The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Jr. | Page 4

Zamperina's Lips incarnadine,?And languored lifting, fasten unto mine,?Their rubric Message giving Hint and Clew?How frequently a Kiss in Time saves Nine.
XXI
Then swart Gorgona rears her snaky Zone?Demanding Sip of Lip in poisonous Tone?While back Abaft I cower, for well I wot?A Face like that needs not a Chaperone.
XXII
The Fair of Vanity has many a Booth?To sell its spangled Wares of Age and Youth;?And there have I beheld the Wordlings buy?Their Paris Gowns to clothe the Naked Truth.
XXIII
But cannot Beauty render Sin the less?When Aphroditan Damosels transgress,?Making the Error lovely with the Thought -?A Dimple is its own Forgiviness?
XXIV
Into your Soul may truculent Daemons pass?All hugger-mugger in that dun Morass,?But while the Rouge is mantling to your Cheek,?Nothing will chide you in your Looking-Glass.
XXV
Unto the Glass Gorgona torques her Eye?Beholding there Ten Myriad Fragments fly,?The Parts dispersing with lugubrious Din -?Who will invent a Mirror that will lie?
XXVI
Oft have I heard the Cant of flattering Friend?Admire my Forehead's Apollonic Bend,?Then to the Glass I've wreathed my sad Regard -?The Looking-Glass is candid to the End.
XXVII
Look to the Rose who, as I pass her by,?Breathes the fond Attar-musk up to the Sky,?Spreading her silken Blushes - does she know?That I have come to smell and not to Buy?
XXVIII
Ah, Rose, assume a gentle Avarice?And hoard the soft Allurements that entice;?For One will come who holds the Golden Means?To buy your Blushes at the Standard Price.
XXIX
Down to the Deeps of Sheol, anguish-torn,?I've hurtled Beauty to a State forlorn,?Beauty the Curse, - yet if a Curse it be,?With what an Equanimity 'tis borne!
XXX
What shallow Guerdon of terrestrial Strife,?For him who quits this Donjon Keep of Life,?To read the World's expectant Epitaph:?"He left a handsome Widow in his Wife!"
XXXI
Before the Dawn's Encroachment I awoke?And heard again the bodeful Adage spoke:?Society Engagements are like Eggs -?You know not what's Inside them till they're Broke.
XXXII
Creation stands between the Won't and Will,?Yes, and that Doubt Infinitude might fill -?It took nine Tailors once to make a Man;?It took nine more to make him pay the Bill.
XXXIII
The Thunderbolts of Heaven's potent Sway?Gather and break, but never can dismay?When Indestructible Resistless meets,?The Please Remit confronts the Cannot Pay.
XXXIV
And true as Star and Star pursue their Course?Must Rapture crumb to Ashes of Remorse:?How many a Marriage License that is writ?Has proved a legal Permit to Divorce!
XXXV
Myself when young did eagerly frequent?A Woman's Club and heard great Argument?Of crazy Cults and Creeds; but evermore?'Twas by much Gossip of the Fashions rent.
XXXVI
In them the Seed of Wisdom did I sow,?Speaking of Things a Woman ought to know.?"Better than Years with Ibsen spent," I said,?"One Evening with my Friend, Boccacio."
XXXVII
And that same Bard who strews rhythmatic Daisies?And many a Female Heart discreetly crazes,?Seek him not out, fair Maid, for oftentimes?His Head is vastly Balder than his Phrases.
XXXVIII
Upon the Book of Time the Autocrat?Has writ in Stars the fiery Idem Stat,?Lettered the Riddle in the Lambent Suns -?rather write than read a Book like that.
XXXIX
Better a meager Tome to sow the Seed?Of errant Thought and Fancy's Lantern feed;?Better a Penny Dreadful than the Book?That sends you into Slumber when you read.
XL
And better still than these gorglorious Things?The Briar's gracious Narcotine that clings?To my ambrosial Temples till I wear?A Halo-crown of vapoured Vortex Rings.
XLI
Virginia for the Pipe's sweet Charity,?Havana for Cigars to solace me,?And Turkey for the transient Cigarette -?Was all I learned of my Geography.
XLII
Cigars I puff devoutly when I May,?And when I Can the Pipe, another Day,?And when I Must I browse on Cigarettes -?Then, as you love me, take the Stubs away!
XLIII
Waste not your Weed, the Leaves are all too few?It's Nectar to defile as Others do -?Ah, shun the Solecism and the Plug?For Cattle-Kings and Stevedores to chew.
XLIV
Once in a Dream 'twas granted unto me?The open Gates of Paradise to see,?While Israfel loud chanted from the Void,?"This Vision comes of Pie; not Piety!"
XLV
Belov��d, smoke my amber Pipe awhile?And from its Bowl narcotic Joys beguile,?Suck Lethe from its Stem - what though I trace?A certain greenish Pallour in your Smile?
XLVI
Strange is it not that, oft her Dolour cloaking?In hurried Puffs with Nonchalance provoking,?No woman reads that apodictic Ode?"How to be Happy Even Though You're Smoking?"
XLVII
Look not so wild, the Fit will pass away -?No barb��d Anguish chooses long to stay,?And only in the Pipe is Friendship?found That waxes Strong and Stronger day by day.
XLVIII
Come, rest your Head if Earth rotative seems?And close your Lids from these o'er wakeful Gleams -?Although your Palate cringe you shall not shrink?Within the Kitchen of the House of Dreams.
XLIX
Murkly I muse on that transcendent State?Where all my Pasts within the Future wait -?If I for Heavenly Marriages am marked,?Oh what a Turk I'll be beyond the Gate!
L
Minnie and Maud across my Flight will wing,?Birdie and Bess and Gwendolyn will bring?A Score of Other Pasts and make a Scene,?To say