The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Selected verses.

8

Whether at Naishapur or Babylon,

Whether the Cup with sweet or bitter run,

The Wine of Life keeps oozing drop by drop,

The Leaves of Life keep falling one by one.

12

A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,

A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread - and Thou

Beside me singing in the Wilderness-

Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!

13

Some for the Glories of This World; and some

Sigh for the Prophet's Paradise to come;

Ah, take the Cash, and let the Credit go,

Nor heed the rumble of the distant Drum!

24

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!

37

For I remember stopping by the way

To watch a Potter thumping his wet Clay;

And with it's all-obliterated Tongue

It murmur'd- "Gently, Brother, gently, pray!"

56

For "Is" and "Is-Not" though with Rule and Line

And "Up-and-Down" by Logic I define,

Of all that one should care to fathom, I

Was never deep in anything but - Wine.

Omar Khayyam (1048-1122), translated by Edward Fitzgerald (1809-1883). Fifth Edition.