The Sufistic Quatrains Of Omar Khayyam Part 85

If you know to what to cling upon this walk around a circle without end, you must recognize two cla.s.ses of men: those who understand perfectly its good and its bad side, and those who have no notion either of themselves or of things here below.

321.

Render light to my heart the weight of the vicissitudes of this world. Conceal from mortals my reprehensible actions.

Render me happy to-day, and to-morrow make me what thou deemest worthy of Thy pity.

322.

For him who makes account of human ills, joy, sorrow, pain are all identical. The good and the bad of this world must one day end. What matters it whether all be torment or pleasure for us?

323.

Now that the nightingale has made its voice heard, think no longer of anything, but seize the ruby cup of wine from the hand of the drinkers; arise, come, for the rose blossoms are breathing out joy; avenge thyself, avenge thyself for two or three days for the torments thou hast endured.

324.

Notice this cup made of clay; it is possessed of a soul! They say a jasmine produces the flowers of the Judas-tree. But what do I say? The shining purity of wine is a cause of my error? Oh, no [it is not wine], it is diaphanous water shot with a liquid fire.

325.

Arise, leave the cares of this world which are fleeting; be joyous, pa.s.s gaily this life of a moment, for if the favors of heaven had been constant to others, this turn of joy would not have come to you.

326.

Listen to me, O thou who hast not seen old friends [of experience]! Vex not thyself with this Wheel of Heaven which has neither surface nor foundation: content thyself with what thou hast and, as a peaceable spectator, observe here below the various games to which men are destined.

327.

Employ all thy efforts to be agreeable to drinkers, and follow the good counsel of Khayyam. O friend!

demolish the bases of prayer and of fasting, drink wine, steal if you will, but do good.

328.

Justice is the soul of the universe, the universe is the body. The angels are the wit of the body, the heavens the elements, the creatures in it are the members; behold here the eternal unity. The rest is only trumpery.

329.

Yesterday evening, in the tavern, the object of my heart that ravishes my soul [G.o.d] presented me a cup with a ravishing air of sincerity and a desire to please me, inviting me to drink. No, said I to him, I will not drink. Drink, he answered me, for the love of my heart.

330.

Do you wish the universe to submit itself to your will?

Occupy yourself without ceasing in fortifying your soul.

Share my mood, which consists in drinking wine and never taking to myself the cares of things here below.

331.

The sages who have well considered this world of dust, this sojourn of inconstancy from one end to the other, see nothing in it agreeable but wine in ruby cups and beautiful countenances.

332.

Thanks to the iniquity of this Wheel of Heaven which resembles a mirror, thanks to the periodic motion of time which accords its favors only to the most abject, my cheeks, hollowed like a cup, are bathed in tears; but, like a flask, my heart is full of blood.

333.

Yesterday [before day], in company with a charming friend and a cup of rose-colored wine, I was seated on the border of a brook. Before me stood the cup, that sh.e.l.l, of which the pearl [contained in the cup] shed such a brilliant light that the herald of the sun, awaking with a start, announced the Dawn.

334.

Forget the day which has been cut off from thy existence; disturb not thyself about to-morrow, which has not yet come; rest not upon that which is or that which is no more; live happily one instant and throw not thy life to the winds.

335.

Art not ashamed to give thyself to corruption?--to neglect thus both what is commanded and what is forbidden?

Even if you succeed in appropriating all the goods of the earth to yourself, what can you do with them except to abandon them in your turn?

336.

I have seen a man betake himself to sterile soil. He was neither a heretic nor a Musulman; he had neither riches nor religion, nor G.o.d, nor truth, nor law, nor cert.i.tude.

Who in this world or in the other would have so much courage?

337.

One host of men is pondering upon belief, or on the faith; others are hovering between doubt and certainty.

But suddenly behind the veil there's one will cry: O ignorant ones! the way that you seek is neither here nor there!

338.

There hangs in the heavens a bull called Parwin [Pleiades], and another bull is underneath the earth. To the eyes of intelligence or those who live in certainty, I show a herd of a.s.ses placed between two beeves.