The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam | Page 8

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.
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 bragg'd more than he drank of it, in very defiance perhaps of that Spiritual
Wine which left its Votaries sunk in Hypocrisy or Disgust.
Edward J. Fitzgerald
First Edition
I.
Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night
Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to
Flight:
And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught
The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of
Light.
II.
Dreaming when Dawn's Left Hand was in the Sky
I heard a Voice within the Tavern
cry,
"Awake, my Little ones, and fill the Cup
Before Life's Liquor in its Cup be dry."
III.
And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before
The Tavern shouted--"Open then the
Door.
You know how little while we have to stay,
And, once departed, may return no
more."
IV.
Now the New Year reviving old Desires,
The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires,

Where the WHITE HAND OF MOSES on the Bough
Puts out, and Jesus from the
Ground suspires.
V.

Iram indeed is gone with all its Rose,
And Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one
knows;
But still the Vine her ancient Ruby yields,
And still a Garden by the Water
blows.
VI.
And David's Lips are lock't; but in divine
High piping Pelevi, with "Wine! Wine! Wine!

Red Wine!"--the Nightingale cries to the Rose
That yellow Cheek of hers
to'incarnadine.
VII.
Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring
The Winter Garment of Repentance fling:

The Bird of Time has but a little way
To fly--and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.
VIII.
And look--a thousand Blossoms with the Day
Woke--and a thousand scatter'd into Clay:

And this first Summer Month that brings the Rose
Shall take Jamshyd and Kaikobad
away.
IX.
But come with old Khayyam, and leave the Lot
Of Kaikobad and Kaikhosru forgot:

Let Rustum lay about him as he will,
Or Hatim Tai cry Supper--heed them not.
X.
With me along some Strip of Herbage strown
That just divides the desert from the sown,

Where name of Slave and Sultan scarce is known,
And pity Sultan Mahmud on his
Throne.
XI.
Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse--and
Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness--
And Wilderness is Paradise enow.
XII.
"How sweet is mortal Sovranty!"--think some:
Others--"How blest the Paradise to
come!"
Ah, take the Cash in hand and waive the Rest;
Oh, the brave Music of a
distant Drum!
XIII.
Look to the Rose that blows about us--"Lo,
Laughing," she says, "into the World I blow:


At once the silken Tassel of my Purse
Tear, and its Treasure on the Garden throw."
XIV.
The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon
Turns Ashes--or it prospers; and anon,

Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face
Lighting a little Hour or two--is gone.
XV.
And those who husbanded the Golden Grain,
And those who flung it to the Winds like
Rain,
Alike to no such aureate Earth are turn'd
As, buried once, Men want dug up
again.
XVI.
Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai
Whose Doorways are alternate Night and Day,

How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp
Abode his Hour or two, and went his way.
XVII.
They say the Lion and the Lizard keep
The Courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank
deep:
And Bahram, that great Hunter--the Wild Ass
Stamps o'er his Head, and he lies
fast asleep.
XVIII.
I sometimes think that never blows so red
The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled;

That every Hyacinth the Garden wears
Dropt in its Lap from some once lovely Head.
XIX.
And this delightful Herb whose tender Green
Fledges the River's Lip on which we
lean--
Ah, lean upon it lightly! for who knows
From what once lovely Lip it springs
unseen!
XX.
Ah! my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears
TO-DAY of past Regrets and future FearsTo

-morrow?--Why, To-morrow I may be
Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n Thousand Years.
XXI.
Lo! some we loved, the loveliest and the 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.

XXII.
And we, that now make merry in the Room
They left, and Summer dresses in new
Bloom,
Ourselves