generous host.
.
RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM / 121 5
18
I sometimes think that never blows so red 70 The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled; That every Hyacinth3 the Garden wears Dropt in its Lap from some once lovely Head.
?9 And this delightful Herb whose tender Green Fledges the River's Lip on which we lean? 75 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 past Regrets and future Fears? To-morrow??Why, To- morrow I may be so Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n Thousand Years.
21 Lo! some we loved, the loveliest and best That Time and Fate of all their Vintage prest,
Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before, And one by one crept silently to Rest.
22
85 And we, that now make merry in the Room They left, and Summer dresses in new Bloom, Ourselves must we beneath the Couch of Earth Descend, ourselves to make a Couch?for whom?
23
Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend, 90 Before we too into the Dust descend; Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie, Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and?sans End!
24
Alike for those who for TO-DA Y prepare, And those that after a TO-MORROW stare, 95 A Muezzin4 from the Tower of Darkness cries 'Fools! your Reward is neither Here nor There!'
25 Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd Of the Two Worlds so learnedly, are thrust
Like foolish Prophets forth; their Words to Scorn 100 Are scatter'd, 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;
3. In classical myth the hyacinth was associated were marked AI, the god's sorrowful cry. with grief; the plant was supposed to have sprung 4. One who calls the hour of prayer from the tower from the blood of Hyacinthus, a beautiful youth of a mosque. loved and accidentally killed by Apollo. Its petals
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121 6 / EDWARD FITZGERALD
One thing is certain, and the Rest is Lies; The Flower that once has blown for ever dies.
27 105 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, 110 And with my own hand labour'd it to grow: And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd? 'I came like Water, and like Wind I go.'
29
Into this Universe, and why not knowing, Nor whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing: 115 And out of it, as Wind along the Waste, I know not whither, willy-nilly blowing.
3?
What, without asking, hither hurried whence? And, without asking, whither hurried hence! Another and another Cup to drown 120 The Memory of this Impertinence!
31
Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn5 sate, And many Knots unravel'd by the Road; Rut not the Knot of Human Death and Fate.
32 125 There was a Door to which I found no Key: There was a Veil past which I could not see: Some little Talk awhile of M E and THEE . There seemed?and then no more of THE E and ME .
33
Then to the rolling Heav'n itself I cried, 130 Asking, 'What Lamp had Destiny to guide 'Her little Children stumbling in the Dark?' And?'A blind Understanding!' Heav'n replied.
34
Then to this earthen Rowl did I adjourn My Lip the secret Well of Life to learn: 135 And Lip to Lip it murmur'd?'While you live 'Drink!?for once dead you never shall return.'
35
I think the Vessel, that with fugitive Articulation answer'd, once did live,
5. The seat of knowledge. According to a note by FitzGerald, Saturn was lord of the seventh heaven.
