The Sufistic Quatrains Of Omar Khayyam Part 33

'Twas writ at first, whatever was to be, By pen, unheeding bliss or misery, Yea, writ upon the tablet once for all, To murmur or resist is vanity.

35. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. Meaning, fate is heartless and resistless.

36.

There is a mystery I know full well, Which to all, good and bad, I cannot tell; My words are dark, but I cannot unfold The secrets of the station where I dwell.

36. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. _Hale_, a state of ecstasy.

37.

No base or light-weight coins pa.s.s current here, Of such a broom has swept our dwelling clear Forth from the tavern comes a sage and cries, Drink! for ye all must sleep through ages drear

37. Bl. L. N. Meaning, Mullahs' fables will not go down with us.

38.

With outward seeming we can cheat mankind, But to G.o.d's will we can but be resigned, The deepest wiles my cunning e'er devised, To balk resistless fate no way could find.

38. L. N. Meaning, weakness of human rule compared to the strength of Divine decrees.

39.

Is a friend faithless? spurn him as a foe; Upon trustworthy foes respect bestow; Hold healing poison for an antidote, And baneful sweets for deadly eisel know.

39. L. N. These gnomical epigrams are not common in Khayyam.

40.

No heart is there but bleeds when torn from Thee, No sight so clear but craves Thy face to see; And though perchance Thou carest not for them, No soul is there but pines with care for Thee.

40. C. L. N. A. I. J. _Jigar_, the liver, was considered to be the seat of love.

41.

Sobriety doth dry up all delight, And drunkenness doth drown my sense outright; There is a middle state, it is my life, Not altogether drunk, nor sober quite.

41. C. N. I. _Masti_ o: scan _mastiyo_. The Epicurean golden mean. See Ecclesiastes, vii, 16, 17.

42.

Behold these cups! Can He who deigned to make them, In wanton freak let ruin overtake them, So many shapely feet and hands and heads,-- What love drives Him to make, what wrath to break them?

42. C. N. A. B. I. J. _Pryalae_, a cup. So Job, Thy hands have made me, yet thou dost destroy me.

43.

Death's terrors spring from baseless phantasy, Death yields the tree of immortality; Since 'Isa breathed new life into my soul, Eternal death has washed its hands of me!

43. L. N. Meaning, the Sufi doctrine of _Baka ba'd ul fana_. See _Gulshan i Raz_, p. 31.

44.

Like tulips in the Spring your cups lift up, And, with a tulip-cheeked companion, sup With joy your wine, or e'er this azure wheel With some unlooked-for blast upset your cup.

44. C. L. N. A. I. J.

45.

Facts will not change to humour man's caprice, So vaunt not human powers, but hold your peace; Here must we stay, weighed down with grief for this, That we were born so late, so soon decease.

45. C. L. N. A. I. J. Meaning, the futility of striving against predestination. _Ank_, for _anki_. Bl., Prosody 13.

46.

Khayyam! why weep you that your life is bad?

What boots it thus to mourn? Rather be glad.

He that sins not can make no claim to mercy, Mercy was made for sinners--be not sad.

46. C. L. N. A. B. I. See note on No. 130

47.

All mortal ken is bounded by the veil, To see beyond man's sight is all too frail; Yea! earth's dark bosom is his only home;-- Alas! 'twere long to tell the doleful tale.

47. C. L. N. A. B. I. J.

48.

This faithless world, my home, I have surveyed, Yea, and with all my wit deep question made, But found no moon with face so bright as thine, No cypress in such stateliness arrayed.

48. L. N.

49.