The Sufistic Quatrains Of Omar Khayyam Part 42

157.

Still be the wine-house thronged with its glad choir, And Pharisaic skirts burnt up with fire, Still be those tattered frocks and azure robes Trod under feet of revellers in the mire.

157. C. L. N. A. J. Hafiz (Ode V.) speaks of the blue robes of certain Dervishes as a mark of hypocrisy.

158.

Why toil ye to ensure illusions vain, And good or evil of the world attain?

Ye rise like Zamzam, or the fount of life, And, like them, in earth's bosom sink again.

158. C. L. N. A. I.

159.

Till the Friend pours his wine to glad my heart, No kisses to my face will heaven impart They say, Repent in time; but how repent, Ere Allah's grace hath softened my hard heart?

159. C. L. N. A. I. Meaning, man is powerless to mend his ways without Divine grace.

160.

When I am dead, take me and grind me small, So that I be a caution unto all, And knead me into clay with wine, and then Use me to stop the wine-jar's mouth withal.

160. C. L. N. A. I. J.

161.

What though the sky with its blue canopy Doth close us in so that we cannot see, In the etern Cupbearer's wine methinks, There float a myriad bubbles like to me.

161. N.

162.

Take heart! Long in the weary tomb you'll lie, While stars keep countless watches in the sky, And see your ashes moulded into bricks, To build another's house and turrets high.

162. L. N. C. A. and I. split this into two. In line 1 note _izafat_ dropped after silent _he_.

163.

Glad hearts, who seek not notoriety, Nor flaunt in gold and silken bravery, Haunt not this ruined earth like gloomy owls, But wing their way, Simurgh-like, to the sky.

163. C. L. N. A. I.

164.

Wine's power is known to wine-bibbers alone, To narrow heads and hearts 'tis never shown; I blame not them who never felt its force, For, till they feel it, how can it be known.

164. C. N. A. I. J.

165.

Needs must the tavern-hunter bathe in wine, For none can make a tarnished name to shine; Go! bring me wine, for none can now restore Its pristine sheen to this soiled veil of mine.

165. C. L. N. A. B. I. In line 3 scan _masturiyi_ dissolving the letter of prolongation _ya_.

166.

I wasted life in hope, yet gathered not In all my life of happiness one jot; Now my fear is that life may not endure.

Till I have taken vengeance on my lot!

166. C. L. N. A. I. _Rozgare_, some time. In line 3 note the _madd_ of _An_ dropped. Bl., Prosody, p. 11.

167.

Be very wary in the soul's domain, And on the world's affairs your lips refrain; Be, as it were, sans tongue, sans ear, sans eye, While tongue, and ears, and eyes you still retain.

167. L. N.

168.

Let him rejoice who has a loaf of bread, A little nest wherein to lay his head, Is slave to none, and no man slaves for him,-- In truth his lot is wondrous well bested.

168. C. L. N. A.

169.

What adds my service to Thy majesty?

Or how can sin of mine dishonour Thee?

O pardon, then, and punish not, I know Thou'rt slow to wrath, and p.r.o.ne to clemency.

169. C. L. N. A. I.

170.

Hands, such as mine, that handle bowls of wine, 'Twere shame to book and pulpit to confine; Zealot! thou'rt dry, and I am moist with drink, Yea, far too moist to catch that fire of thine!

170. L. N. I follow Nicolas in taking _mani_ as a possessive p.r.o.noun, mine, though such a word is not mentioned in any grammar or dictionary. It occurs again in No. 478.