54
I tell Thee this?When, starting from the Goal, Over the shoulders of the flaming Foal 215
Of Heav'n Parwfn and Mushtara they flung, In my predestin'd Plot of Dust and Soul9
55
The Vine had struck a Fibre; which about If clings my Being?let the Sufi? flout; mystic Of my Base Metal may be filed a Key, 220 That shall unlock the Door he howls without.
56 And this I know: whether the one True Light, Kindle to Love, or Wrath consume me quite,
One Glimpse of It within the Tavern caught Better than in the Temple lost outright.
57
225 Oh, Thou, who didst with Pitfall and with Gin? trap 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, 230 And who with Eden didst devise the Snake; For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man Is blacken'd, Man's Forgiveness give?and take!
Kuza-Ndtna1
59 Listen again. One Evening at the Close Of Ramazan,2 ere the better Moon arose, 235 In that old Potter's 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 suddenly one more impatient cried? 240 'Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?'
61
Then said another?'Surely not in vain 'My Substance from the common Earth was ta'en,
9. The speaker asserts that his fate was predes-tion in relation to the constellation Fquuleus ('the tined by the configuration of the stars and planets Foal,' or colt). at the moment of his birth, when he 'start[ed] from 1. The Book of Pots (Persian). the Goal.' His horoscope involved the Pleiades 2. The month of fasting (Ramadan), during which ('Parwin') and the planet Jupiter ('Mushtari'), no food is eaten from sunrise to sunset. which were 'flung' by the gods into a special posi
.
122 0 / EDWARD FITZGERALD
'That He who subtly wrought me into Shape 'Should stamp me back to common Earth again.'
62
245 Another said?'Why, ne'er a peevish Boy, 'Would break the Bowl from which he drank in Joy; 'Shall He that made the Vessel in pure Love 'And Fansy, in an after Rage destroy!'
63
None answer'd this; but after Silence spake 2so A Vessel of a more ungainly Make: 'They sneer at me for leaning all awry; 'What! did the Hand then of the Potter shake?'
64
Said one?'Folks of a surly Tapster tell, 'And daub his Visage with the Smoke of Hell; 255 'They talk of some strict Testing of us?Pish! 'He's a Good Fellow, and 'twill all be well.'
65 Then said another with a long-drawn Sigh, 'My Clay with long oblivion is gone dry:
'Rut, fill me with the old familiar Juice, 260 'Methinks I might recover by-and-bye!'
66 So while the Vessels one by one were speaking, One spied the little Crescent3 all were seeking: And then they jogg'd each other, 'Brother! Brother! 'Hark to the Porter's Shoulder-knot a-creaking!'
67
265 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 ev'n my buried Ashes such a Snare 270 Of Perfume shall fling up into the Air, As not a True Believer passing by But shall be overtaken unaware.
69
Indeed the Idols I have loved so long Have done my Credit in Men's Eye much wrong: 275
Have drown'd my Honour in a shallow Cup, And sold my Reputation for a Song.
3. At the Close of the Fasting Month, Ramazan . . . , the first Glimpse of the New Moon .. . is looked for with the utmost Anxiety, and hailed with all Acclamation [FitzGerald's note].
.
ELIZABETH GASKELL / 1221
70
Indeed, indeed, Repentance oft before I swore?but was I sober when I swore? And then and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hand 280 My thread-bare Penitence apieces tore.
71 And much as Wine has play'd the Infidel, And robb'd me of my Robe of Honour?well,
