The Sufistic Quatrains Of Omar Khayyam Part 71

Long time, indeed, with cup in hand, I walked among the flowers; nevertheless none of my projects has been realized in this world. But, although wine has not led me to the goal of my desires, I will not stray from its path, for when one follows a road he cannot retrogress.

54.

Put a cup of wine in my hand, for my heart is inflamed, and my life slips away as quicksilver. Arise, then, for the favors of fortune are only a dream; arise, for the fire of thy youth is running away like the water of a torrent.

55.

We are the idolaters of love, but the Musulman differs from us; we are like the pitiful ant, but Salomon is our foe. Our visages should aye be paled with love, and our apparel in rags, and yet the mart for silken stuffs is here below.

56.

To drink wine and rejoice is my gospel of life. To be as indifferent to heresy as to religion is my creed. I asked the bride of the human race [the world] what her dowry was, and she answered: My dowry consists in the joy of my heart.

57.

I am worthy neither of h.e.l.l nor a celestial abode; G.o.d knows from what clay he has moulded me. Heretical as a dervish and foul as a lost woman, I have neither wealth, nor fortune, nor hope of Paradise.

58.

Thy pa.s.sion, man, resembles in all things a house dog which never leaves his kennel. It has the slyness of the fox, it lies low like a hare, and to the rage of the tiger adds the voracity of a wolf.

59.

How beautiful they are, these different greens which mingle on the edge of a brook! One thinks they must have had their birth upon the lips of one divinely fair.

Place not thy foot upon them with disdain; they spring from dust which, once a face, was tinted with the colors of a rose.

60.

Each heart that G.o.d illumines with the light of love, as it frequents the mosque or synagogue, inscribes its name upon the book of love, and is set free from fear of h.e.l.l while it awaits the joys of Paradise.

61.

A cup of wine is better than the kingdom of Kawous, and preferable to Kobad's throne or to the realm of Thous. The sighs to which, at dawn, a lover is the prey are sweeter than the groans of praying hypocrites.

62.

Though sin hath made me ugly and forlorn, not without hope am I like some idolater relying on his temple G.o.ds. So, on the morn I die of yesternight's carouse, give me some wine and call the one Beloved, for h.e.l.l and Paradise are one to me.

63.

If I drink wine 'tis not for mere desire; nor for the rousing of the mob or insult to the Faith. No, 'tis for a pa.s.sing knowledge of relief from self. No other motive could enwreath the cup.

64.

Men claim fore-knowledge, predicating h.e.l.l or Heaven.

How plain their fault! How asinine their faith! For know that if all lovers of the fair and of the cup deserve a h.e.l.l, then Paradise will be a void.

65.

In Cheeban [a month] I must not embrace the vine; in Redjeb I am consecrate to Him. By right these sixty suns to Allah and his Prophet are a.s.signed: let Ramazan in mercy bring the cooling cup again.

66.

Now Ramazan has come, the vintage pa.s.sed, and pledging of the cup and simple customs are afar. Yet full the wine pots are, and still untouched, and houris wait for us in fond suspense.

67.

This rolling hostelry we call the world, where light and darkness alternate, is but the ruin of a Jamshid's entertainment of a hundred Kings, or e'en a faint memento of a host of hunters like to Bahram's self.

68.

To-day when fortune's rose is burgeoning, fill high the cup. Drink deep, O friend, drink deep, for time is not thy friend or ever willingly repeats a day like this.

69.

This palace where great Bahram loved to drink now herds the young gazelle, and in it lions sleep. Where Bahram snared the swift wild a.s.s, the snare of Time has in its turn snared him.

70.

The clouds expand and weep upon the earth. No longer can we live without the amaranthine cup. The tender green glads weary eyes to-day, but oh! that emerald verdure growing from our dust, whose sight will it rejoice?

71.

To-day, which we call Adine [Wednesday], leave the tiny cup and drink wine from a bowl. If other days you drank but one fair bowl, to-day drink two, for Adine ranks its fellow days, save one.

72.

O heart! since this world makes you sad, since souls so pure must leave the tenement of clay, go, sit upon the verdure of the field sometimes, ere verdure springs in turn from your own dust.