eternal throne.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC234" id="NIC234"></a>234.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My well-beloved [would that her life might last as long<br /></span> +<span class="i0">as my sorrows!] has commenced to be amiable to me<br /></span> +<span class="i0">again. She cast in my eyes a sweet and furtive look<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and disappeared, saying without doubt to herself: Do<br /></span> +<span class="i0">good and cast it on the waters.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC235" id="NIC235"></a>235.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Here is the Dawn! Rise Thou, O Source of all Delight!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drink sweetly of the wine and let us listen to the harmonies<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of the harp, for the life of those who sleep will<br /></span> +<span class="i0">not be long, and of those who are no more, not one will<br /></span> +<span class="i0">e'er return.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC236" id="NIC236"></a>236.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Thou, who knowest the secrets hidden most deeply<br /></span> +<span class="i0">at the bottom of the heart of each, Thou who raisest with<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy hand all those who fall in distress, give me the power<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of renunciation and accept my excuses, O God!—Thou<br /></span> +<span class="i0">who givest this power to all, who acceptest the excuses<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of all!<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">338</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC237" id="NIC237"></a>237.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I saw on the walls of the city of Thous a bird hovering<br /></span> +<span class="i0">before the skull of Kai-Kawous. The bird said to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the skull: Alas! what has become of the noise of thy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">glory and the sound of the clarion?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC238" id="NIC238"></a>238.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Raise no question of the vicissitudes of this world, nor<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of affairs of the future. Consider what a prize we have<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in the present moment, and disturb not thyself with the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">past or question me about the future.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC239" id="NIC239"></a>239.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Let not the fear of future things yellow thy cheeks; let<br /></span> +<span class="i0">not present affairs make thee tremble with fright; rejoice,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in this world of annihilation, at the portion of pleasure<br /></span> +<span class="i0">which comes to you, and wait not for that which the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">kindness of heaven may withhold.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC240" id="NIC240"></a>240.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If you will listen to me, I will give you some advice:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">[Here it is] For the love of God put not on the mantle<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of hypocrisy. Eternity is for all time, and this world<br /></span> +<span class="i0">is but an instant. Then sell not for an instant the empire<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of eternity.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">339</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC241" id="NIC241"></a>241.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How long can I hold you by my ignorance? My own<br /></span> +<span class="i0">annihilation oppresses my heart. Straightway I gird my<br /></span> +<span class="i0">loins with the ephod of the priests. Do you know why?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Because it is the fashion of the Musulman, and I am one.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC242" id="NIC242"></a>242.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Khayyam! when intoxicate, be happy; when seated<br /></span> +<span class="i0">near a beauty, joyous be. Since the end of things in this<br /></span> +<span class="i0">world is annihilation, pretend that you are not, but<br /></span> +<span class="i0">since you are, give yourself up to pleasure.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC243" id="NIC243"></a>243.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Yesterday, I visited the workshop of a potter; there I<br /></span> +<span class="i0">saw two thousand pitchers, some speaking, others silent.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Each one of these seemed to say to me: Where is the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">potter? Where is the buyer of pitchers? Where the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">seller?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC244" id="NIC244"></a>244.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Yesterday, while passing drunk before an inn, I met an<br /></span> +<span class="i0">old man overcome with wine and carrying a gourd of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine upon his back. I said to him: O aged man! have<br /></span> +<span class="i0">you no fear of God? He answered me: Pity comes from<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Him; go, drink some wine.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">340</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC245" id="NIC245"></a>245.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How long will lack of success in thy enterprises grieve<br /></span> +<span class="i0">thee? Torment is the portion of those who think of the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">future. Live then, in joy, grieve not thy heart with the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">cares of this world, and know that wine increases not at<br /></span> +<span class="i0">all the bitterness of pain.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC246" id="NIC246"></a>246.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Wine, which the wise man knows how to appreciate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">is for me the water of life and I its prophet am. It is<br /></span> +<span class="i0">balm for the heart, an elixir which fortifies the soul.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has God Himself not said: The benefits of the human<br /></span> +<span class="i0">race are found in wine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC247" id="NIC247"></a>247.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Although wine be prohibited, drink it without ceasing,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">drink it in the evening and in the morning, drink it to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the noise of songs and to the sound of the harp. When<br /></span> +<span class="i0">you can, procure that which sparkles like the ruby, throw<br /></span> +<span class="i0">a drop on the earth and drink all the rest.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC248" id="NIC248"></a>248.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Diversity of creed divides the human race into about<br /></span> +<span class="i0">seventy-two sects. Amongst all these dogmas, I have<br /></span> +<span class="i0">chosen that of Thy love. What signify these words:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Impiety, Islamism, creed, sin? My true aim is to seek<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thee. Far be from me all these vain, indifferent pretexts.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">341</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC249" id="NIC249"></a>249.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Enumerate my good qualities one by one; my faults,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">pass by in tens. Pardon each sin committed for the love<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of God. Fan not the fire of hatred by the breath of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">passion, pardon, rather, in memory of the tomb of the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Prophet of God [Mohammed].<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC250" id="NIC250"></a>250.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In truth, wine is a limpid spirit in the cup; in the body<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of the flask, it is a transparent soul. No annoying person<br /></span> +<span class="i0">is worthy of my society. It is only the cup of wine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">which can figure there, for that is at once a solid and a<br /></span> +<span class="i0">diaphanous body.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC251" id="NIC251"></a>251.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Wheel of Heaven! Thou art complete in Thy ingratitude.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou keepest me constantly bare [naked]<br /></span> +<span class="i0">like a fish. The weaver's loom weaves clothes for human<br /></span> +<span class="i0">beings; more charitable is it than Thou, O Wheel of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Heaven!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC252" id="NIC252"></a>252.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Khayyam! Time is ashamed of him who allows his<br /></span> +<span class="i0">heart to be saddened by vicissitudes below; drink, then,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to the sound of the harp, drink some wine from the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">crystal, before the crystal broken be upon a stone.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">342</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC253" id="NIC253"></a>253.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If the rose is not our portion, do not the thorns remain?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If light divine does not reach us, is there not the fire [of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">hell]? If we have not the clerical mantle, or that of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the temple, or the pontifical, do not the bells, the church,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and the ephod remain to us?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC254" id="NIC254"></a>254.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If the Wheel of Heaven refuses me peace, am I not<br /></span> +<span class="i0">ready for war? If I have not an honorable reputation,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">have I not shame for myself? Here is the cup full of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine the color of rubies; he who will not drink of it, has<br /></span> +<span class="i0">he not his head and a stone?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC255" id="NIC255"></a>255.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">See Dawn appears. Already has it rent the veil of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">night. Arise, then, and empty the morning cup. Why<br /></span> +<span class="i0">this sadness? Drink, O my heart! drink, for these dawns<br /></span> +<span class="i0">will succeed each other with face turned towards us,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">when we shall have ours turned towards the earth.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC256" id="NIC256"></a>256.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">All that this world contains are but images and flourishes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of fiction. Ill-advised is he who does not comprehend<br /></span> +<span class="i0">his place in the number of these images. Repose,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">thou, friend, drink a cup of wine, give thyself up to joy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and thus be delivered from all these vain figures, from<br /></span> +<span class="i0">these impossible reflections [which come to assail thy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">mind].<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">343</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC257" id="NIC257"></a>257.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When you are in the company of a beauty with cypress-like<br /></span> +<span class="i0">figure and a color fresher than the newly-culled<br /></span> +<span class="i0">rose, put not far from thee the flowers of the field, nor<br /></span> +<span class="i0">let the cup escape from thy hand; [do this] before the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">north-wind of death, like a gale which disperses the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">leaves of the roses, tears in tatters the envelope of thy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">being.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC258" id="NIC258"></a>258.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How long these cries, these groans against the things<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of this world? Rise, rather, and pass gaily every instant.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When the universe shall be re-dressed in green from end<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to end, drink wine in a ruby cup, full to the brim.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC259" id="NIC259"></a>259.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Give not vain thoughts free access to thy mind. Drink<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine throughout the year, and always cups filled to the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">brim. Pursue the daughter of the vine and aye rejoice,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">for it is better to enjoy the daughter without leave of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">law than know the mother with her full consent.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC260" id="NIC260"></a>260.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My love is at the apogee of its flame. The beauty<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of the one who captivates my soul [the Divinity] is complete.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My heart speaks, but my tongue remains mute,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">refusing to express my sentiments. Great God! Has one<br /></span> +<span class="i0">ever seen aught more strange? I am devoured by thirst,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and before me flows a fresh and limpid draught!<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">344</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC261" id="NIC261"></a>261.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Take a cup of wine in thy hand, then mingle thy voice<br /></span> +<span class="i0">with that of the nightingale, for, if it were meet to drink<br /></span> +<span class="i0">this juice of the vine without accompaniment of harmonious<br /></span> +<span class="i0">sound, the wine itself would make no noise in<br /></span> +<span class="i0">slipping out of the flask.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC262" id="NIC262"></a>262.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Guard thyself from ever despairing for a crime committed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and be mindful of the clemency of thy Creator,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the pity of the Master; for, should'st thou die to-day, in<br /></span> +<span class="i0">a state of complete drunkenness, to-morrow he would<br /></span> +<span class="i0">pardon thy decaying dust for all.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC263" id="NIC263"></a>263.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Wheel of Heaven, thy circular course does not satisfy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">me. Deliver me from it, for I am unworthy of thy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">chain. If thy good pleasure consists in according thy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">favors only to the poor in mind, to idiots, I am neither<br /></span> +<span class="i0">intelligent enough or wise enough [to be confounded<br /></span> +<span class="i0">by it].<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC264" id="NIC264"></a>264.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O <i>mufti</i> [grand judge] of the city! I am more a worker<br /></span> +<span class="i0">than art thou. Drunk as I am, I own more intelligence<br /></span> +<span class="i0">than thou; for thou, thou drinkest the blood of human<br /></span> +<span class="i0">beings and I that of the vine. Be just and tell me<br /></span> +<span class="i0">which is the more sanguinary of the two?<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">345</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC265" id="NIC265"></a>265.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">That which is wisest is to seek joy in our hearts in<br /></span> +<span class="i0">a cup of wine; and not preoccupy ourselves too much<br /></span> +<span class="i0">with the present or the past; and, finally, were it only<br /></span> +<span class="i0">for an instant, to free from the shackles of reason that<br /></span> +<span class="i0">soul which has been loaned us and which groans in its<br /></span> +<span class="i0">prison.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC266" id="NIC266"></a>266.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The moment I shall fly from death, when, like the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">dry leaves, the particles of my body shall detach themselves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">from the centers of life, oh, then! with what joy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">shall I pass across the universe, as through a sieve,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">before the mason comes to sift my own dust.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC267" id="NIC267"></a>267.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">That vault of heaven, under which we reel, we might,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in thought, liken to a lantern. The universe is the lantern.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sun represents the light, and we, like the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">images with which the lantern is ornamented, dwell there<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in stupefaction.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC268" id="NIC268"></a>268.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Thou hast formed me of earth and of water, what can<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I do? Whether I be wool or silk, it is Thou that hast<br /></span> +<span class="i0">woven, and what can I do? The good that I do, the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">evil that I am guilty of, were alike predestined by Thee;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">what can I do?<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">346</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC269" id="NIC269"></a>269.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O friend, come to me, and let us take no thought<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of to-day nor to-morrow, but consider our short instant<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of existence as spoils. To-morrow, when we shall have<br /></span> +<span class="i0">abandoned this old tent [the world], we shall be the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">companions of those who left it seven thousand years<br /></span> +<span class="i0">ago!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC270" id="NIC270"></a>270.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Never for a moment be deprived of wine, for it is wine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that gives reflection to intelligence, to the heart of man<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and to religion. If the devil had tasted it for one instant,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">he would have adored Adam and have made before<br /></span> +<span class="i0">him thousands of genuflections.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC271" id="NIC271"></a>271.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Arise, dance, and we shall clap our hands. Drink to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the presence of beauties with the languorous eyes of the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">narcissus. Happiness is not very great when one has<br /></span> +<span class="i0">emptied but a score of cups; it is strangely complete<br /></span> +<span class="i0">when one arrives at the sixtieth.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC272" id="NIC272"></a>272.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I have shut upon myself the door of avarice, and am<br /></span> +<span class="i0">thus free from obligation to those who are men and those<br /></span> +<span class="i0">who do not merit the name. Since there exists but one<br /></span> +<span class="i0">friend [God] toward whom I can extend my hand, I am<br /></span> +<span class="i0">what I am, and that concerns only Him and me.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">347</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC273" id="NIC273"></a>273.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I am constantly saddened by the motion of this Wheel<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of the Heavens. I am in revolt against my vile nature.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I have neither enough knowledge to hide myself and not<br /></span> +<span class="i0">return to the world, nor intelligence enough to live there<br /></span> +<span class="i0">without preoccupying myself with it.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC274" id="NIC274"></a>274.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How many people that I see upon the surface of the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">earth are plunged in sleep [superstition]! How many I<br /></span> +<span class="i0">perceive that are already buried in its depths! When I<br /></span> +<span class="i0">throw my eyes over this desert of Not-being, how many<br /></span> +<span class="i0">people I see who have not yet come—how many who<br /></span> +<span class="i0">have already departed!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC275" id="NIC275"></a>275.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Thy pity being promised me, I have no fear of sin.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With the provision that Thou possessest, I have no disquiet<br /></span> +<span class="i0">about the journey. Thy benevolence renders my<br /></span> +<span class="i0">visage white and of the black book I have no fear.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC276" id="NIC276"></a>276.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Be not led to believe that I fear the world, or that I<br /></span> +<span class="i0">have fear of dying, or of seeing my soul go its way.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Death being a truth, I have no fear of it. What I fear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">is that I have not lived well.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">348</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC277" id="NIC277"></a>277.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How long shall we be slaves to reason and to every<br /></span> +<span class="i0">day? What matters it whether we remain a hundred<br /></span> +<span class="i0">years in this world, or whether we dwell here but a day?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Go, bring some wine in a bowl before we are transformed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">into pitchers in the workshop of some potter.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC278" id="NIC278"></a>278.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How long will you blame us, O ignorant man of God!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We are the patrons of the tavern, we are constantly overcome<br /></span> +<span class="i0">with wine. You are given up entirely to your<br /></span> +<span class="i0">chaplet, to your hypocrisy, and your infernal machinations.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We, cup in hand and always near the object of our love,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">live in accordance with our desires.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC279" id="NIC279"></a>279.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Let us sell the diadem of Khan, the crown of Kai, let<br /></span> +<span class="i0">us sell it and buy the sound of a flute let us sell the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">turban and the silken cassock, yea, for a cup of wine let<br /></span> +<span class="i0">us sell the chaplet which in itself contains naught but<br /></span> +<span class="i0">hypocrisy.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC280" id="NIC280"></a>280.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">That day when the juice of the vine does not ferment<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in my head, the universe could offer me an antidote which<br /></span> +<span class="i0">would be a poison to me. Yea, sorrow over the things<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of this world is a poison, and its antidote is wine. I will<br /></span> +<span class="i0">take the antidote then that I may have no fear of the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">poison.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">349</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC281" id="NIC281"></a>281.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How long shall we blush at the injustice of others?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How long shall we burn in the fire of this insipid world?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Arise, banish from thee the sorrow of the world, if thou<br /></span> +<span class="i0">art a man; to-day is a feast; come, drink rose-colored<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC282" id="NIC282"></a>282.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I am in continual war with my passions, but what can<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I do? The memory of my deeds causes me a thousand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">regrets, but what can I do? I admit that in Thy clemency<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou mayest pardon my faults, but the shame of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">knowing that Thou knowest what I have done, that shame<br /></span> +<span class="i0">will remain, and what can I do?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC283" id="NIC283"></a>283.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O my soul! we two form together the parallel of a compass.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Although we have two points, we make but one<br /></span> +<span class="i0">body. Actually, we turn upon the same point and describe<br /></span> +<span class="i0">a circle, but the day will come finally, when these two<br /></span> +<span class="i0">points shall be united.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC284" id="NIC284"></a>284.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Since this world is not a place of permanent sojourn for<br /></span> +<span class="i0">us, it would be an enormous error to deprive ourselves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of wine and abstain from the favors of our well-beloved.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh, peaceable man! how long these discussions upon the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">creation or upon the eternity of the world? When I no<br /></span> +<span class="i0">longer am, what will it matter to me whether it be ancient<br /></span> +<span class="i0">or modern.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">350</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC285" id="NIC285"></a>285.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Although it may be through duty that I present myself<br /></span> +<span class="i0">at the mosque, it certainly is not for the purpose of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">making a prayer. One day I stole a <i>sedjaddeh</i> [prayer-rug].<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The <i>sedjaddeh</i> is worn out; I have returned<br /></span> +<span class="i0">again, and still again.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC286" id="NIC286"></a>286.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Be not cast down by the troubles which we call vicissitudes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">here below. Let us occupy ourselves only in<br /></span> +<span class="i0">drinking pure wine, limpid wine, the color of a rose.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wine, friend, is the blood of the world. The world is<br /></span> +<span class="i0">our murderer; how shall we resist drinking the blood of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the heart of him who spills ours?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC287" id="NIC287"></a>287.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">For the love which I bring thee, I am ready to undergo<br /></span> +<span class="i0">all sorts of blame, and if I violate my vow, I submit<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to the penalty. Oh! had I to endure until the last day<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the torment that thou causest me, that space of time<br /></span> +<span class="i0">would still seem too short.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC288" id="NIC288"></a>288.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We have arrived too late in this circle of being, and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">have descended below human dignity. Oh! since life is<br /></span> +<span class="i0">not passed in accordance with our vows, it is better<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that it should be finished, for we are glutted with it!<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">351</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC289" id="NIC289"></a>289.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Since the world is perishable, I would devise some<br /></span> +<span class="i0">scheme for it; I would think only of joy, or only of the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">limpid wine. They say to me: Would God might make<br /></span> +<span class="i0">thee renounce it! Nay, would that He might not give<br /></span> +<span class="i0">such command, for if He gave it, I would not obey!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC290" id="NIC290"></a>290.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When, with bowed head, I have fallen at the feet of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">death; when this destroying angel shall have made me<br /></span> +<span class="i0">like a bird robbed of its plumage, then of my dust make<br /></span> +<span class="i0">nothing other than a flask, for the perfume of the wine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that it contains might revive me for an instant.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC291" id="NIC291"></a>291.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When I examine closely the things of this world, what<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I see is that human beings in general appropriate to themselves,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">without merit on their part, the good it contains.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As for me, O God All-Powerful! I meet only<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the reverse of my desires in all that falls under my eyes!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC292" id="NIC292"></a>292.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">It is I who am the chief of habitual patrons of the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">tavern; it is I who am plunged in rebellion against the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">law, it is I who, during the long nights, soaked in pure<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine, cry out to God the griefs of my heart imbrued with<br /></span> +<span class="i0">blood.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">352</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC293" id="NIC293"></a>293.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How grow the nights without which we could not<br /></span> +<span class="i0">close our eyes, and before which a cruel fate comes first<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to sadden us! Arise, and let us breathe an instant ere<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the breath of the morning stirs, for, very long, alas!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">will this Dawn breathe when we no longer breathe!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC294" id="NIC294"></a>294.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Come, see the Dawn, and, with a full cup of rose-colored<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine in hand, let us breathe for an instant. As<br /></span> +<span class="i0">for honor, reputation, that fragile crystal, let us break it<br /></span> +<span class="i0">against a stone. Renounce insatiable desires, and stroke<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the silken tresses of the fair and list the harmonies of the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">harp.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC295" id="NIC295"></a>295.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In this world, where each breath we breathe leads to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">a new sorrow, it is better never to breathe an instant<br /></span> +<span class="i0">without a cup of wine in hand. When the breath of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Aurora makes itself felt, arise and, time after time, empty<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the cup, for [as I have told you] this Dawn will breathe<br /></span> +<span class="i0">for long, long years when we no longer breathe.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC296" id="NIC296"></a>296.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Should I commit all the sins of the universe, still Thy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">pity, I dare believe, would extend its hand to me. Hast<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou not promised to put off the day when I should be<br /></span> +<span class="i0">a prey to my infirmities? [Accomplish Thy promise and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">for that] exact not a state more frightful than that in<br /></span> +<span class="i0">which Thou seest me at this moment.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">353</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC297" id="NIC297"></a>297.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If I am drunk with old wine, ah, well! I am. If I am<br /></span> +<span class="i0">an infidel, fire worshipper or idolater, ah, well! that I am.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Each group of individuals forms some idea on my account.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But what matters it? I belong to myself and I<br /></span> +<span class="i0">am what I am.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC298" id="NIC298"></a>298.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">From the time since I am, I have not been for an instant<br /></span> +<span class="i0">without drunkenness. This night is that of <i>Kidr</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0">and I this night am drunk; my lips are glued to that of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the cup and, leaning my breast against the jar, I have<br /></span> +<span class="i0">held the neck of the flask in my hand until day.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC299" id="NIC299"></a>299.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I am constantly attracted by the sight of limpid wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">my ears are ever attentive to the melodious sounds of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the flute and of the <i>rubab</i> [viol]. Oh, if the potter make<br /></span> +<span class="i0">a pitcher of my dust, would that that pitcher might constantly<br /></span> +<span class="i0">be full of wine!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC300" id="NIC300"></a>300.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I understand all that annihilation and being apparently<br /></span> +<span class="i0">mean; I know the foundation of lofty thought. Ah, well!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">may all this knowledge be annihilated in me if I recognize<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in man a higher state than that of drunkenness!<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">354</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC301" id="NIC301"></a>301.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I indeed drink wine, but I commit no disorder. I<br /></span> +<span class="i0">stretch out my hand, but it is only to seize the cup.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Would you know why I am an adorer of wine? It is<br /></span> +<span class="i0">because I do not wish to imitate you and be an adorer<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of myself.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC302" id="NIC302"></a>302.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Are you discreet enough for me to tell you in a few<br /></span> +<span class="i0">words what man has been from the beginning? A miserable<br /></span> +<span class="i0">creature, moulded in the clay of chagrin. He has,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">for a few years, eaten his morsel here below, and then<br /></span> +<span class="i0">has raised his foot and gone away.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC303" id="NIC303"></a>303.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">It is the rim of the wine-jar which we have chosen for<br /></span> +<span class="i0">our place of prayer; it is in making use of wine that we<br /></span> +<span class="i0">are rendered worthy of the name of man; it is in the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">tavern that we get back the time lost in the mosque.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC304" id="NIC304"></a>304.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">It is we who are the true aim of universal creation; it<br /></span> +<span class="i0">is we who, in the eyes of wisdom, are the essence of divine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">regard. The circle of this world is like a ring and,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">without doubt, we are the jeweled signet of it.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">355</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC305" id="NIC305"></a>305.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Drunkenness has transported us from our own misery<br /></span> +<span class="i0">here below to untold joys; from our humble condition, it<br /></span> +<span class="i0">has raised our heads to the skies. Nevertheless, behold<br /></span> +<span class="i0">us finally freed from our thraldom to the body! Behold<br /></span> +<span class="i0">us returned again to the earth, whence we came!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC306" id="NIC306"></a>306.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If I have eaten during the days of Ramazan, do not<br /></span> +<span class="i0">believe I did it through inadvertence. The fatiguing<br /></span> +<span class="i0">hardships of the fast have so turned about my days and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">nights [the one for the other] that I have always believed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in eating the morning repast.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC307" id="NIC307"></a>307.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We have constantly heads overcome with wine; the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">presence of wine alone animates our society. Then<br /></span> +<span class="i0">leave off thy counsel, O ignorant penitent! [you see<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that] we are the adorers of wine, and that the lips of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the object of our love are turned to our desires.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC308" id="NIC308"></a>308.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This is the season of roses. Oh! I would now give<br /></span> +<span class="i0">rein to one of my desires. I would commit an act which<br /></span> +<span class="i0">infringes on the law of the Koran. Yea, for some days,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in company of the fair with velvet and bright tinted cheeks<br /></span> +<span class="i0">spreading rose-colored wine over the green turf, I would<br /></span> +<span class="i0">transform the plain into a field of tulips.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">356</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC309" id="NIC309"></a>309.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When in this world joy seizes us, when it gives to our<br /></span> +<span class="i0">complexion the brilliant lustre of the courser of the firmament<br /></span> +<span class="i0">[the sun], then I love to be in a green prairie<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in the midst of beauties with velvet cheeks, and partake<br /></span> +<span class="i0">with them of this sweet green hasheesh ere going again<br /></span> +<span class="i0">myself under this earth covered with green sod.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC310" id="NIC310"></a>310.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Never have we tasted in happiness a drop of water<br /></span> +<span class="i0">without the hand of grief appearing to present to us its<br /></span> +<span class="i0">bitter beverage. Never have we dipped a piece of bread<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in salt without the salt returning to re-open half-healed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wounds of the heart.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC311" id="NIC311"></a>311.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Take care, take good care of making noise in a tavern!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pass the time there, but avoid all agitation. Sell the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">turban, sell the book [the Koran] to buy wine. Finally,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">let us pass through the <i>medresseh</i> [school of the mosques],<br /></span> +<span class="i0">but let us not stop there.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC312" id="NIC312"></a>312.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Every day, at dawn, I go to the tavern. There I give<br /></span> +<span class="i0">myself to the company of <i>kalendar</i> hypocrites. O Thou,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">who art the master of secrets most concealed, give me<br /></span> +<span class="i0">faith, if Thou wishest me to apply myself to prayer.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">357</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC313" id="NIC313"></a>313.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To the cares of this world, let us not accord as much<br /></span> +<span class="i0">value, even, as to a grain of barley; oh! let us be happy!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If we have something for breakfast, we may have nothing<br /></span> +<span class="i0">for dinner; oh! let us be happy! Although nothing<br /></span> +<span class="i0">well cooked comes to us from the kitchen, let us not address<br /></span> +<span class="i0">our troublesome prayers to any one; oh! let us be<br /></span> +<span class="i0">happy!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC314" id="NIC314"></a>314.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Not a single day do I feel myself free from the troublesome<br /></span> +<span class="i0">bonds of this world; not for a single instant do I<br /></span> +<span class="i0">breathe contented with my being. I have long served<br /></span> +<span class="i0">an apprenticeship to human vicissitudes, and I have not<br /></span> +<span class="i0">yet become master, either in that which concerns this<br /></span> +<span class="i0">world, or in what has to do with the other.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC315" id="NIC315"></a>315.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We, in one hand, take the Koran; with the other we<br /></span> +<span class="i0">seize the cup: sometimes you see us carried away with<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that which is lawful, sometimes with what is prohibited.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We, then, beneath this azure vault, are not completely<br /></span> +<span class="i0">infidel, or absolutely Musulman.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC316" id="NIC316"></a>316.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Present a salutation on my account to Mostapha, and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">afterward say to him with all the deference due: O<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lord Hachemite! why, in accordance with the law of the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Koran, is the sharp <i>doug</i> [whey] lawful, yet pure wine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">prohibited?<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">358</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC317" id="NIC317"></a>317.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Present a salutation on my part to Khayyam, and then<br /></span> +<span class="i0">say to him: O Khayyam! you are an ignorant man. When<br /></span> +<span class="i0">have I said that wine was prohibited? It is lawful for<br /></span> +<span class="i0">intelligent men; it is prohibited only to the ignorant.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC318" id="NIC318"></a>318.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O thou that lusteth night and day for the goods of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">this world, dost thou not reflect upon the terrible day?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Take into consideration thy last breath, come back to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">self, and see how time deals with others.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC319" id="NIC319"></a>319.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O thou who art the summing up of the universal creation,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">cease for an instant to occupy thyself with gain or<br /></span> +<span class="i0">loss; take a cup of wine from the hand of the etern<br /></span> +<span class="i0">cupbearer, and free thyself thus altogether from the cares<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of this world and from those of the other!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC320" id="NIC320"></a>320.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If you know to what to cling upon this walk around<br /></span> +<span class="i0">a circle without end, you must recognize two classes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of men: those who understand perfectly its good and its<br /></span> +<span class="i0">bad side, and those who have no notion either of themselves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">or of things here below.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">359</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC321" id="NIC321"></a>321.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Render light to my heart the weight of the vicissitudes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of this world. Conceal from mortals my reprehensible actions.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Render me happy to-day, and to-morrow make me<br /></span> +<span class="i0">what thou deemest worthy of Thy pity.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC322" id="NIC322"></a>322.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">For him who makes account of human ills, joy, sorrow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">pain are all identical. The good and the bad of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">this world must one day end. What matters it whether<br /></span> +<span class="i0">all be torment or pleasure for us?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC323" id="NIC323"></a>323.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Now that the nightingale has made its voice heard,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">think no longer of anything, but seize the ruby cup of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine from the hand of the drinkers; arise, come, for the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">rose blossoms are breathing out joy; avenge thyself,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">avenge thyself for two or three days for the torments<br /></span> +<span class="i0">thou hast endured.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC324" id="NIC324"></a>324.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Notice this cup made of clay; it is possessed of a<br /></span> +<span class="i0">soul! They say a jasmine produces the flowers of the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Judas-tree. But what do I say? The shining purity of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine is a cause of my error? Oh, no [it is not wine], it is<br /></span> +<span class="i0">diaphanous water shot with a liquid fire.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">360</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC325" id="NIC325"></a>325.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Arise, leave the cares of this world which are fleeting;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">be joyous, pass gaily this life of a moment, for if the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">favors of heaven had been constant to others, this turn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of joy would not have come to you.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC326" id="NIC326"></a>326.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Listen to me, O thou who hast not seen old friends<br /></span> +<span class="i0">[of experience]! Vex not thyself with this Wheel of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Heaven which has neither surface nor foundation: content<br /></span> +<span class="i0">thyself with what thou hast and, as a peaceable spectator,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">observe here below the various games to which men are<br /></span> +<span class="i0">destined.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC327" id="NIC327"></a>327.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Employ all thy efforts to be agreeable to drinkers,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and follow the good counsel of Khayyam. O friend!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">demolish the bases of prayer and of fasting, drink wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">steal if you will, but do good.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC328" id="NIC328"></a>328.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Justice is the soul of the universe, the universe is the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">body. The angels are the wit of the body, the heavens<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the elements, the creatures in it are the members; behold<br /></span> +<span class="i0">here the eternal unity. The rest is only trumpery.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">361</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC329" id="NIC329"></a>329.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Yesterday evening, in the tavern, the object of my<br /></span> +<span class="i0">heart that ravishes my soul [God] presented me a cup<br /></span> +<span class="i0">with a ravishing air of sincerity and a desire to please<br /></span> +<span class="i0">me, inviting me to drink. No, said I to him, I will<br /></span> +<span class="i0">not drink. Drink, he answered me, for the love of my<br /></span> +<span class="i0">heart.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC330" id="NIC330"></a>330.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Do you wish the universe to submit itself to your will?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Occupy yourself without ceasing in fortifying your soul.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Share my mood, which consists in drinking wine and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">never taking to myself the cares of things here below.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC331" id="NIC331"></a>331.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The sages who have well considered this world of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">dust, this sojourn of inconstancy from one end to the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">other, see nothing in it agreeable but wine in ruby<br /></span> +<span class="i0">cups and beautiful countenances.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC332" id="NIC332"></a>332.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Thanks to the iniquity of this Wheel of Heaven which<br /></span> +<span class="i0">resembles a mirror, thanks to the periodic motion of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">time which accords its favors only to the most abject,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">my cheeks, hollowed like a cup, are bathed in tears; but,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">like a flask, my heart is full of blood.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">362</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC333" id="NIC333"></a>333.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Yesterday [before day], in company with a charming<br /></span> +<span class="i0">friend and a cup of rose-colored wine, I was seated on<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the border of a brook. Before me stood the cup, that<br /></span> +<span class="i0">shell, of which the pearl [contained in the cup] shed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">such a brilliant light that the herald of the sun, awaking<br /></span> +<span class="i0">with a start, announced the Dawn.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC334" id="NIC334"></a>334.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Forget the day which has been cut off from thy existence;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">disturb not thyself about to-morrow, which has not<br /></span> +<span class="i0">yet come; rest not upon that which is or that which<br /></span> +<span class="i0">is no more; live happily one instant and throw not thy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">life to the winds.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC335" id="NIC335"></a>335.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Art not ashamed to give thyself to corruption?—to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">neglect thus both what is commanded and what is forbidden?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Even if you succeed in appropriating all the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">goods of the earth to yourself, what can you do with<br /></span> +<span class="i0">them except to abandon them in your turn?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC336" id="NIC336"></a>336.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I have seen a man betake himself to sterile soil. He<br /></span> +<span class="i0">was neither a heretic nor a Musulman; he had neither<br /></span> +<span class="i0">riches nor religion, nor God, nor truth, nor law, nor certitude.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who in this world or in the other would have<br /></span> +<span class="i0">so much courage?<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">363</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC337" id="NIC337"></a>337.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">One host of men is pondering upon belief, or on the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">faith; others are hovering between doubt and certainty.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But suddenly behind the veil there's one will cry: O<br /></span> +<span class="i0">ignorant ones! the way that you seek is neither here<br /></span> +<span class="i0">nor there!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC338" id="NIC338"></a>338.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There hangs in the heavens a bull called Parwin<br /></span> +<span class="i0">[Pleiades], and another bull is underneath the earth. To<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the eyes of intelligence or those who live in certainty,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I show a herd of asses placed between two beeves.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC339" id="NIC339"></a>339.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Some said to me: Drink less of wine. What reason<br /></span> +<span class="i0">have you for not giving it up? The reason that I give<br /></span> +<span class="i0">is first the face of my friend [God] and secondly the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">morning cup. Be just and tell me, Is it possible to give<br /></span> +<span class="i0">a more luminous reason?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC340" id="NIC340"></a>340.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If I possessed in the heavens the power which God<br /></span> +<span class="i0">exercises there, I would destroy the people of this world,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and others I would make in my own way, so that man,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">freed [from the bonds of superstition], could attain here<br /></span> +<span class="i0">below the desires of his heart.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">364</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC341" id="NIC341"></a>341.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My poor heart, full of grief and folly, has not been<br /></span> +<span class="i0">able to free itself from drunkenness where passion for<br /></span> +<span class="i0">my well-beloved has plunged it. Oh! the day when the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine of this love was distributed, my portion was, without<br /></span> +<span class="i0">doubt, drawn from the blood of my heart!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC342" id="NIC342"></a>342.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To drink wine and seek beautiful faces is wiser than<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to practise hypocrisy and apparent devotion. It is evident<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that if there exist a Hell for lovers and drinkers,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">no one would wish for Paradise.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC343" id="NIC343"></a>343.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Scorn the words of coquettish women, but accept limpid<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine from the hand of those whose mien is irreproachable.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You know that all those who have made their appearance<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in this world are partly of one kind and partly<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of the other, and it is not given to any to see a single<br /></span> +<span class="i0">one that may come back.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC344" id="NIC344"></a>344.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">It is not necessary to soften and disgrace a joyous heart<br /></span> +<span class="i0">by sorrow, to break under the stones of torment our<br /></span> +<span class="i0">moments of delight. As no one is able to tell what is<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to be, what is necessary is some wine, a beloved mistress<br /></span> +<span class="i0">[the Divinity], and repose according to our desires.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">365</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC345" id="NIC345"></a>345.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Yes, it is beautiful to enjoy good fame; it is shameful<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to complain of the injustice of heaven; it is better to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">become drunk with the juice of the grape, than to be<br /></span> +<span class="i0">puffed up with false devotion.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC346" id="NIC346"></a>346.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O God! be pitiful to my poor imprisoned heart; show<br /></span> +<span class="i0">pity to my bosom, susceptible to so much sorrow; pardon<br /></span> +<span class="i0">my feet which lead me to the tavern; pardon my hand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">which seizes the cup!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC347" id="NIC347"></a>347.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O God! deliver me from calculating, more or less, upon<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the things of this world; make me preoccupied with Thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and free me from myself. While I have my sound reason<br /></span> +<span class="i0">good and bad are known to me; render me drunk and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">free me from this knowledge of good and bad.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC348" id="NIC348"></a>348.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This Wheel of Heaven runs after my death and thine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">my friend· it conspires against my soul and thine.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Come, seat thyself upon the turf, for, indeed, small time<br /></span> +<span class="i0">remains to us before new turf shall germinate from my<br /></span> +<span class="i0">dust and from thine.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">366</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC349" id="NIC349"></a>349.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When we shall have lost my soul and thine, they will<br /></span> +<span class="i0">place bricks upon thy tomb and mine. Then, in order<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to cover other tombs with bricks, they will throw my dust<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and thine into the kiln of the brick-maker.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC350" id="NIC350"></a>350.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In this castle which by its splendor rivals the heavens,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">this castle to which sovereigns succeeded with delight, we<br /></span> +<span class="i0">have seen a turtledove seated on the ruined battlements<br /></span> +<span class="i0">crying: Kou, kou, kou, kou [Where? Where?].<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC351" id="NIC351"></a>351.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What advantage has our coming into this world produced?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What advantage will result from our departure?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What remains to us of the heap of hopes that we have<br /></span> +<span class="i0">conceived. Where is the smoke of all the pure men who<br /></span> +<span class="i0">under the celestial fire have been consumed and become<br /></span> +<span class="i0">dust?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC352" id="NIC352"></a>352.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Thou whose lips secrete the water of life, permit<br /></span> +<span class="i0">not those of the cup to come and kiss them! [Oh, if<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou shouldst permit it], may I lose the name of man<br /></span> +<span class="i0">if I am not soaked in the blood of the flask, for what is<br /></span> +<span class="i0">it, this cup, to dare to touch its lips to Thine?<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">367</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC353" id="NIC353"></a>353.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I am such as Thy power has made me. I have lived a<br /></span> +<span class="i0">hundred years filled with Thy benevolence and benefits.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I would like still a hundred years to commit sin and to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">see if the sum of my faults outweighed Thy pity.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC354" id="NIC354"></a>354.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Now take thy cup, carry away the gourd, O Charm of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">my Heart! and go, explore the plains, the borders of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the brooks, for indeed idols, like to the moon in the light<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of their beautiful countenances, have a hundred times<br /></span> +<span class="i0">been transformed into cups, a hundred times have they<br /></span> +<span class="i0">become gourds.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC355" id="NIC355"></a>355.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">It is we who buy old wine and new wine, and it is we<br /></span> +<span class="i0">who sell the world for two grains of barley. Know where<br /></span> +<span class="i0">you will go after death? Bring me some wine and go<br /></span> +<span class="i0">where you will.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC356" id="NIC356"></a>356.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Who is the man who here below has not committed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">sin; can you say? Had he not committed it, could he<br /></span> +<span class="i0">have lived, can you tell? If, because I do evil, you<br /></span> +<span class="i0">punish me for evil, what then is the difference between<br /></span> +<span class="i0">you and me, can you say?<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">368</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC357" id="NIC357"></a>357.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh! where is that one whose lips are of rubies, where<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that precious stone of Bedekhchan? Where is that wine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">full of perfume which gives repose to the soul? They<br /></span> +<span class="i0">say that the religion of Islam prohibits it; drink, friend,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and have no fear, for where do you see Islam?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC358" id="NIC358"></a>358.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Best is it to abstain from all that is not joyful; and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">best it is to receive the cup from the hands of odalisques<br /></span> +<span class="i0">shut up in the palaces of the princes; but best of all is<br /></span> +<span class="i0">drunkenness, indifference to the Kalendars, forgetfulness<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of self. A mouthful of wine, finally, is worth more<br /></span> +<span class="i0">than all that exists in the space between Mah and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mahi.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC359" id="NIC359"></a>359.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">For thee, that which is best is to flee from the seeking<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of knowledge and devotion; to finger the tresses of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">thy ravishing friend; to pour into the cup the blood<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of the vine ere time has spilled thine own.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC360" id="NIC360"></a>360.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O friend! be in repose amidst human vicissitudes; disturb<br /></span> +<span class="i0">not thyself in vain because of the march of time.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When the envelope of thy being shall be torn in tatters,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">what matters what thou hast done, what thou hast said,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">or how defiled thou mayest be?<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">369</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC361" id="NIC361"></a>361.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O thou who hast not done good, but who hast done<br /></span> +<span class="i0">evil, and who hast afterward sought refuge in the Divinity,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">guard thyself from relying upon pardon; for he who<br /></span> +<span class="i0">has done nothing resembles no more him who has sinned<br /></span> +<span class="i0">than he who has sinned resembles him who has done<br /></span> +<span class="i0">nothing!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC362" id="NIC362"></a>362.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Count upon life not longer than the sixtieth year.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Place thy foot in no direction without being overcome<br /></span> +<span class="i0">with wine. As long as thy skull hath not been made a<br /></span> +<span class="i0">pitcher, go always on thy way, nor take the wine-gourd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">from thy shoulder or the wine-cup from thy hand.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC363" id="NIC363"></a>363.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This firmament is a porringer overturned upon our<br /></span> +<span class="i0">heads. Wise men, thereat, humble and unpresumptuous<br /></span> +<span class="i0">are. But see the friendship which obtains between the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">cup and the flask. Lip against lip are they, and twixt<br /></span> +<span class="i0">them ever flows the blood.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC364" id="NIC364"></a>364.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I have swept the sill of the tavern with my hair. Yes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I have given up reflecting upon the good and the bad<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in this world and the next. I saw them, like two bowls,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">rolling in a ditch, when I was sleeping overcome with<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine, and I no more occupied myself with them than if<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I had seen a grain of barley rolling along.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">370</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC365" id="NIC365"></a>365.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The drop of water began to weep on being separated<br /></span> +<span class="i0">from the ocean. The ocean began to laugh, saying to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">it: It is we who are all; in truth, there is no other God<br /></span> +<span class="i0">beside us, and if we are separated, it is only by a simple<br /></span> +<span class="i0">point almost invisible.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC366" id="NIC366"></a>366.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How long shall I trouble myself with the care of knowing<br /></span> +<span class="i0">whether I possess or do not possess—if I ought or<br /></span> +<span class="i0">ought not to pass life gaily? Fill ever the cup of wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O cupbearer! for I do not know whether I shall breathe<br /></span> +<span class="i0">out this breath that I am actually breathing or not.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC367" id="NIC367"></a>367.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Become not a prey to sorrow in this world of iniquity;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">recall not to thy soul the memory of those who are no<br /></span> +<span class="i0">longer here; give up thy heart only to a friend with sweet<br /></span> +<span class="i0">lips and fairy-like in form and never be deprived of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine, or throw life to the winds.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC368" id="NIC368"></a>368.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How long will you speak to me of the mosque, of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">prayer and fasting? Go rather to the tavern and intoxicate<br /></span> +<span class="i0">yourself, and even for that ask alms. O Khayyam!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">drink wine, drink; for this earth of which thou<br /></span> +<span class="i0">art composed will be made into cups, bowls, and pitchers.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">371</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC369" id="NIC369"></a>369.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">So in this palace of brief being, you ought, O wise man,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to give yourself up to rose-colored wine. Then each<br /></span> +<span class="i0">atom of your dust that the wind carries away will fall<br /></span> +<span class="i0">on the sill of the tavern, all saturate with wine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC370" id="NIC370"></a>370.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Note how the zephyrs have made the roses bloom!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Note how their fragrant beauty glads the nightingale!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Go, then, repose in the shadow of these flowers, for<br /></span> +<span class="i0">very speedily they depart from the earth and very often<br /></span> +<span class="i0">ne'er return again.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC371" id="NIC371"></a>371.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Behold us re-united in the midst of lovers; behold us<br /></span> +<span class="i0">freed from the pain which time inflicts; having emptied<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the cup of His love, behold us all free, all tranquil, all<br /></span> +<span class="i0">o'ercome with wine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC372" id="NIC372"></a>372.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Suppose that you have lived in this world in accordance<br /></span> +<span class="i0">with your desires; ah, well! after that? Think to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">yourself that the end of your days has arrived; ah, well!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">after that? Admitting that you have lived for a hundred<br /></span> +<span class="i0">years surrounded by all that your heart could desire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">imagine in your turn, that you have another hundred<br /></span> +<span class="i0">years to live; ah, well! after that?<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">372</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC373" id="NIC373"></a>373.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Do you know how the cypress and the lily have acquired<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the name for freedom which they enjoy among men?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is because one has ten tongues but remains mute, and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the other possesses a hundred hands and keeps them all<br /></span> +<span class="i0">empty.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC374" id="NIC374"></a>374.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O cupbearer! put into my hand some of that delicious<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine, some of that juice attractive as a charming idol,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">some of that nectar, in short, which like a chain whose<br /></span> +<span class="i0">links, turning and returning upon each other, hold fools<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and sages alike in sweet captivity.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC375" id="NIC375"></a>375.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O regret! that life should be passed in pure loss! How<br /></span> +<span class="i0">lawless all our eating and how defiled our bodies! I<br /></span> +<span class="i0">have the blame, O God! of not having done what Thou<br /></span> +<span class="i0">hast commanded. What will come to me for having done<br /></span> +<span class="i0">what Thou hast not commanded?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC376" id="NIC376"></a>376.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Fret not thyself on account of the inconstancy of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">this world; seek wine and draw near to thy caressing<br /></span> +<span class="i0">mistress, for, thou seest that he whom his mother brought<br /></span> +<span class="i0">forth to-day to-morrow disappears from the earth—to-morrow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">returns to annihilation.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">373</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC377" id="NIC377"></a>377.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I can renounce all else, but wine never; for I have the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">means of making amends for all else, but of wine, never.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O God! could one like me become a Musulman and renounce<br /></span> +<span class="i0">old wine? Never.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC378" id="NIC378"></a>378.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We are all lovers, all drunkards, all adorers of wine.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We are all united in the tavern, having banished far<br /></span> +<span class="i0">from us all that is good, all that is evil, all reflection<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and revery. Oh! expect not intelligence or reason of us,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">for we are all overcome with wine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC379" id="NIC379"></a>379.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">It is we who have confidence in the divine goodness,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">who have shaken off the ideas of obedience and sin; for<br /></span> +<span class="i0">where Thy benevolence exists, O God, he who has done<br /></span> +<span class="i0">nothing is equal to him who has done something.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC380" id="NIC380"></a>380.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Thou hast imprinted on our being, O God, such singular<br /></span> +<span class="i0">phantasma of inconsequence, and hast made to rise such<br /></span> +<span class="i0">strange phenomena. Myself cannot be better than I am,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">for Thou hast taken me as I am from out creation's<br /></span> +<span class="i0">crucible.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">374</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC381" id="NIC381"></a>381.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We have violated all the vows that we have made; we<br /></span> +<span class="i0">have closed upon us the door of what is called good and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">what is called bad. Then blame me not if you see me<br /></span> +<span class="i0">committing senseless deeds, for we are drunk with the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine of love, and all are drunk as we.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC382" id="NIC382"></a>382.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A mouthful of old wine is of more worth than a new<br /></span> +<span class="i0">empire. The wise man will reject all that is not wine.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A cup of this nectar is a hundred times preferable to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the kingdom of Feridoun. The lid which covers the wine-jar<br /></span> +<span class="i0">is more precious than the diadem of Kai-Khosrou.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC383" id="NIC383"></a>383.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O my heart! thou canst not penetrate the enigmatical<br /></span> +<span class="i0">secrets of the heavens; thou canst never reach the culminating<br /></span> +<span class="i0">point to which intrepid sages have attained.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Be content, then, to organize a Paradise here below, in<br /></span> +<span class="i0">making daily use of cup and wine, for wilt thou ever reach<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that future Paradise? Thou never wilt.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC384" id="NIC384"></a>384.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Those who are gone before us, O cupbearer! are imbedded<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in the dust of pride. Go, drink wine; go, listen<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to the truth that I tell you: All those who have gone<br /></span> +<span class="i0">ahead are but as the wind; know it well, O cupbearer!<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">375</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC385" id="NIC385"></a>385.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">From afar has appeared a filthy shape. It is said that<br /></span> +<span class="i0">its body was covered with a shirt made of the smoke<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of Hell. It was neither a man nor a woman. It has<br /></span> +<span class="i0">broken our flask and spilled upon the earth the ruby wine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">it contained, glorifying itself at having done a deed worthy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of a man.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC386" id="NIC386"></a>386.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O my heart! when thou art admitted to sit at the banquet<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of this idol [the Divinity], it is after thou hast gone<br /></span> +<span class="i0">out of thyself in order to re-enter thyself again. When<br /></span> +<span class="i0">thou hast tasted a mouthful of the wine of annihilation,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">thou art entirely separate from those that are and from<br /></span> +<span class="i0">those that are no more.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC387" id="NIC387"></a>387.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Yes, I have found myself in close acquaintance with<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine, with drunkenness. But why does the world blame<br /></span> +<span class="i0">me for it? Oh! would to God that all which is illegal<br /></span> +<span class="i0">might produce drunkenness! For then never here below<br /></span> +<span class="i0">should I have seen a shadow of sound reason.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC388" id="NIC388"></a>388.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Thou hast broken my pitcher of wine, my God! Thou<br /></span> +<span class="i0">hast shut upon me the portals of joy, my God! Thou<br /></span> +<span class="i0">hast poured upon earth my limpid wine, my God! Oh!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">[would that my mouth were filled with earth!] couldst<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou have been drunk, my God?<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">376</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC389" id="NIC389"></a>389.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O thou who art the result of the four [elements] and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the seven [heavens], I see you in perplexity amongst<br /></span> +<span class="i0">these four and seven. Drink wine, for, as I have said<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to you more than four times, you will return no more;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">once departed, you are gone indeed.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC390" id="NIC390"></a>390.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">On one hand, Thou hast raised a hundred ambushes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">about us; on the other, Thou sayest to us: If ye put<br /></span> +<span class="i0">foot there, ye shall be caught by death. It is Thou who<br /></span> +<span class="i0">spreadest snares, and whoever falls there, Thou bringest<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to a stand! Thou givest him to death and callest him<br /></span> +<span class="i0">rebel!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC391" id="NIC391"></a>391.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Thou whose mysterious essence is impenetrable to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">intelligence, Thou who carest no more for our obedience<br /></span> +<span class="i0">than our faults, I am drunk with sin, but the confidence<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that I have in Thee renders it right for me. Know<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou, that I count upon Thy pity.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC392" id="NIC392"></a>392.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If this world's things were only based on show, oh!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">then each day would be a feast. Oh! were it not for<br /></span> +<span class="i0">these vain threats, each could attain below the aim of his<br /></span> +<span class="i0">desires, without a fear.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">377</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC393" id="NIC393"></a>393.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O Wheel of Heaven! thou fillest constantly my heart<br /></span> +<span class="i0">with woe. Thou killest in me the germ of joy, with<br /></span> +<span class="i0">water ladening the air which, would breathe, and changest<br /></span> +<span class="i0">into mud the water that I drink.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC394" id="NIC394"></a>394.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O my heart! if thou free thyself from the grief inherent<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in matter, thou shalt become a soul in all its purity; thou<br /></span> +<span class="i0">shalt mount to the heavens, thy residence shall be the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">firmament. Oh! how thou shouldst suffer from shame<br /></span> +<span class="i0">at inhabiting the earth!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC395" id="NIC395"></a>395.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O potter! be attentive, if thou possessest sound reason!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How long wilt thou abase man in moulding his clay? It<br /></span> +<span class="i0">is the finger of Feridoun, the hand of Kai-Khosrou which<br /></span> +<span class="i0">you thus put upon your wheel.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC396" id="NIC396"></a>396.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O rose! thou art the face of some young ravishing<br /></span> +<span class="i0">fair! O wine! thou art the ruby whose brightness joys<br /></span> +<span class="i0">my soul! O fateful fortune! each instant thou appearest<br /></span> +<span class="i0">more strange to me, and nevertheless I seem to know<br /></span> +<span class="i0">thee.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">378</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC397" id="NIC397"></a>397.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">From the cookery of this world, thou only absorbest<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the smoke. How long, plunged in the search for being<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and annihilation, wilt thou be the prey of sorrow? This<br /></span> +<span class="i0">world contains only loss for those who attach themselves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to it. Now disregard this loss, and all for thee will<br /></span> +<span class="i0">benefit become.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC398" id="NIC398"></a>398.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">As for us, let us not try to torment men in their<br /></span> +<span class="i0">sleep; let us refrain from making them utter at midnight<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the lamentable cry <i>O my God! O my God!</i> [as others<br /></span> +<span class="i0">do]. Rest not upon riches or beauty, for the one will<br /></span> +<span class="i0">take wings in the night, and the other, in the night also,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">will be ravished.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC399" id="NIC399"></a>399.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If from the commencement Thou hadst wished to make<br /></span> +<span class="i0">me known to <i>myself</i>, why later, hast Thou separated me<br /></span> +<span class="i0">from this <i>myself</i>? If from the first day Thy intention<br /></span> +<span class="i0">was to abandon me, why hast Thou thrown me, all<br /></span> +<span class="i0">amazed, into the midst of the world?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC400" id="NIC400"></a>400.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh! would to God that there existed some place of repose—that<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the road we follow had some settled end!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Would God that, after a hundred thousand years, we<br /></span> +<span class="i0">could conceive the hope of one new birth of heart upon<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the earth as the green turf is born again!<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">379</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC401" id="NIC401"></a>401.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">While I was drawing a horoscope in the book of love,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">suddenly, from the burning heart of a wise man came<br /></span> +<span class="i0">these words. Happy is he who entertains in his dwelling<br /></span> +<span class="i0">a friend as beautiful as the moon, and who has in prospect<br /></span> +<span class="i0">a night as long as a year!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC402" id="NIC402"></a>402.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The constant sequence of springtime and autumn makes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the leaves of our existence disappear. Drink wine, my<br /></span> +<span class="i0">friend, for sages have well said that grief in this world<br /></span> +<span class="i0">is a poison and its antidote is wine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC403" id="NIC403"></a>403.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O my heart! drink of wine, drink of it in a garden<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and enjoy the presence of thy friend [the Divinity]; renounce<br /></span> +<span class="i0">hypocrisy and show. Is it the doctrine of Ahmed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">you follow? In that case, draw from the fountain-head<br /></span> +<span class="i0">a cup of wine into the bowl which Ali, in his round of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">cupbearing, shall serve.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC404" id="NIC404"></a>404.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But yesterday, at eve, I broke a china cup against a<br /></span> +<span class="i0">stone. I was drunk when committing this senseless act.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This cup seemed to say to me: «I have been like thee;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">thou wilt, in thy turn, be like me.»<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">380</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC405" id="NIC405"></a>405.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The flowers are in blossom, O cupbearer! bring wine.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Leave thy acts of worship, O cupbearer! Ere the angel<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of death put a watch upon us, come, and with a cup of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">ruby wine in hand, let us rejoice while yet there are<br /></span> +<span class="i0">some days with the sweet presence of the friend [the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Divinity].<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC406" id="NIC406"></a>406.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Arise, get off thy bed, O cupbearer! and pour the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">limpid wine. Before they yet make pitchers of our<br /></span> +<span class="i0">skulls, pour out some wine from pitcher into bowl, O<br /></span> +<span class="i0">cupbearer!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC407" id="NIC407"></a>407.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This hypocrisy [which I everywhere see], O cupbearer!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">crushes my heart with weariness. Arise, and gaily bring<br /></span> +<span class="i0">me wine, O cupbearer! and to procure it, put in pawn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the prayer-rug and the turban. Perhaps my arguments<br /></span> +<span class="i0">will then rest upon a solid basis.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC408" id="NIC408"></a>408.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Examine thyself, if thou art intelligent, and observe<br /></span> +<span class="i0">what thou hast brought in the beginning and what thou<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wilt carry away at the end. Thou sayest that thou dost<br /></span> +<span class="i0">not drink because one must die. Whether thou drinkest<br /></span> +<span class="i0">friend, or dost not drink, thou needs must die.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">381</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC409" id="NIC409"></a>409.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Open the door, for it is only Thou who canst open it;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">show me the way, for it is only Thou who canst show a<br /></span> +<span class="i0">way of safety. I will give my hand to none of those who<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wish to lead me, for all are perishable, and only Thou<br /></span> +<span class="i0">eternal.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC410" id="NIC410"></a>410.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">All that you tell me emanates from hatred [O mullah]!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You never cease to treat me as an atheist, a man<br /></span> +<span class="i0">without religion. I am convinced of that which I am,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and I avow it; and should I be right, is it for you to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">lecture me thus?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC411" id="NIC411"></a>411.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Resign yourself to grief if you would find a remedy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and do not complain of your suffering if you would cure<br /></span> +<span class="i0">it. In poverty, be thankful to Providence, if you wish<br /></span> +<span class="i0">some day to have riches for your portion.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC412" id="NIC412"></a>412.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I have seen a wise man in the house of a drunken man<br /></span> +<span class="i0">at evening. I asked him if he could give me some news<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of the absent. He answered me: Drink wine, friend, for<br /></span> +<span class="i0">many like you have gone out but have never returned.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">382</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC413" id="NIC413"></a>413.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I seek a flask of ruby wine, a book of verse, a momentary<br /></span> +<span class="i0">peace in life and bread enough. And if with<br /></span> +<span class="i0">these, my friend, in some lone spot with thee I could<br /></span> +<span class="i0">repose, 'twould be a happiness above a Sultan's regal joy.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC414" id="NIC414"></a>414.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How long these arguments upon the five and the four,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O cupbearer? In comprehending one, O cupbearer! it is<br /></span> +<span class="i0">difficult to grasp a hundred thousand. We are all of earth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O cupbearer! strike the harp: we are all as the wind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">bring the wine, O cupbearer!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC415" id="NIC415"></a>415.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How long will you speak of Yassin and Berat, O cupbearer?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Give me a treatise upon the tavern, O cupbearer!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The day that it is closed will be for me the night of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Berat, O cupbearer!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC416" id="NIC416"></a>416.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">While you have in your body bones, veins, and nerves,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">place not your foot outside the limits of your destiny.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yield never to your enemy, be that enemy Rustum,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">son of Zal; accept nothing which puts you under obligation<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to a friend, be that friend Hatim-tai.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">383</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC417" id="NIC417"></a>417.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">You may indeed be taken with lips tinted with the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">color of the ruby, you may indeed appreciate the cup of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine, you may indeed call for the noise of the drum, the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">sound of the harp and of the flute, but these are only<br /></span> +<span class="i0">trifles. God is my witness, while you do not break the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">bonds of this dark world, you nothing are.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC418" id="NIC418"></a>418.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Bestir yourself, since you are under this tyrannic vault;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">drink wine, since you are in this world, a seat of woe.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, from beginning to the end, being only earth, act<br /></span> +<span class="i0">like a man who is upon the earth, and not as if thou<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wert beneath the earth.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC419" id="NIC419"></a>419.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Since you all secrets know, my friend, why be a prey<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to so many vain torments? Suppose things do not fall<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in touch with your desires, you can at least be gay while<br /></span> +<span class="i0">you still breathe.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC420" id="NIC420"></a>420.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Everywhere I cast my eyes I believe I see the sod of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Paradise and the brook of Koocer. They say the field<br /></span> +<span class="i0">outside of Hell is transformed into a celestial sojourn.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rest then in that celestial place near some celestial fair.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">384</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC421" id="NIC421"></a>421.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Follow no other way than that which the Kalendar<br /></span> +<span class="i0">follows; seek no other place than the tavern; occupy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">yourself only with wine, song and the friend [the Divinity];<br /></span> +<span class="i0">place in your hand a cup of wine, upon your back<br /></span> +<span class="i0">a gourd; drink, O dear object of my heart! drink and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">speak not of foolish things.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC422" id="NIC422"></a>422.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Do you wish life to rest upon a rock? Do you wish<br /></span> +<span class="i0">life for some time free to be from grief? Dwell for one<br /></span> +<span class="i0">instant without drinking wine, then at each breath you'll<br /></span> +<span class="i0">find a new attraction in existence.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC423" id="NIC423"></a>423.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In this world, this house of pilferers, it is useless to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">count upon a friend. Listen to the counsel I give you,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and confide it to no one. Bear your suffering and seek<br /></span> +<span class="i0">no remedy here, be happy in your sorrows and try not to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">divide them with another.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC424" id="NIC424"></a>424.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There are two things which are the foundation of wisdom<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and which ought to be put among the number of the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">most important unproclaimed revelations. Not to eat of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">anything which eats of other things, and to keep oneself<br /></span> +<span class="i0">unsullied by all that lives.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">385</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC425" id="NIC425"></a>425.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How is it that at the commencement of springtime the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">verjuice of the vine is sharp? And afterwards, how<br /></span> +<span class="i0">does it become so sweet? And then how do we find<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the wine so bitter? If one makes viols of a piece of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wood by means of a curvčd knife, who would say on<br /></span> +<span class="i0">seeing it that a flute could be fashioned by the same<br /></span> +<span class="i0">means?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC426" id="NIC426"></a>426.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Know you why, at the break of day, the early-rising<br /></span> +<span class="i0">cock makes its voice heard each moment? It is to tell<br /></span> +<span class="i0">you, through the mirror of the morning, that one more<br /></span> +<span class="i0">night has slipped away from your existence, and that<br /></span> +<span class="i0">you are still in ignorance.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC427" id="NIC427"></a>427.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Give me some of this ruby wine, tinted like the tulip.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pour from the neck of the flask the pure blood it contains,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">for, to-day I can see, outside this cup of wine, no<br /></span> +<span class="i0">friend whose inner man is pure.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC428" id="NIC428"></a>428.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Pour me, O cupbearer! some wine colored like the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">flowers of the Judas-tree, pour, O cupbearer! for grief<br /></span> +<span class="i0">comes to oppress my soul; pour for me the nectar, for<br /></span> +<span class="i0">it is possible that in making me a stranger to myself, it<br /></span> +<span class="i0">will free me one instant from the vicissitudes of this<br /></span> +<span class="i0">world.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">386</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC429" id="NIC429"></a>429.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Thy cup, O my cupbearer! contains liquid rubies; give<br /></span> +<span class="i0">some to my soul, O cupbearer! Let it reflect that precious<br /></span> +<span class="i0">stone; put in my hand, O cupbearer, this incomparable<br /></span> +<span class="i0">cup, for through this I will give new life unto my soul.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC430" id="NIC430"></a>430.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In philosophy, if you are an Aristotle or a Bouzourdj-mehr;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in power, if you are some Roman emperor or some<br /></span> +<span class="i0">potentate of China, drink ever, drink wine from the cup<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of Djem, for the end of all is the tomb. Oh! though you<br /></span> +<span class="i0">are Bahram himself, the coffin is your last sojourn.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC431" id="NIC431"></a>431.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I entered the studio of a potter. I watched him work<br /></span> +<span class="i0">at his wheel, actively occupied in moulding the necks<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and handles of pitchers, forming some of them like the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">heads of kings, others like the feet of beggars.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC432" id="NIC432"></a>432.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Go, choose bliss, if you are wise, and finally you may<br /></span> +<span class="i0">be able to drink wine from the hand of the drinkers of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">eternity, but you are one of the ignorant and joy is not<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in you, it is not given to every ignorant one to taste<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the sweets that ignorance gives.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">387</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC433" id="NIC433"></a>433.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O idol, while you are on your journey through this<br /></span> +<span class="i0">world, draw from the fountain-head into the pitcher, draw<br /></span> +<span class="i0">this salutary wine and, ere the potter makes another<br /></span> +<span class="i0">pitcher of my dust and thine, fill out a cup, drink it<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and pass me one.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC434" id="NIC434"></a>434.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Be attentive, friend, and while thou still art able, lighten<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the grief of a loving heart, for this kingdom of grace<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that now thou hast will not last always, but, like so many<br /></span> +<span class="i0">others thou shalt unexpectedly be called.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC435" id="NIC435"></a>435.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Before you are made drunk by the cup of death, before<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the revolutions of time are full behind you, endeavor<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to make a foundation here below, for you will profit<br /></span> +<span class="i0">nothing by going away empty-handed.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC436" id="NIC436"></a>436.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">It is Thou who disposest of the lot of the living and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of the dead. It is Thou who governest this unruly Wheel<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of the Heavens. Although I am bad, I am only Thy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">slave, Thou art my master. Who then is guilty here<br /></span> +<span class="i0">below? Art Thou not the Creator of all?<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">388</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC437" id="NIC437"></a>437.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O my King! how can such a man as I, finding himself<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in the season of roses, in the midst of joyous society,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">surrounded by wine, by dancers, remain a passive spectator?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh! to find oneself in a garden with a flask of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine and a lute are things preferable to Paradise with<br /></span> +<span class="i0">its houris and its Koocer.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC438" id="NIC438"></a>438.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">See the clearness of the light, the sparkle of the wine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and of the moon, O cupbearer! See the ravishing<br /></span> +<span class="i0">beauty of the rose's face, like a shining ruby, O cupbearer!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Recall nothing of what belongs to the earth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to this heart that burns like fire, throw it not to the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wind, but bring wine, O cupbearer!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC439" id="NIC439"></a>439.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O limpid wine, wine full of sheen! Fool that I am, I'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">drink thee in such quantity, that all perceiving me from<br /></span> +<span class="i0">far would my identity confound with thine, and say to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">me: O master wine! tell me, whence do you come?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC440" id="NIC440"></a>440.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Be welcome, Thou, who art the repose of my soul!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou art here, and nevertheless I cannot believe my<br /></span> +<span class="i0">eyes. Oh! for the love of God, and not for the love<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of my heart, drink, drink of wine, drink to the point<br /></span> +<span class="i0">when I can doubt that it is Thou.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">389</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC441" id="NIC441"></a>441.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A Sheikh said to a prostitute: You are in wine.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Each instant you are taken in the toils of law. She<br /></span> +<span class="i0">answered him: O Sheikh, I am all that you say; but<br /></span> +<span class="i0">are you what you seem to be?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC442" id="NIC442"></a>442.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">[I have already said] the entire world, like a bowl,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">was rolling in a hollow which, when I slept dead drunk,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I noticed no more than if I saw a grain of barley rolling<br /></span> +<span class="i0">along. Yesterday, at evening, I put myself in pawn at<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the tavern for a cup of wine. The wine merchant never<br /></span> +<span class="i0">ceased to say: O excellent security that here I hold.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC443" id="NIC443"></a>443.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Sometimes Thou art concealed, showing Thyself to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">none; sometimes Thou revealest Thyself in all things<br /></span> +<span class="i0">created. It is for Thyself, without doubt, and for Thy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">pleasure that Thou hast produced these marvellous effects,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">for Thou art at once the maker of the spectacle we see<br /></span> +<span class="i0">and Thine own beholder.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC444" id="NIC444"></a>444.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Should you come to people the whole earth, that action<br /></span> +<span class="i0">would not make a saddened soul rejoice. It would be<br /></span> +<span class="i0">more to thy advantage to enslave a free man, through<br /></span> +<span class="i0">thy gentleness, than to give freedom to a thousand slaves.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">390</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC445" id="NIC445"></a>445.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They tell you not to drink, that otherwise you shall<br /></span> +<span class="i0">become a prey to torment, and that in the day of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">reckoning you will burn as fire. That may be, but the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">day in which wine makes you joyous is more precious<br /></span> +<span class="i0">than the goods of this world and those of the next.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC446" id="NIC446"></a>446.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If your own satisfaction consists in casting grief into a<br /></span> +<span class="i0">heart free from all care, you could, friend, make mourning<br /></span> +<span class="i0">with your wisdom during your whole life. Go, be<br /></span> +<span class="i0">unhappy, then, for you are a person strangely ignorant.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC447" id="NIC447"></a>447.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Each time you can procure two <i>mens</i> of wine, drink<br /></span> +<span class="i0">them, in every circumstance, in all society wherever you<br /></span> +<span class="i0">may be; for he who does is freed from scornful looks<br /></span> +<span class="i0">or gestures of disdain.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC448" id="NIC448"></a>448.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">With a loaf of wheaten bread, two <i>mens</i> of wine and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">meat in plenty, and seated in some desert spot with<br /></span> +<span class="i0">some young beauty decked with cheeks tinted with the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">tulip's blush, man hath a joy not given to any Sultan to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">procure.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">391</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC449" id="NIC449"></a>449.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If in a city you acquire renown, you are thought to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">be the most wicked of men; if you retire into a corner,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">they regard you as a conspirator. What then is best,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">were you Elias or Saint Jude, is to live in the way of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">knowing none, and being known by none.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC450" id="NIC450"></a>450.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If I were free and were allowed to use my will, if I<br /></span> +<span class="i0">were free from the torments of destiny and unembarrassed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">by any sentiment of the good and bad in this<br /></span> +<span class="i0">world where disorder resides, oh! I would prefer not<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to have lived here, not to have existed, than to be<br /></span> +<span class="i0">forced to go away!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC451" id="NIC451"></a>451.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Drink wine, my friend, for see it makes the perspiration<br /></span> +<span class="i0">flow upon the cheeks of the beauties of Rhei, the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">most beautiful creatures in the world! Oh! how long<br /></span> +<span class="i0">shall I repeat it to you? Yes, I have broken the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">bonds of all my vows. Is it not better to break the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">bonds of a thousand vows than to break a pitcher of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC452" id="NIC452"></a>452.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We have some wine, O cupbearer! Let us rejoice in<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the presence of the well-beloved [the Divinity] and in<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the noise of the morning. Expect not on our part the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">renunciation of Nessouh, O cupbearer! How long shall<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I speak to you of the story of Noe, O cupbearer?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bring, bring me happily the repose of my soul [the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine], O cupbearer!<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">392</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC453" id="NIC453"></a>453.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I see neither the means of joining myself to Thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">nor the possibility of living for the space of a breath<br /></span> +<span class="i0">separated from Thee. I have not the courage to drive<br /></span> +<span class="i0">out the torments I endure. Oh! how difficult my plight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">how strange my grief, how exquisite my pain!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC454" id="NIC454"></a>454.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Now is the time to drink the morning wine; the noise<br /></span> +<span class="i0">makes itself heard, O cupbearer! Now we are ready, O<br /></span> +<span class="i0">cupbearer! here is the wine, behold the tavern. Could a<br /></span> +<span class="i0">moment like this be for prayer? Silence, O cupbearer!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Leave thy discourse upon tradition and upon devotion;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">drink, O cupbearer!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC455" id="NIC455"></a>455.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Here is the noise of the morning, O idol, whose coming<br /></span> +<span class="i0">brings happiness! Chant the refrain and bring the wine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">for [you know it], the constant sequence of these months<br /></span> +<span class="i0">of Tir and Di have overturned upon the earth a thousand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">potentates like Djem, a hundred thousand like to Kai.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC456" id="NIC456"></a>456.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Guard thyself from being coarse in the eyes of all<br /></span> +<span class="i0">drinkers, guard thyself from acquiring a bad reputation<br /></span> +<span class="i0">before the sages, and drink wine; for, whether you drink<br /></span> +<span class="i0">or not, if you belong to the fire of Hell, you would not<br /></span> +<span class="i0">know how to enter Paradise.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">393</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC457" id="NIC457"></a>457.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I wish that God would reconstruct the world, I wish<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that He would actually reconstruct it and that I might see<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Him at the work. I wish that He would blot my name<br /></span> +<span class="i0">from the register of life, or that out of His mysterious<br /></span> +<span class="i0">treasure, He would swell the joys of my existence.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC458" id="NIC458"></a>458.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O God! open to me the door of Thy benefits. Make<br /></span> +<span class="i0">me come to my fortune finally, that I may not be beholden<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to Thy creatures. Oh! render me drunk with<br /></span> +<span class="i0">wine, to the point where, freed from all knowledge,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the torments of my head may disappear.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC459" id="NIC459"></a>459.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O thou who hast been burned and burned again, and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">now deservest life anew! thou who art worthy only of adding<br /></span> +<span class="i0">fuel to the fire of Hell! how long wilt thou pray the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Divinity to pardon Omar? What relation exists between<br /></span> +<span class="i0">thee and God? What audacity drives thee to ask Him to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">exercise His pity?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC460" id="NIC460"></a>460.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">As for me, without limpid wine I cannot live; my body<br /></span> +<span class="i0">is a burden which I cannot carry without drinking of the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">juice of the vine. Oh! might I be the slave of that<br /></span> +<span class="i0">delicious moment when the cupbearer said to me: Another<br /></span> +<span class="i0">cup! and that I had no longer strength to take it!<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">394</a></span></div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC461" id="NIC461"></a>461.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There remains to me still a breath of life, thanks to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the care of the cupbearer. But discord reigns still among<br /></span> +<span class="i0">men. I know that there only remains to me about a <i>men</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0">of wine from last evening, but I am ignorant of the<br /></span> +<span class="i0">space of time that is still left me to live.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC462" id="NIC462"></a>462.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Take a man who possesses bread sufficient to live upon<br /></span> +<span class="i0">for two days, who can draw a drop of fresh water into<br /></span> +<span class="i0">a cracked pitcher, why should such a man be commanded<br /></span> +<span class="i0">by another who is of no more worth, or why should he<br /></span> +<span class="i0">serve one who should be his equal?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC463" id="NIC463"></a>463.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Since the day when Venus and the moon appeared in<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the sky, no one has seen anything here below preferable<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to ruby wine. I am truly astonished at the wine-merchants,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">for how can they buy anything superior to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">that which they sell?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center"><a name="NIC464" id="NIC464"></a>464.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">For those endowed with knowledge and virtue, who<br /></span> +<span class="i0">through their wisdom have become as torches to their<br /></span> +<span class="i0">disciples, even those have not progressed beyond this<br /></span> +<span class="i0">night profound. They have left some fables and returned<br /></span> +<span class="i0">to death's long sleep.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">395</a></span></div></div> + + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<h2 class="p2"><a name="FOOTNOTES" id="FOOTNOTES"></a>FOOTNOTES:</h2> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> About 1272 <span class="smcap">a.d.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> This title is hard to determine without any acquaintance with +the contents of the pamphlet.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> C.H.A. Bjerregaard in «The Sufi Omar». J.F. Taylor & +Co., N.Y., 1902.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Some of Omar's Rubaiyat warn us of the danger of greatness, +the instability of fortune, and while advocating charity to all men, +recommending us to be too intimate with none. Attar makes Nizam +ul Mulk use the very words of his friend Omar [Rub. xxviii.], +«When Nizam ul Mulk was in the Agony (of Death) he said, ‹Oh +God! I am passing away in the hand of the Wind.›»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Though all these, like our Smiths, Archers, Millers, Fletchers, +etc., may simply regain the surname of an hereditary calling.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> «<i>Philosophe Musulman qui a vęcu en Odeur de Sainteté dans +sa Religion, vers la Fin du premier et le Commencement du second +Sičcle</i>,» no part of which, except the «<i>Philosophe</i>» can apply to our +Khayyam.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> The Rashness of the Words, according to D'Herbelot, consisted +in being so opposed to those in the Koran: «No Man knows where +he shall die.»—This story of Omar reminds me of another so naturally—and +when one remembers how wide of his humble mark the +noble sailor aimed—so pathetically told by Captain Cook—not by +Doctor Hawkesworth—in his Second Voyage (i. 374). When leaving +Ulietea, «Oreo's last request was for me to return. When he +saw he could not obtain that promise, he asked the name of my +<i>Marai</i> (burying-place). As strange a question as this was, I hesitated +not a moment to tell him ‹Stepney›; the parish in which I live when +in London. I was made to repeat it several times over till they +could pronounce it; and then ‹<i>Stepney Marai no Toote</i>› was echoed +through an hundred mouths at once. I afterwards found the same +question had been put to Mr. Forster by a man on shore; but he gave +a different, and indeed more proper answer, by saying, ‹No man who +used the sea could say where he should be buried.›»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> «Since this paper was written» (adds the Reviewer in a note), +«we have met with a Copy of a very rare Edition, printed at Calcutta +in 1836. This contains 438 Tetrastichs, with an Appendix containing +54 others not found in some MSS.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Professor Cowell.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> This was written in 1868.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Perhaps he would have edited the Poems himself some years ago. +He may now as little approve of my version on one side, as of M. +Nicolas' theory on the other.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> A note to Quatrain 234 admits that, however clear the mystical +meaning of such Images must be to Europeans, they are not quoted +without «<i>rougissant</i>» even by laymen in Persia—«<i>Quant aux +termes de tendresse qui commencent ce quatrain, comme tant d'autres +dans ce recueil, nos lecteurs, habitués maintenant ŕ l'étrangeté +des expressions si souvent employées par Khčyam pour rendre +ses pensées sur l'amour divin, et ŕ la singularité de ses images +trop orientales, d'une sensualité quelquefois révoltante, n'auront +pas de peine ŕ se persuader qu'il s'agit de la Divinité, bien que cette +conviction soit vivement discutée par les moullahs musulmans et +męme par beaucoup de laďques, qui rougissent véritablement d'une +pareille licence de leur compatriote ŕ l'égard des choses spirituelles.</i>»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> <i>Two Years' Travel in Persia</i>, etc., i. 165.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> The precise degree to which FitzGerald himself deemed it expedient +to adhere to his original may be gathered by referring to +quatrains of his which he has himself declared to be renderings of +particular and isolated ruba'iyat.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> These references are to other MSS. and printed texts and translations +in which the cited quatrain is represented. I say advisedly +«represented,» as the different texts differ a good deal. +Often when a quatrain is repeated in the same text, variations +may be found in it. The general scope of these variations +may be appreciated by a glance at the notes to my translation +of the Ouseley MS. (O.). I do not propose to deal with them +here, excepting where there are important differences between +the Calcutta MS. (C.) and the Ouseley, both of which were +before Edward FitzGerald and between which he had to choose.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> <i>i.e.</i>, the Saki, or Cupbearer, or Drawer (generally a comely +youth), to whom a large proportion of Omar's ruba'iyat are +addressed.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Many parallels between these translations of Hafiz and FitzGerald's +ruba'iyat may be found in the Terminal Essay to my +former work.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> The <i>sunnat</i>, or Traditions of Muhammad, supplementing the +Qur'an, and held in almost equal reverence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> <i>Zendha deli-ra</i> means the heart alive, or initiated in the spiritual +sense, as opposed to the mere pleasure-seekers of the world.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> See FitzGerald's notes to this quatrain.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> C. reads «verdure.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> C. reads «In the eyes of the clouds the veils are parted.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> See the Terminal Essay above referred to.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> The sweet voice of David recurs continually in Persian poetry. +We find it in C. 89 <i>et passim</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Pehlevi was the language of the ancient Persians of pre-Muhammadan +times. FitzGerald's description of it as «old heroic +Sanskrit» is erroneous.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Yellow is the colour indicative in Persian literature of sickness +or misery, corresponding to our word «sallow.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> <i>i.e.</i>, «Permit us to regret our repentance.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Numbers of quatrains distinguished by the asterisk indicate that +the quatrains were not in FitzGerald's first edition, but made their +appearance in the second or subsequent editions. FitzGerald may +therefore have been «reminded of» them by (and in some instances +took them direct from) the text and translation of Nicolas, referred +to as N</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> C. reads «Since life passes, what is sweet and what is bitter?»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> <i>Dai</i> is the month that ushers in the winter quarter of the Muhammadan +year.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> <i>i.e.</i>, Jamshyd the «<i>Roi soleil</i>» of early Persian history, and the +Kaianian dynasty—Kai Kobad, Kai Kawus, Kai Khosru, etc.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> It will be observed that the introduction of Zal in this line was +made by FitzGerald in the third edition for metrical effect. The +versions in the first edition «Let Rustum lay about him as he will,» +and in the second «Let Rustum cry ‹to battle› as he likes» are +closer to the phrase in the original «Rustum <i>son</i> of Zal.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Feridun was the sixth king of the Paish-dadian dynasty. <i>Jamish</i> +is evidently an error for <i>Jam-ist</i>. <i>Vide</i> the MS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> See FitzGerald's note to this quatrain.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> Literally «a stopper of the last breath.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> Kausar, in Persian mythology, is the head-stream of the Muhammadan +Paradise, whence all other rivers are supposed to flow. +A whole chapter of the Qur'an is devoted to this miraculous +stream, whose Saki is Ali, the son-in-law of Muhammad.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> This Persian here is a quotation from a famous verse in the Qur'an, +<span class="smcap">XXV.</span> 11, «Blessed is He who, if He pleaseth, will make for +thee a better provision than this, namely, gardens under which +rivers flow, and he will provide thee palaces.»—E.B.C.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> C. reads for «food» and «wine,» «goblet» and «lute,» whence we +get «thou beside me <i>singing</i> in the wilderness.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> These two lines refer to the practice in the East of burying +treasure to hide it when a night attack (line 1) of dacoits or +robbers is anticipated.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> See FitzGerald's note upon this hero, and the following quatrain.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> Moles or «beauty spots» are very highly esteemed in the East.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> <i>i.e.</i>, If life were eternal, you could not take the place of others +who have died before you. L. 2, <i>lit.</i>: «let the world pass, etc.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> <i>i.e.</i>, the Mystic Road or Way of Salvation.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> Burak was the winged mule of Muhammad on which he is said +to have journeyed from Jerusalem to heaven.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> This is a very difficult quatrain to translate. The mystic soaring +of the soul in search of enlightenment is compared to the flight +of a falcon. In l. 3, <i>lit.</i>: «any partner of the secret.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> C. reads these two lines:— +</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">These two or three days of the period of my existence pass by<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They pass as passes the wind in the desert.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> Compare FitzGerald's «First Morning of Creation» in q. 73.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> <i>i.e.</i>, the Curtain that Veils the Mysteries of God, a constantly recurring +image in Persian literature.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> C. reads «of this juggling about of the soul.» E.B.C. suggests «of +this chess-opening.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> C. reads «And was enslaved by the curly head of a sweetheart.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> <i>i.e.</i>, «Let us cease striving to earn salvation.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> C. reads «with love.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> FitzGerald records in his note to this quatrain that had it not been +for the advice of Prof. Cowell, this and the two following quatrains +would have been withdrawn after the Second Edition. +It is impossible to conceive why, for they are singularly fine +and exceptionally «authorized.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> FitzGerald's rendering in the 1st edition (Introduction), «in this +clay suburb» is a more literal rendering.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> <i>i.e.</i>, The ferrash of fate, preparing for the next halting-place, destroys +this tent (body) when the Sultan (soul) arises.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> I do not know the origin of N.'s text, but I have never seen this +quatrain in any other MS. The same remark applies to N. 123, +cited under No. 47.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> C. reads «From my creation the Age derived no advantage.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> <i>Harifan</i>; literally, «companions,» « fellow-workers.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> <i>i.e.</i>, The One God. Compare Hafiz (Ode 416), «He who knows +the One, knows all.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> Prof. Cowell's translation. V. appends a note, «Apparently the +Essence of Life, the <i>Ding an Sich</i> of Kant, and the <i>Wille</i> of +Schopenhauer, the Platonic Idea, the abiding type of the perishable +individuality; possibly, however, the Vedantic ‹self› is +meant.» For the word <i>mah</i> = moon at the commencement of +the quatrain, some of the texts read <i>badeh</i> = wine.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> Literally, «discernment.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> The obscurity of the meaning here baffles satisfactory translation. +Prof. Cowell says: I would rather take it as a sarcasm, «Those fools +with their unripe grapes become (in their own eyes) pure wine.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> <i>Azal</i> in Persian dogma is eternity without beginning, <i>i.e.</i>, «<i>from</i> +all time,» as opposed to <i>abad</i>, eternity without end, <i>i.e.</i>, «<i>to</i> +all eternity.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> In the East a man may divorce his wife twice and take her back +again, but the third time it is irrevocable—unless (curiously +enough) she has been married to someone else in the meantime.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> <i>i.e.</i>, Wine, a recurrent Persian metaphor. Comp.: Arabic «<i>bint-ul-kerm</i>.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> <i>Zahir</i> = exoteric, as opposed to <i>batin</i> = esoteric, in line 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> C. reads «I am weary.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> The opening lines of FitzGerald's quatrain refer to Omar's reformation +of the calendar, and institution of the Jalali era, which +Gibbon describes as «a computation of time which surpassed +the Julian, and approached the accuracy of the Gregorian style.» +(«Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,» Gibbing's edition, +1890, vol. iv., p. 180.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> C. reads «So long as I live, I will not grieve for two days.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> <i>i.e.</i>, Wine.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> The <i>Lauh u Kalam</i> are the Tablet and Pen whereon and wherewith +the Divine decrees of what should be from all time were +written. Compare Koran, ch. lxviii, 1. «By the Pen and +what they write, O Muhammad! thou art not distracted.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> The river Oxus.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> The editor of the «Calcutta Review» appends the following note +at the foot of Prof. Cowell's article (E.C.), «These lanthorns +are very common in Calcutta. They are made of a tall cylinder +with figures of men and animals cut out of paper and pasted +on it. The cylinder, which is very light, is suspended on an +axis, round which it easily turns. A hole is cut near the bottom, +and the part cut out is fixed at an angle to the cylinder +so as to form a vane. When a small lamp or candle is placed +inside, a current of air is produced which keeps the cylinder +slowly revolving.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> This refers to the game of Polo. In the First and Second Editions +for «Here or There» we read «Right or Left» as in the +original.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> C. reads «Upon the Tablet.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> Literally, «For the Pen once gone comes not back.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> See FitzGerald's note on this quatrain.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> <i>i.e.</i>, Of reality as opposed to the dream existence of the present. +(E.B.C.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> The <i>Mihrab</i> is the spot in a Mosque indicating the precise direction +of Mecca towards which all Muhammadans turn in prayer.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> This metaphor recurs frequently in the ruba'iyat. Compare W. +261 (N. 221) and W. 275 (L. 428).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> <i>i.e.</i>, «it was quite problematical how I might turn out.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> Here begins the section devoted especially to the talking pots in +the workshop of the potter—it ends at quatrain No. 90. In the +first edition this section was entitled <span class="smcap">Kuza-nama</span> = the «Pot-book» +or «Book of Pots.» It may be observed that the +quatrains in this section are not so closely rendered from recognisable +originals as the other quatrains composing FitzGerald's +poem. This may be accounted for by the fact that the +comparison between the human form—the Personal Ego—and +a pot made of earth by the Supreme Potter (if one may be +allowed the phrase) is constantly recurrent in all ruba'iyat attributed +to Omar Khayyam. The section is therefore to a great +extent a poetical reflection upon this phase of the philosophy of +the ruba'iyat. The use FitzGerald has made of O. 103 cannot +fail to amaze the student. <i>Vide</i> his own Note to quatrain 89.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> Ramazan (or Ramadan) is the ninth month of the Muhammadan +year, which is observed as a month of fasting and penance, +during which rigid Moslems may neither eat, drink, wash, nor +caress their wives, excepting so far as is necessary to support +life. Sha'ban is the month immediately preceding it. Shawwal +is the month that follows it, which begins with the great +feast of Bairam, the festival referred to in line 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> A very obscure distich to translate. The sense is here, however.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> Compare Romans ch. ix. v. 21. «Hath not the potter power over +the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, +and another unto dishonour.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> <i>i.e.</i>, Helping one another to raise their loads. Prof. Denison Ross +suggests that this refers to the cry of the porters and muleteers +in the narrow streets of Persian cities. «<i>Pusht! Pusht!</i>» +<i>i.e.</i>, «Mind your backs!»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> <i>Kah-ruba</i> means literally «attracting straws»; hence «amber,» +the ἢλεκτρον of the Greeks. Here it is used in the descriptive +sense to mean «yellow.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> <i>Wuzu</i>, the ceremonial Ablution enjoined upon Muhammadans +to put them into a state of grace before prayer.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> <i>Wakt-i-gul</i> = the season of roses, a common synonym for Spring.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> Literally «has become Dai,» the first winter-month; translated +«December,» <i>sub</i> quatrain No. 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> <i>Lit.</i>: «Or from the invisible world increase my daily provision.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> C. reads «this heart full of melancholy (or passion).»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> It will be observed that this quatrain in the first edition came a +good deal closer to the original than this.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> <i>Maghanah</i> means anything connected with the Maghs or Magians +(<i>i.e.</i>, the Guebres or Fire-worshippers), and came to be a +synonym for age, superiority, excellence, in which sense it is +used here. S. Rousseau has a very interesting note upon the +history of this word at p. 176 of his «Flowers of Persian +Literature» (London, 1801).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> Meaning FitzGerald's Introduction. See Page 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> Prof. Cowell says: «I am not sure, but I fancy this hard verse +really is: ‹O thou who art burned (in sorrow) for one burnt (in +hell)—thyself being doomed to be burnt.› If this is correct +(which is most probable) the accuracy of FitzGerald's translation +is remarkable.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> The phrase <i>gauhar suftan</i> = «to thread pearls» is used in Persian +to mean «to write verses» or «to tell a story.» Omar uses it +here referring to the generally antinomian tendency of his +ruba'iyat.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> In this line Omar claims consideration on the ground that he has +never questioned the Unity of God. <i>Tawhid kerdan</i> = to acknowledge +One God. Muhammadanism is essentially Unitarian. +FitzGerald appears to have missed the meaning here, reversing +the doctrine, unless he means «I never misread One <i>as</i> +Two.»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> L. 1. <i>lit.</i> «rubbed its side with heaven.» This is the quatrain that +R.B.M. Binning found written upon a stone in the ruins of +Persepolis (A Journal of Two Years' Travel in Persia, Ceylon, +etc., London, 1857, Vol. ii. p. 20). FitzGerald quotes it in a +letter to Prof. Cowell, under date 13th January, 1859. (Letters +and Literary Remains of Edward FitzGerald, London, 1889. +Macmillan, 3 vols., and 1894, 2 vols.) The word <i>ku</i> in Persian +signifies «Where?»</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> The fifth edition is identical with the fourth.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> See Defrémery, «<i>Recherches sur le rčgne de Barkiárok</i>,» p. 51.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> Avicenna died in 428 <span class="smcap">a.h.</span></p></div> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Sufistic Quatrains of Omar Khayyam, by +Omar Khayyam + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUFISTIC QUATRAINS--OMAR KHAYYAM *** + +***** This file should be named 38511-h.htm or 38511-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/5/1/38511/ + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Rory OConor and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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