Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Part 2

XIII

Look to the Rose that blows about us--"Lo, Laughing," she says, "into the World I blow: At once the silken Ta.s.sel 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 Jamshd gloried and drank deep; And Bahram, that great Hunter--the Wild a.s.s 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 Fears-- _To-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 must we beneath the Couch of Earth Descend, ourselves to make a Couch--for whom?

XXIII

Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend, Before we too into the Dust descend; Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie, Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and--sans End.

XXIV

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 Reward is neither Here nor There!"

XXV

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 Are scatter'd, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust.

XXVI

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 blown for ever dies.

XXVII

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.

XXVIII

With them the Seed of Wisdom did I sow, 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."

[Ill.u.s.tration: QUATRAIN XXIV p. 52

[_First Edition of the Translation_]

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 Reward is neither Here nor There!"]

[Ill.u.s.tration: QUATRAIN XLII p. 61

[_First Edition of the Translation_]

And lately, by the Tavern Door agape, Came stealing through the Dusk an Angel Shape Bearing a Vessel on his Shoulder; and He bid me taste of it; and 'twas--the Grape!]

XXIX

Into this Universe, and _why_ not knowing, Nor _whence_, like Water w.i.l.l.y-nilly flowing: And out of it, as Wind along the Waste, I know not _whither_, w.i.l.l.y-nilly blowing.

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