il 11 ilUUillHll HI! 1111 1111111 L111111U1111LL1U 1111111111 THE RUBAIYAT /OMAR KHAYYAM THE RUBAIYAT of OMAR KHAYYAM AS TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH VERSE BY EDWARD FITZGERALD WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY ADELAIDE HANSCOM "POPULAR EDITION" PUBLISHED IN NEW YORK BY DODGE PUBLISHING COMPANY mm. m COPYRIGHT 1905 AND 1914 BY DODGE PUBLISHING COMPANY V} I 1 11 11 1U1 11 1 i U 1 I 1UI II 1 1111111 1 UI1111 U Ul U UJL Ul JLllllUJLI TITVAKE! for the Sun who \A/ scatter'd into flight The Stars before him from the Field of Night, Drives Night along with them from Heav'n, and strikes The Sultan's Turret with a Shaft of Light. BEFORE the phantom of False morning died, Methought a Voice within the Tavern cried, "When all the Temple is pre- pared within, Why nods the drowsy Worship- per outside?" 10 HND, as the Cock crew, those who stood before The Tavern shouted — "Open then the Door! You know how little while we have to stay, And, once departed, may return no more." 11 WW Luimuu iuiiui 1 1 1 imrunmumuiuimumnuuuin »^\OW the New Year reviving J * old Desires, The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires, Where the White Hand of Moses on the Bough Puts out, and Jesus from the ground suspires. 12 © HHHHHI^BBHHHi^HHliB IRAM indeed is gone with all his Rose, And Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows; But still a Ruby kindles in the Vine, And many a garden by the water blows. 13 HND David's lips are lockt; but in divine High-piping Pehlevi, with Wine! Wine! Wine! Red Wine!"— the Nightingale cries to the Rose That sallow cheek of hers to incarnadine. QOME, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring Your Winter-garment of Repen- tance fling: The Bird of Time has but a little way To flutter — and the Bird is on the Wing. 15 w '<$&& mm mm I LUUUllUUUUllilLfiinUiilllltUMUllUilUllULLUJULLU ^1 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. 16 U am ^"^f ACH Morn a thousand Roses brings, you say; Yes, but where leaves the Rose of Yesterday? And this first Summer month that brings the Rose Shall take Jamshyd and Kaikobad away. 17 Wm W \ ELL > let it: take them! \As What have we to do With Kaikobad the Great, or Kaikhosru ? Let Zal and Rustum bluster as they will, Or Hatim call to Supper — heed not you. 16 WTH me along the strip of Herbage strewn That just divides the desert from the sown, Where name of Slave and Sultan is forgot — And Peace to Mahmud on his golden Throne ! HBOOK of Verses under- neath the Bough, A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread — and Thou Beside me singing in the Wilderness— Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow ! 20 OME 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 a distant Drum ! 21 *■ "%OOK to the blowing Rose JP -4. about us — "Lo, Laughing," she says, "into the world I blow, At once the silken tassel of my Purse Tear, and its Treasure on the Garden throw." 22 " V H "ND those who husbanded J_ ^ w the Golden grain, And those who flung it to the winds like Rain, Alike to no such aureate Earth are turn'd As, buried once, Men want dug up again. 23 < V^JHE Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon Turns Ashes — or it prospers; and anon, Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face, Lighting a little hour or two — was gone. 24 /■j^HINK, in this batter'd Caravanserai Whose Portals are alternate Night and Day, How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp Abode his destin'd Hour, and went his way. 25 w /- J^/HEY say the Lion and the Lizard keep The Courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep: And Bahram, that great Hunter — the Wild Ass Stamps o'er his Head, but cannot break his Sleep. 26 m mm I SOMETIMES think that never blows so red The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled; That every Hyacinth the Garden wears Dropt in her Lap from some once lovely Head. 27 ND this reviving Herb whose tender Green Fledges the River-Lip on which we lean — Ah, lean upon it lightly ! for who knows From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen ! 28 HH, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears To-day of past Regret and future Fears: To-morrow ! — Why, To-morrow I may be Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n thousand Years. ■ f OR some we loved, the : m> & c c e- C'CV LIKE for those who for To-day prepare, And those that after some To-morrow stare, A Muezzin from the Tower or Darkness cries, "Fools! your Reward is Neither Here nor There." 33 %\| VHY, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd, Of the two World's so wisely — they are thrust Like foolish Prophets forth; their Words to Scorn Are scatter'd, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust 34 YSELF when young did eagerly frequent Doctor and Saint, and heard great argument About it and about: but evermore Came out by the same door where in I went 35 " W Y ITH them the seed of W/ Wisdom did I sow, And with mine own hand wrought to make it grow; And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd — I came like Water, and like Wind I go." 36 rTO this Universe, and Why not knowing Nor Whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing And out of it, as Wind along the Waste, I know not Whither, willy-nilly blowing 37 V HAT, without asking, VA/ hither hurried Whence ? And, without, asking, Whither hurried hence! Oh, many a Cup of this for- bidden Wine Must drown the memory of that insolence ! 38 w wssrm UP from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sat^ And many a Knot unravel'd by the Road; But not the Master-knot of Human Fate. 39 /^HERE was the Door to which I found no Key; There was the Veil through which I might not see; Some little talk awhile of Me and Thee There was — and then no more of Thee and Me. 40 ARTH could not answer; nor the Seas that mourn In flowing Purple, of their Lord forlorn; Nor rolling Heaven, with all his Signs reveal'd And hidden by the sleeve of Night and Morn. 41 ^J^HEN of the Thee in Me who works behind The Veil, I lifted up my hands to find A Lamp amid the Darkness, and I heard, As from Without — " The Me within Thee blinds" luuuuuuinuuuiuuiuuuLuiuuiuiuuuuiinmTTi /■y^/HEN to the Lip of this poor earthen Urn I lean'd, the Secret of my Life to learn: And Lip to Lip it murmur'd — " While you live, Drink! — for, once dead, you never shall return." I THINK the Vessel, that with fugitive Articulation answer'd, once did live, And drink; and Ah! the passive Lip I kiss'd, How many Kisses might it take- - and give! 44 ■ TOR I remember stopping by the way To watch a Potter thumping his wet Clay: And with its all-obliterated Tongue It murmur'd — "Gently Brother. gently, pray!" 45 w HND has not such a Story from of Old Down Man's successive genera- tions roll'd Of such a cloud of saturated Earth Cast by the Maker into Human mould ? 46 &8SS ND not a drop that from our Cups we throw For Earth to drink of, but may steal below To quench the fire of Anguish in some Eye There hidden — far beneath, and long ago. 47 HS then the Tulip for her morning sup Of Heav'nly Vintage from the soil looks up, Do you devoutly do the like, till Heav'n To Earth invert you — like an empty Cup. 48 mm ii ii a i uinii riui ii ii i nu mi ii r iiiuiuiiiji Tm CERPLEXT no more with Human or Divine, To-morrow's tangle to the winds resign, And lose your fingers in the tresses of The Cypress-slender Minister of Wine. HND if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press, End in what All begins and ends in — Yes; Think then you are To-day what Yesterday You were — To-morrow you shall not be less. IS muuuuuiuuuiLimmumiuuniumiuuuiuuuig ^^TO when the Angel of the darker Drink At last shall find you by the river- brink, And, offering his Cup, invite your Soul Forth to your Lips to quaff — you shall not shrink. 51 U CjjiUiuu iuuLin 1 1 uumiuuHuumnimniumuiur i " V^V If HY, if the Soul can fling the Dust aside, And naked on the Air of Heaven ride, Were't not a Shame — were't not a Shame for him In this clay carcass crippled to abide ? n nauuiaiiiui ii ana anuaaiaaauuaiaiamaii >/^^^IS but a Tent where takes his one day's rest A Sultan to the realm of Death addrest; The Sultan rises, and the dark Ferrash Strikes, and prepares it for another Guest ~ Jj f ND fear not lest Existence J^. JL % closing your Account, and mine, should know the like no more The Eternal Saki from that Bowl has pour'd Millions of Bubbles like us, and will pour. p p i iiii liuii in nil liiiuiniiumiiuuuiimuuuiuuinri TO\HEN You and I behind the Veil are past, Oh, but the long, long while the World shall last, Which of our Coming and De- parture heeds As the Sea's self should heed a pebble-cast J JT MOMENT'S Halt— a J_ ^ m momentary taste Of Being from the Well amid the Waste — And Lo ! — the phantom Caravan has reach'd The Nothing it set out from — Oh, make haste! 56 <$<&<3 \V V O U L D you that spangle of Existence spend About the secret — quick about it, Friend! A Hair perhaps divides the False and True; And upon what, prithee, does life depend ? " Jf Y HAIR perhaps divides the J^. M % False and True ; Yes; and a single Alif were the clue — Could you but find it — to the Treasure-house, And peradventure to The Master too; »<£©: HOSE secret Presence, through Creation's veins Running Quicksilver -like eludes your pains ; Taking all shapes from Mah to Mahi; and They change and perish all— but He remains. 59 MOMENT guess'd— then back behind the Fold Immerst of Darkness round the Drama roll'd Which, for the Pastime of Eternity, He doth Himself contrive, enact, behold. 60 1 1 1 niiiumuuiiii i iiiuummuiuuu.uuutuuuum H BUT if in vain, down on the stubborn floor Of Earth, and up to Heav'n's un- opening Door, You gaze To-day, while You are You — how then To-morrow, You when shall be You no more? 6! TWTWTW'" n [ASTE not your Hour, nor in the vain pursuit Of This and That endeavour and dispute ; Better be jocund with the fruitful Grape Than sadden after none, or bitter, Fruit ' ■ W'OU know, my Friends, with y£-$ what a brave Carouse I made a Second Marriage in my house; Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed, And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse. 63 T-TOR "Is" and "Is-not" though ^A^' 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. ' V f H, but my Computations, J^. M s People say Reduced the Year to better reckon- ing?— Nay, 'Twas only striking from the Calendar Unborn To-morrow and dead Yesterday. 65 w ND lately, by the Tavern Door agape, Came shining through the Dusk an Angel Shape Bearing a Vessel on his Shoulder; and He bid me taste of it; and 't was — the Grape ! 66 /• V - 'HE Grape that can with Logic absolute The Two-and-Seventy jarring Sects confute: The Sovereign Alchemist that in a trice Life's leaden metal into Gold transmute: 67 /-J^HE mighty Mahmud, Allah- breathing Lord, That all the misbelieving and black Horde Of Fears and Sorrows that infest the Soul Scatters before him with his whirl- wind Sword. 68 w 9Me>: XW\HY, be this Juice the \^/ growth of God, who dare Blaspheme the twisted tendril as a Snare ? A Blessing, we should use it, should we not? And if a Curse — why, then Who set it there ? I MUST abjure the Balm of Life, I must, Scared by some After- reckoning ta'en on trust, Or lured with Hope of some Diviner Drink, To fill the Cup — when crumbled into Dust ! 70 OH, threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise ! One thing at least is certain — This Life flies, One thing is certain and the rest is Lies; The Flower that once has blown for ever dies. iiLnuiuiiiiiuriiiiiiiiiiiniiniiiiiiiiiiiinuiiiiHiiun £VTRANGE, is it not? that of the myriads who Before us pass'd the door of Dark- ness through, Not one returns to tell us of the Road, Which to discover we must travel too. 72 /■ J^/HE Revelations of Devout and Learn'd Who rose before us, and as Proph- ets burn'd, Are all but Stories, which, awoke from Sleep They told their comrades, and to Sleep return'd. I SENT my Soul through the Invisible, Some letter of that After-life to spell: And by and by my Soul return'd to me, And answer'd "I Myself am Hea'vn and Hell:" 74 ~W SSS8S *|^EAV'N but the Vision of J \ fulfill'd Desire, And Hell the Shadow from a Soul on fire Cast on the Darkness into which Ourselves, So late emerg'd from, shall so soon expire. 75 ^kU\E are no other than a \A/ moving row Of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go Round with the Sun-illumin'd Lantern held In Midnight by the Master of the Show; 76 sssas BUT helpless Pieces of the Game He plays Upon this Chequer-board of Nights and Days. Hither and thither moves, and checks, and slays, And one by one back in the Closet lays. 77 mmm m /^^/HE Ball no question makes of Ayes and Noes, But Here or There as strikes the Player goes, And He that toss'd you down into the Field, He knows about it all — he knows — HE knows ! W/TW/7W/ 78 88S8S ' V^/HE Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it 79 HND that inverted Bowl they call the Sky, Whereunder crawling coop'd we live and die, Lift not your hands to It for help — for it As impotently moves as you or I. sssss? Earth's first Clay did the Last Man knead, And there of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed : And the first Morning of Creation wrote What the Last Dawn of Reckon- ing shall read. 81 e/cJc*,ocEo»_ I TELL you this— When, started from the Goal, Over the flaming shoulders of the Foal Of Heav'n Parwin and Mushtari they flung, In my predestin'd Plot of Dust and Soul a: /'^'HE Vine had struck a fibre: which about If clings my Being — let the Dervish flout; Of my Base metal may be filed a Key, That shall unlock the Door he howls without »G8S HND this I know: whether the one True Light Kindle to Love, or Wrath-consume me quite, One flash of It within the Tavern caught Better than in the Temple lost outright. IS vssm WGJf>) HAT ! out of senseless Nothing to provoke A conscious Something to resent the yoke Of unpermitted Pleasure, under pain Of Everlasting Penalties, if broke ! 86 w HAT! from his helpless Creature be repaid Pure Gold for what he lent him dross-allay'd — Sue for a Debt we never did contract, And cannot answer — Oh, the sorry trade ! minimum mi n iimiimmmmmumiiuuimmin OH Thou, who didst with pitfall ana with gin Beset the Road I was to wander in, Thou wilt not with Predestin'd Evil round Enmesh, and then impute my Fall to Sin ! OH, Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make, And ev'n with Paradise devise the Snake: For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man Is blacken'd — Man's forgiveness give — and take! 89 ii U mmm tiofaf) " V f S under cover of departing fjL Day Slunk hunger- stricken Ramazan away, Once more within the Potter's house alone I stood, surrounded by the Shapes of Clay. 90 HAPES of all Sorts and Sizes, great and small, That stood along the floor and by *he wall; And some loquacious vessels were; and some Listen'd perhaps, but never talk'd at all. 91 n i iiiiiiuutiiLLi'uuuiriuiiiuiiuuiuu'uiuiinniiiuri l^rAID one among them — f<~J " Surely not in vain My substance of the common Earth was ta'en And to this Figure moulded, to be broke, Or trampled back to shapeless Earth again." 92 /■J^HEN said a Second— "Ne'er a peevish Boy Would break the Bowl from which he drank in joy; And He that with his hand the Vessel made Will surely not in after Wrath destroy." HFTER a momentary sflence spake Some Vessel of a more ungainly make: 41 They sneer at me for leaning all awry: What! did the Hand then of the Potter shake?" T "TTWrVHY," said another, "Some there are who tell Of one who threatens he will toss to Hell The luckless Pots he marr'd in making — Pish ! He's a Good Fellow, and *t will all be well." % ~W1 m ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ « VELL," murmur'd one, "Let whoso make or buy, My Clay with long Oblivion is gone dry: But fill me with the old familiar Juice, Methinks I might recover by and by." 97 ^^TO while the Vessels one by fZZr one were speaking, The little Moon look'd in that all were seeking : And then they jogg'd each other, "Brother! Brother! Now for the Porter's shoulder-knot a-creaking ! " 98 Wl ' J B "H, with the Grape my fad- J_ ^ w ing Life provide, And wash the Body whence the Life has died, And lay me, shrouded in the living Leaf, By some not unfrequented Garden- side. LIU U.U ii.i iiii.li.ll 1 1 111 1111 111 111 11 lllllllljni 11111 '1 TTTTT7TI 15 HAT ev'n my buried Ashes such a snare Of Vintage shall fling up into the Air As not a True -believer pass- ing by But shall be overtaken un- aware. 100 w INDEED the Idols I have loved so long Have done my credit in this World much wrong : Have drown'd my Glory in a shallow Cup, And sold my Reputation for a Song. r DEED, indeed, Repentance oft before I swore — but was I sober when I swore ? And then and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hand My thread-bare Penitence apieces tore. 102 ' J y N D much as Wine has play'd the Infidel, And robb'd me of my Robe of Honour — Well, I wonder often what the Vintners buy One half so precious as the stuff they sell. 103 ' ■ f"KT, Ah, that Spring should J&~$ vanish with the Rose ! That Youth's sweet-scented manu- script should close ! The Nightingale that in the branches sang, Ah whence, and whither flown again, who knows ! 104 kOULD but the Desert of the Fountain yield One glimpse — if dimly, yet indeed, reveal'd, To which the fainting Traveller might spring, As springs the trampled herbage of the field ! 105 U OULD but some winged Angel ere too late Arrest the yet unfolded Roll of Fate, And make the stern Recorder otherwise Enregister, or quite oblite- rate ! 106 J f H Love! could you and I J_ ^ w with Him conspire To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire, Would not we shatter it to bits — and then Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's desire! •'ON rising Moon that looks for us again — How oft hereafter will she wax and wane; How oft hereafter rising look for us Through this same Garden — and for one in vain ! «> e) «> e <)t)t)^c)^c)c)^c)Bc)c)?)S) <£> c> O 0) O ' J g "ND when like her, oh Saki, J_ ^ m you shall pass Among the Guests Star-scatter'd on the Grass, And in your joyous errand reach the spot Where I made One — turn down an empty Glass ! 109 e ><£C sal