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·Rubaiyát
of Omar
Khanyám
Translated by
EDWARD FITZGERALD
Introduction by
LOUIS UNTERMEYER
Illustrated by
CORDON ROSS
JAICO PUBLISHING HOUSE
BOMBAY-CALCUTTA-NEW DELHI-MADRAS

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·WHEN he was born at Naislapur in Khorassan, some time during the latter half of the 11th century, he was called Ghiyathuddin Abulfath Omar bin Ibrahim Al-Khayyami. Reduced to its practical origins, the sonorous syllables indicated nothing morc than that the child was the son of one Abraham, or Ibrahim, the tentmaker. The boy, familiarly known as Omar, scems to have followed Iris father's trade, Froin tentmaking he graduated to science and mathematics, and in his day he was far better known as a mathematician and astronomer than as a poet. He wrote a standard work on algebra; he revised the astron nomical tables; hc prompted the Persian Sultan Malik-Shoh to make a drastic reform of the calendar, During the few intervals when he was free of his computations, Omar indulged himself in the please ures of poetry. He celebrated two intoxicants: Derse and the vine. Before he dicd in 1123 ire had composed some five liundred epigrams in quatrains, of rubais, peculiar in rhyme and pungent in effect. The stangas were, for the most part, independent; they embodied a terse and self-contained idea. But they were connected, if not unified, by a central philosophy: a vigorous, frec-thinking hedonism, a casual but frank appeal to enjoy the pleasures of life without too much reflection y ·1 For sit centuries Omar's work was unknown to the western world. It remained for a secluded English country gentleman to establish the Persian poetmathematician among the glories of literature. Ed. ward FitzGerold was born in the village of Bredfield on March 31, 1909, into a well-to-do family. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he became a friend of Thackeray, FitzGerald did the leisurely studying and traveling which was expected. of him, cultivated music and botany, and, even as a young man, was relieved when he avas permitted to retire to the Suffolk countryside. There he settled himself quiotly, devoied his days to his friends and his flowers, and led a pleasantly unproductive life until his late forties. In his fiftieth year, FitzGerald published a little paper-bound pamplilet of translations which he called The Rubaiyát of Omar Khayyam. The Pamphlct was published anonymously; it attracted little attention. A year later, in 1860, the poets Swinburne and Rossetti discovered the poem. But, legend to the contrary, the work did not thercupon leap into popularity. Eight years passed before a second edi. 'tion seemed advisable. Suddenly the рост became a favorite; the care. free quatrains of the eleventh-century Persian were t:sed as a challenge by the nineteenth-century undergraduates, repeated by rebellious lovers, and flung out as a credo by the men and women who were growing restless if not yet insurrectionary. There vi ·had always been an undercurrent of protest against the rigid moral camestness of the period. The Rubaiyát served as a small buf concentrated expression of the revolt against Victorian conventions, the prevailing smugness, the false acquicscence and hypocritical prudery. Religion had been confronted by science; noble ideals had come into conflict with practical necessity; roaring machin sy was threatening to dispel the once peruatsioc "sweetness and light." The "message of Fit-Geralls Rubaiyát exs somcthing of a slogan and something of an escape; it tumed imperial commercialism to an idcalized pcrganism. Half-defiantly, half desperately the younger men and women madc FitzGeralul-Omar a cogue. Perhaps the most quoted quatrcin of the century uas. 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! Here was an infectious panacca, half tonic, half opiate. It was not so much a compromise of values as o combination of desirablcs: an avoidance of ordinary existence and a participation in a richer, if somewhat unreal, lifc. This cas the opposite of Mrs. Grundy's middle-class loboos; this was a very denlal of nega. tions. "Wine, worran, and song“ were affirmed ond glorifed in a mounting pacan of pleasure. A Persian ·1 Ecclesiastes, through the medium of a staid English squire, assured a perplexed generation that all was sanity; that the glories of this world are better than Paradise to come; that it is wise to take the cash and let the credit go; that life is a meaningless game played by helpless pieces; that worldly ambitions turn into ashes; that in the end an end which comes all too quickly-wine is a more trustworthy friend and a better comforter than all the philosophers.. Thrust into undesired notice by The Rubaiyát, FitzGerald attempted to live up to his reputation for a while. He published translations of the Agamemnon and the two Oedipus tragedies of Sophocles; he wrote a biography of Bernardi Barton, his father-inlaw and friend of Charles Lamb; he made a compilation of the homely verse of George Crabbe entitled Readings from Crabbe. But he was not designed to be an Eminent Victorian. He was, even among retired gentlemen, unusually reticent, "an idle fellow, one whose friendship were more like loves," and his wit was kept for private communications. It was not until the letters of "Old Fitz" were published that FitzGerald's personal charm was revealed. He sank back into semi-obscurity as though it were a comfortable couch, and died, almost a quarter of a ceniury, after the publicction of The Rubaiyát, on June 14, 1883. His end was characteristically calm. He slipped from life painlessly, almost imperceptibly. Appreciation of Omar-FitzGerald continued to grow. Tennysor wrote a reminiscent poem lauding viii ·the "golden Eastern lay" of "that large infidel, your Omar," and hoping that FitzGerald would welcome the verses not so much for their own sake as a tribute from one recalling gracious times, When, in our younger London days, You found some merit in my rhymes, And I more pleasure in your praise. The Persian poem which seven centurics had neglected came to life as a permancnt part of English literature. Elihu Vedder cmphasized, and cren overstressed, its allegorical implications with his famous symbolic drawings. Translations appearcd in German, Italian, French, Danish, and Hungarian. Liza Lehmann's song cycle In a Persian Garden was a performer's show-plcce and a popular focorite at the turn of the century. Omar became a cult; commentators placed him at the head of a "literature of agnosticism." The quatrains were enthusiastically, if inconsistently, compared to the choruses in the Greek dramas, the hopeless outcrics of Job, and the irresponsible drinking-songs of Anacreon. It is said that when Thomas Hardy lay dying in his eighty-cighth year, he asked to have one particular stanza read to him. It was the verse which runs: O 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 blackened-Mari's forgiveness give-and take!

·No longer dependent upon the vagaries of a period or the tricks of fashion, The Rubaiyát has outlived cults and commentaries. It has had its influences and imitators. Its spirit is reflected in Housman's A Shropshire Lad, in which fortitude and fatalism are pitted against each other and finally reconciled. Omar might well have applauded the Shropshire lad's conclusion that malt does more than Milton can To justify God's way to man- And he would have smiled at Housman's summary in his Last Poems: The troubles of our proud and angry dust Are from eternity, and shall not fail. Bear them we can, and if we can we must. Shoulder the sky, my lad, and drink your ale. But the grim philosophy scarcely matters. The cynicism may be "persistent; the mood may be (as FitzGerald himself said) “a desperate sort of thing, at the bottom of all thinking men's minds.” But the tune is so gay that even the pessimism seems blithe. The quick but melodic turns of the poem “tease us out of thought." We may argue about the meaning, but we are indisputably compelled and even convinced by the music. -LOUIS UNTERMEYER Elizabethtown Adirondack Mountains New York

·RUBÁTYÁT OF
OMAR KHAYYAM
Eduard FitzGerald's First Version

·I
Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night
Has flung the Stone that puts
the Stars to Flight:
And Lol the Hunter of the East has caught
The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light.
Stons-Flinging a stone into a cup was the desert signal for
"Yo ho sch"
2
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·Dreaming when Dawn's Left Hand was in the sky
I heard a Voice within the Tavern cry,
"Awake, my
Little ones, and fill the Cup
Before Life's Liquor in its Cup be dry.”
Dowo's Left Hand-False dawn, .a nebulous light on the
tcrizon about an hour before dawn.

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·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,

·POS
Lastnotte
aver?
20 M
T.

·IV
Now the New Year reviving 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.
New Year The New Year is here conceived, as in most old
calendars, as beginning at the vernal equinox (March 21).
White Hand of Moses-In the Koran Moses draws forth his
hand and it becomes magically, white; and thus the bough
whitens with blossoms perhaps.
Jesus-According. to Persians, Jesus' breath had healing
power.
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·Iråm indeed is gone with all its Rose,
And Jamshýd's Sev'n-ring’d Cup where no one
knows;
But still the Vine her ancient Ruby yields,
And still a Garden by the Water blows.
i
Irám-A sumptuous city now buried somewhere bercath the
sands of Arabia.
Jamshid-A legendary Persian king; his was a golden die
vining cup whose seven rings symbolized tho seven heavens,
serco planets, seven scas, and which contained the olixir of
life,
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·VI
And David's Lips are lock't; but in divine
High piping Pélevi, with “Winel Wine! Winel
Red Wine!"-the Nightingale cries to the Rose
That yellow Cheek of hers to’incarnadine.
David-He is mentioned in the Koran as a singer and is, of
course, the Psalmist of the Bible; therefore, David's lips is an
apt figure here.
Pelevi-An old Persian language
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·VI
Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring
The Winter Garment of Repentance fling:
The Bird of Time has but a little
way
To fly-and Lol The Bird is on the Wing.

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·11 YM And look-a thousand Blossoms with the Day Woke-and a thousand scatter'd into Clay: And this first Summer Month that brings the Rose Shall take Jamshyd and Kaikobád away. Katikobad-A semihistorical Persian Warrior-king. 16

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·But come with old Khayyám, and leave the Lot Of Kaikobád and Kaikhosrú forgot: Let Rustum lay about him as he will, Or Hátim Tai cry Supper-heed them not. i Kaikhostú-A legendary Persian king.. Rustam A legendary Persian warrior, noted for his great exploits. H&tim Tai-A Mohammedan poet renowned for his openhanded generosity. 18

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·With me along some Strip of Herbage strown That just divides the desert from the sown, Where name of Slave and Sultán scarce is known, And pity Sultán Mahmúd on his Throne. 1 Mohmed Sultan of Ghazni (9717-1029), a Mohammedan conqueror. His realms lay in present-day Afghanistan.

·(C-SS 139) ·X Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough, A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse-and Thou Beside me singing in the Wilderness- And Wilderness is Paradise enow. 22

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·XI "How sweet is morta! Sovranty!"-think some: Others-"How blest the Paradise to come!" Ah, take the Cash in hand and waive the Rest; Oh, the brave Music of a distant Drum! . Cash-Present experiences. Rest-The future. 24

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·W Look to the Rose that blows 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." Silken Tassel-The golden center of the rose. 26

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·The 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-is gone. 28

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·And the lo husband i the Golden Cirin, Arid those who fing it to thr: Vitid: like Roin, Alike to no suck aurrate Briharu lund is, buried onc, ion want dug up again. 30

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·AYI Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai Whose Doorways are alternate Night and Day, How Sultán after Sultán with his Pomp Abode his Hour or two, and went his way.

·在是: 33 ·Think, in this batter'd Caravanseraf Whose Doorways are alternate Night and Day, How Sultán after Sultán with his Pomp Abode his Hour or two, and went his way. 32 ·33 նդում 11, 14:33 ·XVI They say the Lion and the Lizard keep The Courts where Jamshýd gloried and drank deep: And Bahrám, that great Hunter-the. Wild Ass Stamps o'er his Head, and he lies fast asleep. Couris-The Throne of Jamshyd, the limestone platform of the main palace of Persepolis. Bahrán-A Persian king of the Sassanian dynasty who perished in a bog while pusing his favorite quarry, a wild ass.

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·XVII I sometimes think that never blows so red The Rose as where some buried Cæsar bled; That every Hyacinth the Garden wears Dropt in its Lap from some once lovely Head. 36

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·X5 And this delightful Herb whose tender Green Fledges the River's Lip on which we lean- Ah, lean upon it lightly! for who knows From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen!

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·Ah! my Belovéd, fill the Cup that clears TO-DAY of past Regrets and future Fears-- Tomorrow?-Why, To-morrow I may be Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n Thousand Years Seu'n Thousand Yects-A thousand years to each of tho soven planels. 40

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·XX Lo! some we loved, the loveliest and the best That Time and Fate of all their Vintage prest, Have drunk their Cupa Round or two before, And one by one crept silentlohn Rest.

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·CAT 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 Dascend, ourselves to make a Couch-for whom? 4 ·শ্রাতা ·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!

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·XXIV Alike for those who for TO-DAY prepare, And those that after a TO-MORROW stare, A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries "Fools! your Reward is neither Here nor There." Bluezzin-A Mohammedan who cries the hour of prayer. 48 ·1.

·XY Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd Of the Two Worlds so learnedly, are thrust Like foolish Prophets forth; their Words to Scorn Are scatter'd, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust.

·'' -TC ·XXVI: Oh, come with old Khayyam, and leave the Wise To talk; one thing is certain, that Life flies; One thing is certain, and the Rest is Lies; The Flower that once has blown for ever dies.

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·Y With them the Seed of Wisdom did I sow, And with my own hand labour'd it to grow: And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd- "I came like Water, and like Wind I go.

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·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 whither, willy-nilly, blowing.

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·XK What, without asking, hither hurried whence? And, without asking, whither hurried hencel Another and another Cup to drown The Memory of this Impertinencel

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·I on Up from Earth's Centre through the seventh Gate rose, and the Throne of Saturn sate, And many Knots unravel'd by the Road; But not the Knot of Human Death and Fate. Saturn-The lord of the seventh heaven. In medieval leam. ing the seven heerens represented the seven liberal arts; therefore, Omar has used all the arts in attempts to solve, the riddle of the universe. 62

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·CUM There was a Door to which I found no Key: There was a Veil past which I could not see: Some little Talk awhile of Me and THEE There seemed-and then no more of Thee and Me. Me and Thee-That is to say, distinct personalities as differentiated from the depersonalized whole of existence. 64 ·TI 65 ·WX811 Then to the rolling Heav'n itself I cried, Asking, “What Lamp had Destiny to guide Her little Children stumbling in the Dark?” And-“A blind understanding!” Heav'n replied.

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·XXIV Then to this earthen Bowl did I adjourn My Lip the secret Well of Life to learn: And Lip to Lip it murmur'd_“While you live, Drink!--for once dead you Dever shall return."

·WWF Www II 69 ·I think the Vessel, that with fugitive Articulation answer'd, once did live, And merry-make; and the cold Lip I kiss'd How many Kisses might it take-and give.

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·XXVI For in the Market-place, one Dusk of Day, I watch'd the Potter thumping his wet Clay: And with its all obliterated Tongue It murmur'd—“Gently, Brother, gently, prayl"

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·XXXVI For in the Market-place, one Dusk of Day, I watch'd the Potter thumping his wet Clay: And with its all obliterated Tongue It murmur'd-“Gently, Brother, gently, prayl”

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·XXXVII · Ah, fill the Cup:-what boots it to repeat How Time is slipping underneath our Feet: Unborn TO-MORROW and dead YESTERDAY, Why fret about them if To-Day be sweet!

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·XXXVIII One Moment in Annihilation's Waste, One Moment of the Well of Life to taste- The Stars are setting, and the Caravan Starts for the dawn of Nothing-Oh, make hastel

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·How long, how long, in infinite Pursuit Of Thís and That endeavour and dispute? Better be merry with the fruitful Grape Than sadden after none, or bitter, Fruit.

·79.

·You know, my Friends, how long since in my House For a new Marriage I did make Carouse: Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed, And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse.

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·X' You know, my Friends, how long sinc House For a new Marriage I did make Caro Divorced old barren Reason from n And took the Daughter of the Vine to

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·. For "Is” and “IS-NOT” though with Rule and Line, And, "UP-AND-DOWN-without, I could define, I yet in all-I only cared to know, Was never deep in anything but-Wine.

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·LI And lately, by the Tavern Door agape, Came stealing through the Dusk an Angel Sha Bearing a vessel on his Shoulder; and He bid me taste of it; and 'twas-the Grapel Angel Shape-Azael, the angel of death, who watches ove the dying, and separates the soul from the body. 84

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·"Mic Grape that can with Logic absolute The Two-and-Seventy jarring Sects confuto The subtle Alchemist that in a Trice Life's lvadon Mclal into Gold irausmute. Try-and-Scorniy Scc!s - The world was said to be made up of seventy-two rcligions. 86

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·LY The mighty Mahmúd, the victorious Lord, That all the misbelieving and black Horde Of Fears and Sorrows that infest'the Soul Scatters and slays with his enchanted Sword. Mahmúd-This alludes to the Sultan's conquest of India and its dark-skinned people. 88 .

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·LY But leave the Wise to wrangle, and with me The Quarrel of the Universe let be: And, in some corner of the Hubbub coucht, Make Game of that which makes as much of Thee,

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·XLVI For in and out, above, about, below, 'Tis nothing but a Magic Shadow-show, Play'd in a Box whose Candle is the Sun, Round which we Phantom Figures come and So. Magic Shadow-show-A magic lantem composed of a cyiinder, on whose inside are painted figures, which revolves around a lighted candle. 92 ·岁 3 ·XLVI And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press, End in the Nothing all Things end in-Yes- Then fancy while Thou art, Thou art but what Thou shalt be-Nothing-Thou shalt not be less- 94 ·. 95 ·XLVIII While the Rose blows along the River Brink, With old Khayyam the Ruby Vintage drink: And when the Angel with his darker Draught Draws up to thee-take that, and do not shrink. 96

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·XLIX Tis all a Chequer-board of Nights and Days Where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays: Hither and thither moves, and mates, and slays And one by one back in the Closet lays. Chequer-board-Used in the game of chess, which originated in the East.

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·L The Ball no Question makes of Ayes and Noes, But Right or Left as strikes the Player goes; And He that toss'd Thee down into the Field, He knows about it all-He knows-HE!-scort Bcl-Used in polo; which game also originated in the East 100 .

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·The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ! writy Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.

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·And that inverted Bowl we call The Sky, Whereunder crawling coop't we live and die, Lift not thy hands to It for help-for It Rolls impotently on as Thou or I.

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·LIII With Earth's first Clay They did the Last Man's knead, And then of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed: Yea, the first Morning of Creation wrote What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read.

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·LV The Vine had struck a Fibre; which about It clings my Being-let the Súfi fout; OF my Base Metal may be filed a Key, That shall unlock the Door he howls without

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·LVI Oh Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make, And who with Eden didst devise the Snake; For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man Is blacken'd, Man's Forgiveness give-and takel

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·LX Kuza NÁMA Listen again. One Evening at the Close Of Ramazán, ere the better Moon arose, In that old Potter's Shop I stood alone With the clay Population round in Rows. Kúza Nama-"The Book of Pots." Ramazán-The ninth month of the Mohammedan calendar, a timc of strict fasting from dawn to sunset Better BloonThe new moon. 118

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·LX And strange to tell, among that Earthen Lot Some could articulate, while others not: And suddenly one more impatient cried- “Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?”

·系 了。 ·LG Then said another~"Surely not in vain My substance from the common Earth was ta'en, That He who subtly wrought me into Shape Should stamp me back to common Earth again."

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·· LXIL Another said.-"Why, ne'er a peevish Boy Would break the Bowl from which he drank i Joy; Shall He that made the Vessel in puré Love And Fansy, in an after Ragė destroy!" 124 ·IND 125 ·None answer'd this; but after Silence spake A Vessel of a more ungainly Make: “They sneer at me for leaning all awry; What? did the Hand then of the Potter sheke?* 126 ·Hill ||| ·. LATV Said one-"Folks of a surly Tapster tell, And daub his Visage with the Smoke of Holl; They talk of some strict Testing of us-Pish! He's a Good Fellow, and 'twill all be well.”

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·LXV Then said another with a long-drawn Sigh, "My Clay with long oblivion is gone dry: But, fill me with the old familiar Juice, Methinks I might recover by-and-byel” 130

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·LXV So, while the Vessels one by one were speaking, One spied the little Crescent all were seeking: And then they jogg’d each other, “Brother Brother! Hark to the Porter's Shoulder-knot a-creaking!" Crescent-The moon in its last quarter, scaring the end of the month of fasting, Porter's shoulder-knot-A shoulder pad used for carrying heavy loads-here, for bringing up wine after the fast. 132

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·LXVI Ah, with the Grape my fading Life provide, And wash my Body whence the life has died, And in a Windingsheet of Vineleaf wrapt, So bury me by some sweet Gardenside. 134

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·LXVIII That ev'n my buried Ashes such a Snare Of Perfume shall fling up into the-Air, As not a True Believer passing by But shall be overtaken unaware. Truc Belicher-That is to say, a Mohammedan. 136

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·LE Indeed, the Idols I have loved so long Have done my Credit in Men's Eye much wrong: Have drown'd my Honour in a shallow Cup, And sold my Reputation for a Song. 138

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·LXX Indeed, indeed, Repentance oft before I swore-but was I saber when I sworc? And then and then camc Spring, and.Rosc-inhand My.thread-barc Penitence a-picces lore. 140

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·LXXI And much as Wine has play'd the Infidel, And robb'd me of my Robe of Honour-well I often wonder what the Vintners buy One half so precious as the Goods they sell. 142

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·LETI Alas, that Spring should vanish with the Rose! That Youth's sweet-scented Manuscript should close! The Nightingale that in the Branches sang, Ah, whence, and whither down again, who knows! 144

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·LI Ah, Lovel could thou and I with Fate 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! 146

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·LAXTV Ah, Moon of my Delight who know'st no wano; The Moon of Heav'n is rising once again: How oft hereafter rising shall she look Through this same Garden after me-in vaint 148

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·LWV And when Thyself with shining Foot shall pass Among the Guests Star-scatter'don The Grass, And in Thy joyous Errand reach the Spot Where I made one-turn down an enpty Glassi TAMÁM SEUD Tamém Shud-It is completed. 150

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·RUBAIYAT ОР OMAR KHAYYAM THE FIFTH AND LAST EDITION OF THE FITZGERALD TRANSLATION I Warul For the Sun, who scatter'd into fight The Stars before him from the Field of Night, Drives Night along with them from Heav'n, and strikes The Sultán's Turret with a Shaft of Light. Before the phantom of False morning-died, Alethought a Voice within the Tavem cried, “When all the Temple is prepared within, "Why nods the drowsy Worshipper outside?" 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, once departed, may return po more." 153 ·1:31 to Tera DS In to Sril to Slists reta, Where TRENCH Fibert eijersion ka Ganisrires, Iraan iodsed is gone with all his Rose, hrd Jamshya's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one know But still a Ruby lindles in the Vine, And many a Garden by the later blows. And David's lips are lockt; but in divine *Ligh-piping Pehleví, with “Winel Wine! Winel "Red Wine!"-the Nightingale cries to the Rose at sallow cheek of hers to incarnadine. VD Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring l'our Winter garment of Repentance fling: The Bird of Time has but a little way To futter--and the Bird is on the Wing. 154 ·Whether at Naishápúr 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. Each Mom a thousand Roses brings, you say: Yes, but where leaves the Rose of Yesterday? And this first Summer month that brings the Rosa Shall take Jamshyd and Kaikobid away. Well, let it take them! What have we to do With Kaikobád the Great, or Kaikhosrú? Let Zál and Rustum bluster as they will, Or Hátim call to Supper--heed not you. With me along the strip of Herbage strowa That just divides the desert from the sown, Where name of Slave and Sultán is forgot And Peace to Mahmúd on his golden Thronel 155 ·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! XII 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 a distant Drum! XIV Look to the blowing Rose about us--"LO, Laughing,” she says, "into the world I blow, At once the silken tassel of my Purse Tcar, and its Treasure on the Garden throw." 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 As, buried once, Men want dug up again. 156 ·77 The Worldly Hope men set their fears njutnya Turns Ashes or it prospers; and an Like Saow upon tho Desert's dasty Fan Lighting a little hour or tipis son XVII Think, in this batter'd Caravanscrai. Whose Portals are altemate Night and Day, How Sultán after Sultán with his Pomp Abode his destined Hour, and went his way. XVIII They say the Lion and the Lizard keep The courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep: And Bahrám, the great Hunter--the Wild Ass Stamps o'er his Head, but cannot break his sleep. XIX I sometimes think that never blows so red The Rose as where some buried Cæsar bledy That every Hyacinth the Garden veurs Dropt in her Lap from some once lovely Home 157 ·And this reviving Herb whose tender Green Fledges the River-Lip on which we lean- Ah, lean upon it lightlyl for who knows From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen! Ah, my Belovéd, 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 Years. XII or some we loved, the loveliest and the best at from bis Vintage rolling Time hath prest, Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before, And one by one crept silently to rest. XII 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 Descend ourselves to make a Couch--for wliom? 158 ·Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend Belore we too into the Dust descend; Dust into Dust, and under Dust to lie, Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and-sans Endi XIV Alike for those who for TO-DAY prepare, And those that after some TO-MONROtv stare, A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries, *Foolsl your Reward is neither Here nor There." ҳХМ Why, all the Saints and Sages who discussid Of the Two Worlds so wisely they are thrust Like foolish Prophets forth; their Words to Score Are scatter'd, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust XXVII Myself 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 wont 159 ·WAVO 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 that I reap'dm- "I came like Water, and like Wind. I go." XIX 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 Whither, willy-nilly blowing. XXX What, without asking, hither hurried Whence? And, without asking, Whither hurried hencol Oh, many a Cup of this forbidden Wine Must drown the memory of that insolencel XXX Up from Earth's Center through the Seventh Gate I rose, and on the Throne of Satum sate, And many a Knot unravel'd by the Road; But not the Master-knot of Human Falo. 160 ·. There was the Door to which I found no Key:. There was the Veil through which I might not seer Some Lttle talk awhile of Me and Tire There was and then no more of THEE and Me XXXII Earth could not answer; nor the Seas that moum In flowing Purple, of their Lord Forlom; Nor rolling Heaven, with all his Signs reveal'd And hidden by the sleeve of Night and Mom. XXXIV Then of the TITEE 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-"TEE ME WITHIN THEE BLIND)" XXXV Then to the Lip of this poor earthen Um I lean'd, the Secret of my Life to learn. And Lip to Lip it murmurd_"\Vhile you live, "Drink for, once dead, you never shall return." 161 ·XVI I think the Vessel, that with fugitive Articulation answer'd, once did live, And drink; and Ahl the passive Lip L kiss'd; How many Kisses might it take--and givel XXVII For 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, prayl" XVII And has not such a Story from of Old Doun Man's successive generations roll'd Of such a clod of saturated Earth Cast by the Maker into Human mold? XXX Ånd 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 lidden-far beneath, and long ago. 162 ·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 Earth invert you-like an empty Cup. 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 Wine. LL And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press, End in what Al begins and ends in Yes; Think then you are TO-DAY what YESTERDAY You were-TO-MORROW you shall not be less. XLN + 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 your Lips to quaff--you shall not shrink. 163 ·XN Why, if the Soul can fling the Dust aside, And naked on the air of Heaven ride, Werc't not a Shame-were't not a Shame for him In this clay carcass crippled to abide? LY Tis but a Tent where takes his one day's rest A Sultán to the realm of Death addrest; The Sultán rises, and the dark Ferrash Strikes, and prepares it for another Guest. LV not lest Existence closing your and mine, should know the like no more; ve Eternal Sáki from that Bowl has pour'd inos of Bubbles like us, and will pour. XLVII When You and I behind the Veil are past, Oh, but the long, long while the World shall last, Which of our Coming and Departure lieeds As the Sea's self should heed a pebble-cast. 12A ·LI A Moment's Halt--momentary taste OF BEING from the Well amid the Waste And Lol—the phantom Caravad has reach'd The Notic it set out from Oh, make hostel XLIX Would you that spangle of Existence spend About THE SECRET-- quick about it, Friend! A Hair perhaps divides the False from True And upon what, prithee, may lifc depend? A Hair perhaps divides the false and True; Yes; and a single Alif vere the clue Could you but find it to the Treasure-hooke, And peradventure to Ter: MASTER too; LI Whose secret Presence through Creation's veins. Running Quicksilver-like eludes your pains; Taking all shapes from Mah to Aláhi and They change and perish all—but He remain 165 5 ·LI A moment guessed then back behind the Fold Immerst of Darkness round the Drama rollid Which, for the Pastime of. Eternity, He doth Himself contrive, epact, behold. LM But if in vain, down on the stubborn floor Of Earth, and up to Heav'n's unopening Door, You gaze Today, while You are You-how then TO-MORROWY, when You shall be You no more? LIV te not your Hour, nor in the vain pursuit This and That endeavor and dispute; Better be jocund with the fruitful Grape Than sadden after pone, or bitter, Fruit. LV You know, my Friends, with what a brave Carouso I made a Second Marriage in my house; Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed, And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse. 166 ·LYI For "Is" and "Is-not" though with Rule and Leto And "UP-AND-DOWN" by Logic I define, Of all that one should care to fathom, I Was never deep in anything but-Wine. LVII Ah, by my Computations, People say, Reduce the Year to better reckoning?-Nay, Twas only striking from the Calendar Unborn To-morrow and dead Yesterday. LVITT And 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 'twas the Grapel The Grape that can with Logic absolute The Two-and-Seventy jarring Sects confute: The sovereign Alchemist that in-a trica Life's leaden metal into Gold transmute; 167 ·The mighty Mahmúd, Allah-breathing Lord, That all the misbelieving and black Horde Of Fcars and Sorrows that infest the Soul Scatters before him with his whirlwind Sword. LA Why, be this Juice the growth of God, who daro Blaspheme the twisted tendril as a Snare? A Blessing, we should use it, should we not? And if a Curse hy, then, Who set it there? LXII 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-hen crumbled into Dusti Of threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradisel 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. 168 ·WTV Strange, is it not? that of the mytlads who Before us pass'd the door of Darkness through, Not one returns to tell us of the Road, Which to discover we must travel too. LXV The Revelations of Devout and Learnd Who rose before us, and as Prophets burn'd, Are all but Stories, which, awoke from Sleep They told their comrades, and to Sleep return'd LIV I sent my Soul through the Invisible, Some letter of that After-life to spell: And by and by my Soul rehon'd to me, And answer'd "I Myself am Heav'n and Hell" . LXVII Heav'n but the Vision of fulbul'd Desire, And Hell the Shadow from a Soul on fire, Cast on the Darkness into which Ourselves, So late emerged from, shall so soon expire. 169 ·LXVIII We are no other than a moving row Of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go Round with the Sun-illumined Lantern lield in Midnight by the Master of the Show; LXLS 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. LXX The Ball no question makes of Ayes and Noes, But Herc 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! LXXI The 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. 170 ·LXXII And 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. LOGO With Earth's first Clay They did the Last Man knead And thero of the Last Harvest sow'd the Sced: And the first Morning of Creation wrote What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read. LXXI YESTERDAY This Day's Madness did prepare: TO-MORROW's Silence, Triumph, or Despair: Drinkl for you know not whence you came, no why: Drinkl for you know not why you go nor wherc. I tell you this -When, started from the Gaal, Over the faming shoulders of the Foal Of Heav'n Panvin and Mushtari they lung, In my predestined Plot of Dust and soul 171 ·LOVI The Vine had struck a fiber: wlich about It clings my Being-let the Dervish flout; Of my Base metal may be filed a Key That sball unlock the Door he howls without LXXVI And 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. LXXVII Whatl out of senseless Nothing to provoke A conscious Something to resent the yoke Of unpermitted Pleasure, under pain Of Everlasting Penalties, if broke! LXXLX What) from his helpless Creature be repaid Pure Gold for what he lent liim dross-allay'd Sue for a Debt he never did contract, And cannot answer-OL the sorry tradel 172 ·LXOX Oh Thou, who didst with pitfall and with gin Beset the Road I was to wander in, Thou wilt not with Pedestined Evil round Enmesh, and then impute my Fall to Sini LXX 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 blackend-Man's forgiveness give-and take! LXXXTY As under cover of departing Day Slunk hunger-stricken Ramazan away, Once more within the Potter's house alone I stood, surrounded by the Shapes of Clay. LXXXIU 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 Listen'd perhaps, but never talk'd at au. 173 ·LIV Said one among them-"Surely not in vain My substance of the common Earth was ta'en And to this Figure molded, to be broke, Or trampled back to shäpeless Earth again.” LIEXV Then said a Second—“Ne'er a peevish Boy Would break the Bowl from which he drank in jo And He that with his hand the Vessel made Will surely not in after Wrath destroy." LXXXV After a momentary silence spake Vessel of a more ungainly Make; "They sneer at me for leaning all awry: What did the Hand then of the Potter shake?” LEXVO Whereat some one of the loquacious Loto I think a Súfi pipkin-waxing hot "All this of Pot and Potter-Tell me then, Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?" 174 ·LOVIN "Why," said another, "Some there are who tell . Of one who threatens he will toss to Hell Tho luckless Pots he man'd in making--Pish! He's a Good Fellow, and 'awill all be well" Well," murmured 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." 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, "Brotherl Brother) Now for the Porter's shoulder-knot a-creaking!" XCT 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, By some not unfrequented Garden-side 175 ·SCO That ev'n buried Ashes such a suare Of Vintage shall fling up into the Air As not a True-believer passing by But shall be overtaken unaware. XCW 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. XCIV Indeed, indeed, Repentance oft before I swore-but was I sober when I swore? And then and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hanı My tbread-bare Penitence apicces torė. XCV And much as Wine has play'd the Infidel, And robb'd me of my Robe of Honor--Well, I wonder often what the Vintners buy One half so precious as the stuff they sell.

·CUT Yet Ab, that Spring should vanish with the Rosel That Youth's sweet-scented panuscript should close! The Nightiagale that in the branches sang, Ah whence, and whither down again, who knows! XCV Would but the Desert of the Fountain yield Onc glimpse if dimly, yet indeed, reveald, To which the fainting Traveler might-spring, As springs the trampled berbage of the field! XCVILI Would but some winged Angel ere too late Arrest the yet unfolded Roll of Fate, And make the stern Recorder otherwise Enregister, or quite obliterate! XCLX Ah Lovel could you and I with Him conspire To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire, Would not tre shatter it to bits and then Re-mold it nearer to the Heart's Desire! 177 ·Yon rising Moon that looks for us again- How oft bercaftor will she wax and wane; How oft bereafter rising look for us Through this samc Garden-and for one in vain! CI And wuch like her, ob Saki, you shall pass Among the Guests Star-scatter'd on the Grass, And in your joyous crraud reach the spot Where I made One-turn down an empty Glass! TAMAM ·SELECTED STORIES FROM GUJARAT by SARLA JAGMOHAN If we are to have national integrity we must understand cach other, and if people are to understand each other they must understand each other's cultural background. One of the most important means of understanding is to know each other's literature. With this aim in view, Jaico presents to you in this volume a selection of Gujarati short stories, selected and translated by Sarla Jagmohan, She brings to you a juicy selection that will entertain you, as well as give a glimpse of Gujarati culture. Rs. 2.50 * WOMEN BEHIND MAHATMA GANDE by ELEANOR MORTON In this book are presented graphic accounts of the women who played an important role in the life of Mahatma Gandhi, in a simple interesting style. The author tells you about Putlibai Gaodhi, Mahatma Gandhi's religious mother who preached Ahimsa, Kast ba, Annie Besant, Sarojisi Naidu, Vijay Lakshmi Pandit, Miraben, Lady Mountbatten and many others. Rs. 3.00 ·LOKAMANYA TILAK (A Biography) Ву G. P. PRADIAN AND A. K. BHAGWAT (TYith a Foreford by Dr. S. Radhakrishman) Incidents from Tilak's life, from his carly activities, which had more to do with cducation than politics, to the great part he played in the National Movement, arc depicted here in all their uscfulness and detail. The authors have also been mindíul of his litcrary achicvcments and his philosophy. This prize-winning biography of Tilak is not an attempt at glorification but is a conducive and informative work. "Compact and yet leaving no essential detail untold.. --Nagpur Times a useful documentary of the incidents of Tilak's Lifc." Free Press Journal Paper-bound Edn.: Rs. 5.00 Cloth-bound: Rs. 7.50 15 1-142 JAWAHARLAL NEHRU By FRANK MORAES Here is a book which you have long been desirous, of possessing. Written by Mr. Frank Moracs, a wellknown and distinguished name in the field of Journalism, this book satisfics a long-felt need for a good biography of our Prime Minister. Fluently written, this biographical work is cnlivened by the occasional glimpses of the family life of the Primo Minister. The controversial aspects of his personality are vicwed through Indian cyes which makes it all the more interesting. Price Rs. 4.00

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