Omar Khayyam Quatrains

A Moment’s Halt–a 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,…

And 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…

Heav’n but the Vision of fulfill’d Desire, And Hell the Shadow from a Soul on fire, Cast on the Darkness into which Ourselves, So late…

So when that Angel of the darker Drink At last shall find you by the river-brink, And, offering his Cup, invite your Soul Forth to…

Then 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…

Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss’d Of the Two Worlds so wisely–they are thrust Like foolish Prophets forth; their Words to Scorn Are…

Ah Love! could you and I with Him conspire To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire, Would not we shatter it to bits–and then…

And we, that now make merry in the Room They left, and Summer dresses in new bloom, Ourselves must we beneath the Couch of Earth…

I sometimes think that never blows so red The Rose as where some buried Cæsar bled; That every Hyacinth the Garden wears Dropt in her…

Perplext 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…

They say the Lion and the Lizard keep The Courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep: And Bahrám, that great Hunter–the Wild Ass Stamps o’er…

Why, 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…

A 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,…

As 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…

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…

Shapes of all Sorts and Sizes, great and small, That stood along the floor and by the wall; And some loquacious Vessels were; and some…

Think, in this batter’d Caravanserai Whose Portals are alternate Night and Day, How Sultán after Sultán with his Pomp Abode his destined Hour, and went…

With me along the strip of Herbage strown That just divides the desert from the sown, Where name of Slave and Sultan is forgot– And…

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,…

And those who husbanded the Golden grain, And those who flung it to the winds like Rain, Alike to no such aureate Earth are turn’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…

Said one among them–“Surely not in vain “My substance of the common Earth was ta’en “And to this Figure moulded, to be broke, “Or trampled…

There was the Door to which I found no Key; There was the Veil through which I might not see: some little talk awhile of…

Why, be this Juice the growth of God, who dare Blaspheme the twisted tendril as a Snare? A Blessing, we should use it, should we…

Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears TO-DAY of past Regrets and future Fears: To-morrow!–Why, To-morrow I may be Myself with Yesterday’s Sev’n thousand…

And, 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,…

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 predestined…

So while the Vessels one by one were speaking, The little Moon look’d in that all were seeking: And then they jogg’d each other, “Brother!…

Up from Earth’s Centre through the Seventh Gate I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate, And many a Knot unravel’d by the Road;…

With Earth’s first Clay They did the Last Man knead And there of the Last Harvest sow’d the Seed: And the first Morning of Creation…

Ah, with the Grape my fading life provide, And wash the Body whence the Life has died, And lay me, shrouded in the living Leaf,…

And when like her, oh Sáki, you shall pass Among the Guests Star-scatter’d on the Grass, And in your joyous errand reach the spot Where…

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…

The 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:

Waste not your Hour, nor in the vain pursuit Of This and That endeavour and dispute; Better be jocund with the fruitful Grape Than sadden…

Would but some wingéd Angel ere too late Arrest the yet unfolded Roll of Fate, And make the stern Recorder otherwise Enregister, or quite obliterate!

Alike for those who for TO-DAY prepare, And those that after some TO-MORROW stare, A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries, “Fools! your Reward…

As under cover of departing Day Slunk hunger-stricken Ramazán away, Once more within the Potter’s house alone I stood, surrounded by the Shapes of Clay.

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…

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,…

Wake! For the Sun, who scatter’d into flight The Stars before him from the Field of Night, Drives Night along with them from Heav’n, and…

With them the seed of Wisdom did I sow, And with mine own hand wrought to make it grow; And this was all the Harvest…

And David’s lips are lockt; but in divine High-piping Pehleví, with “Wine! Wine! Wine! “Red Wine!” the Nightingale cries to the Rose That sallow cheek…

Before the phantom of False morning died, Methought a Voice within the Tavern cried, “When all the Temple is prepared within, “Why nods the drowsy…

Into 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…

Strange, is it not that of the myriads who Before us pass’d the door of Darkness through, Not one returns to tell us of the…

We are no other than a moving row Of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go Round with the Sun-illumined Lantern held In Midnight by the…

Would 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,…

And fear not lest Existence closing your Account, and mine, should know the like no more; The Eternal Sáki from that Bowl has pour’d Millions…

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…