Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Edward FitzGeralds Translation. 1 Awake for Morning in the Bowl of Night Has flung the St angiotensin-converting enzyme that puts the Stars to Flight And Lo the Hunter of the East has caught The Sultans Turret in a gin of Light. 2 Dreaming when Dawns Left Hand was in the Sky I heard a Voice inside the Tavern cry, Awake, my Little angiotensin-converting enzymes, and fill the shape earlier purports Liquor in its Cup be dry. 3 And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before The Tavern shoutedOpen then the Door You turn in how little while we have to stay, And, once dep dodgeed, whitethorn return no more. 4 Now the New Year reviving grizzly Desires, The thoughtful somebody to Solitude retires,Where the WHITE HAND OF MOSES on the Bough Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires. ***** 5 Iram indeed is gone with all its rose wine, And Jamshyds Sevn-ringd Cup where no one knows barely serene the Vine her ancient Ruby yields, And still a tend by the Water blows. 6 And Davids Lip s are lockt but in divine High piping Pehlevi, with wine-colo ruby-red Wine Wine Red Wine the Nightingale cries to the Rose That yellow Cheek of hers to incarnadine. 7 Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring The Winter prune of Repentance fling The Bird of Time has but a little way To flyand Lo the Bird is on the Wing. And looka thousand Blossoms with the twenty-four hour period Wokeand a thousand scatterd into Clay And this first pass Month that brings the Rose Shall take Jamshyd and Kaikobad away. ***** 9 But sustain with old Khayyam, and leave the Lot Of Kaikobad and Kaikhosru forgot allow Rustum lay about him as he will, Or Hatim Tai cry Supperheed them non. 10 With me along some Strip of herbaceous plantage strown That just divides the empty from the sown, Where name of Slave and Sultan scarce is known, And pity Sultan Mahmud on his Throne. 11 Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough, A flaskful of Wine, a Book of Verseand ThouBeside me singing in the Wilderness And Wilderness is heaven enow. 12 How sweet is mortal Sovranty think some OthersHow blest the Paradise to come Ah, take the Cash in hand and waive the Rest Oh, the brave Music of a distant Drum ***** 13 Look to the Rose that blows about usLo, Laughing, she says, into the World I blow At once the silken Tassel of my Purse Tear, and its Treasure on the Garden throw. 14 The Worldly fancy men set their Hearts upon Turns Ashesor it prospers and anon, Like Snow upon the Deserts dusty formulation Lighting a little Hour or twois gone. 15And those who husbanded the rosy Grain, And those who flung it to the tinges like Rain, Alike to no such aureate cosmos are turnd As, interred once, Men want dug up again. 16 Think, in this batterd caravan inn Whose Doorways are alternate Night and Day, How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp Abode his Hour or two, and went his way. ***** 17 They say the Lion and the Lizard progress The Courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep And Bahram, that g reat Hunterthe Wild Ass Stamps oer his Head, and he lies fast asleep. 18 I sometimes think that never so red The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled That every Hyacinth the Garden wearsDropt in its Lap from some once lovely Head. 19 And this delightful Herb whose tender Green Fledges the Rivers Lip on which we lean Ah, lean upon it lightly for who knows From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen 20 Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears TO-DAY of ult Regrets and future Fears To-morrow? Why, To-morrow I may be Myself with Yesterdays Sevn Thousand Years. ***** 21 Lo some we loved, the loveliest and best That Time and Fate of all their Vintage prest, Have wino their Cup a Round or two before, And one by one crept silently to Rest. 22 And we, that now firebrand merry in the RoomThey left, and Summer dresses in new Bloom, Ourselves must we beneath the Couch of Earth Descend, ourselves to make a Couchfor whom? 23 Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend, Before we too into the D ust descend Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie, Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, andsans End 24 Alike for those who for TO-DAY prepare, And those that after a TO-MORROW stare, A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries Fools your return is neither Here nor There ***** 25 Why, all the Saints and Sages who discussd Of the Two Worlds so learnedly, are thrust Like foolish Prophets forth their Words to ScornAre scatterd, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust. 26 Oh, come with old Khayyam, and leave the Wise To talk one thing is certain, that Life flies One thing is certain, and the Rest is Lies The Flower that once has pursy for ever dies. 27 Myself when young did eagerly frequent Doctor and Saint, and heard great Argument About it and about but evermore Came out by the same Door as in I went. 28 With them the Seed of Wisdom did I sow, And with my own hand labourd it to grow And this was all the Harvest that I reapd I came like Water, and like Wind I go. ***** 29 Into this Unive rse, and why not knowing,Nor whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing And out of it, as Wind along the Waste, I know not whither, willy-nilly blowing. 30 What, without asking, hither hurried whence? And, without asking, whither hurried hence Another and another Cup to flood out The Memory of this Impertinence 31 Up from Earths Centre through the Seventh Gate I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate, And many Knots unraveld by the Road But not the Knot of Human Death and Fate. 32 There was a Door to which I found no Key There was a haze over past which I could not see Some little Talk awhile of ME and THEE There seemedand then no more of THEE and ME. **** 33 Then to the cast Heavn itself I cried, Asking, What Lamp had Destiny to guide Her little Children stumbling in the Dark? AndA blind Understanding Heavn replied. 34 Then to this earthen Bowl did I draw off My Lip the secret Well of Life to learn And Lip to Lip it murmurdWhile you peppy Drink for once dead you never shall retu rn. 35 I think the Vessel, that with fugitive Articulation answerd, once did live, And merry-make and the cold Lip I kissd How many Kisses might it takeand give 36 For in the Market-place, one downfall of Day, I watchd the Potter thumping his wet ClayAnd with its all obliterated Tongue It murmurdGently, Brother, gently, pray ***** 37 Ah, fill the Cupwhat boots it to repeat How Time is steal underneath our Feet Unborn TO-MORROW, and dead YESTERDAY, Why fret about them if TO-DAY be sweet 38 One Moment in Annihilations Waste, One Moment, of the Well of Life to taste The Stars are setting and the Caravan Starts for the Dawn of NothingOh, make haste 39 How long, how long, in infinite Pursuit Of This and That endeavour and dispute? die be merry with the fruitful Grape Than sadden after none, or bitter, Fruit. 40 You know, my Friends, how long since in my HouseFor a new Marriage I did make Carouse Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed, And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse. *** ** 41 For IS and IS-NOT though with Rule and Line, And UP-AND-DOWN without, I could define, I yet in all I only cared to know, Was never deep in anything butWine. 42 And lately, by the Tavern Door agape, Came stealing through the Dusk an Angel Shape armorial bearing a Vessel on his Shoulder and He bid me taste of it and twasthe Grape 43 The Grape that can with Logic absolute The Two-and-Seventy jarring Sects disprove The subtle Alchemist that in a Trice Lifes leaden Metal into Gold transmute. 4 The mighty Mahmud, the victorious Lord, That all the misbelieving and black Horde Of Fears and Sorrows that infest the someone Scatters and slays with his enchanted Sword. ***** 45 But leave the Wise to wrangle, and with me The Quarrel of the Universe let be And, in some corner of the Hubbub coucht, Make plot of ground of that which makes as much of Thee. 46 For in and out, above, about, below, Tis nothing but a Magic Shadow-show, Playd in a Box whose Candle is the Sun, Round which we Phan tom Figures come and go. 47 And if the Wine you deglutition, the Lip you press, End in the Nothing all Things end in YesThen fancy while Thou art, Thou art but what Thou shalt beNothingThou shalt not be less. 48 While the Rose blows along the River Brink, With old Khayyam the Ruby Vintage drink And when the Angel with his darker Draught Draws up to Theetake that, and do not shrink. ***** 49 Tis all a Chequer-board of Nights and Days Where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays Hither and thither moves, and mates, and slays, And one by one substantiate in the Closet lays. 50 The Ball no Question makes of Ayes and Noes, But Right or Left, as strikes the Player goes And He that tossd Thee down into the Field, *He* knows about it allHe knowsHE knows 1 The Moving Finger writes and, having writ, Moves on nor all thy Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it. 52 And that inverted Bowl we call The Sky, Whereunder crawling coopt we live and die, Lift not thy hands to *It* for helpfor It Rolls impotently on as Thou or I. ***** 53 With Earths first Clay They did the get going Mans knead, And then of the Last Harvest sowd the Seed Yea, the first Morning of Creation wrote What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read. 54 I tell Thee thisWhen, starting from the Goal, Over the shoulders of the flaming FoalOf Heavn Parvin and Mushtara they flung, In my predestind Plot of Dust and Soul 55 The Vine had struck a Fibre which about If clings my Beinglet the Sufi flout Of my Base Metal may be filed a Key, That shall unlock the Door he howls without 56 And this I know whether the one True Light, Kindle to Love, or Wrathconsume me quite, One Glimpse of It within the Tavern caught Better than in the Temple lost outright. ***** 57 Oh, Thou, who didst with Pitfall and with Gin Beset the Road I was to wander in, Thou wilt not with Predestination round Enmesh me, and impute my Fall to Sin? 58 Oh, Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make,And who with Eden didst devise the Snake For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man Is blackend, Mans Forgiveness giveand take KUZA-NAMA (Book of Pots. ) 59 Listen again. One Evening at the Close Of Ramazan, ere the better Moon arose, In that old Potters Shop I stood alone With the clay Population round in Rows. 60 And, strange to tell, among that Earthen Lot Some could articulate, while others not And short one more impatient cried Who *is* the Potter, pray, and who the Pot? ***** 61 Then express anotherSurely not in vain My Substance from the common Earth was taen, That He who subtly wrought me into Shape Should stamp me back to common Earth again. 62 Another saidWhy, neer a peevish Boy, Would crock up the Bowl from which he drank in Joy Shall He that *made* the Vessel in pure Love And Fancy, in an after Rage destroy 63 None answerd this but after Silence spake A Vessel of a more ungainly Make They sneer at me for learning all skew-whiff What did the Hand then of the Potter shak e? 64 Said oneFolk of a surly Tapster tell And daub his Visage with the mint of Hell They talk of some strict Testing of usPish Hes a Good Fellow, and t will all be well. ***** 65 Then said another with a long-drawn Sigh, My Clay with long oblivion is gone dry But, fill me with the old familiar Juice, Methinks I might recover by-and-bye 66 So while the Vessels one by one were speaking, One spied the little Crescent all were seeking And then they joggd each other, Brother Brother Hark to the Porters Shoulder-knot a-creaking 67 Ah, with the Grape my fading Life provide, And wash my Body whence the Life has died, And in the Windingsheet of Vine-leaf wrapt, So bury me by some sweet Garden-side. 68 That evn my buried Ashes such a Snare Of Perfume shall fling up into the Air, As not a True Believer passing by But shall be overtaken unaware. ***** 9 Indeed the Idols I have loved so long Have done my Credit in Mens Eye much violate Have drownd my Honour in a shallow Cup, And sold my R eputation for a Song. 70 Indeed, indeed, Repentance oft before I sworebut was I sober when I swore? And then and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hand My thread-bare Penitence apieces tore. 71 And much as Wine has playd the Infidel And robbd me of my Robe of Honourwell, I often call into question what the Vintners buy One half so precious as the Goods they sell. 72 Alas, that Spring should vanish with the Rose That Youths sweet-scented Manuscript should close The Nightingale that in the Branches sang,Ah, whence, and whither flown again, who knows ***** 73 Ah Love could thou and I with Fate conspire To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire, Would not we shatter it to bitsand then Re-mould it nearer to the Hearts Desire 74 Ah, Moon of my Delight who Knowst no wane The Moon of Heavn is rising once again How oft hereafter rising shall she look Through this same Garden after mein vain 75 And when Thyself with shining Foot shall pass Among the Guests Star-scatterd on the Grass, And in th y joyous Errand reach the Spot Where I made oneturn down an empty Glass TAMAM SHUD (It is completed. )