The Sufistic Quatrains of Omar KhayyamOmar Khayyam
ReligionSufism
The Sufistic Quatrains of Omar Khayyam
Omar Khayyam
FitzGerald, Edward, 1809-1883; Sufi poetry
Wake! For the Sun behind yon Eastern height
Has chased the Session of the Stars from Night;
And, to the field of Heav'n ascending, strikes
The Sultan's Turret with a Shaft of Light.
In the first draft of ed. 3 the first and second lines stood thus
Wake! For the Sun before him into Night
A Signal flung that put the Stars to flight.
II. In ed. 2:
Why lags the drowsy Worshipper outside?
V. In edd. 2 and 3:
But still a Ruby gushes from the Vine.
IX. In edd. 2 and 3:
Morning a thousand Roses brings, you say.
X. In ed. 2:
Let Rustum cry «To Battle!» as he likes,
Or Hatim Tai «To Supper!»--heed not you
In ed. 3:
Let Zal and Rustum thunder as they will.
STANZA
XII. In ed. 2:
Here with a little Bread beneath the Bough,
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse--and Thou, etc.
XIII. In ed. 2:
Ah, take the Cash, and let the Promise go,
Nor heed the music of a distant Drum!
XX. In ed. 2:
And this delightful Herb whose living Green.
XXII. In edd. 2 and 3:
That from his Vintage rolling Time has prest.
XXVI. In edd. 2 and 3.
Of the Two Worlds so learnedly, are thrust.
XXVII. In ed. 2:
Came out by the same door as in I went.
XXVIII. In edd. 2 and 3.
And with my own hand wrought to make it grow.
XXX. In ed. 2.
Ah, contrite Heav'n endowed us with the Vine
To drug the memory of that insolence!
XXXI. In ed. 2:
And many Knots unravel'd by the Road.
XXXII. In edd. 2 and 3:
There was the Veil through which I could not see.
XXXIII. In ed. 2:
Nor Heav'n, with those eternal Signs reveal'd.
XXXIV. In ed. 2:
Then of the THEE IN ME who works behind
The Veil of Universe I cried to find
A Lamp to guide me through the darkness; and
Something then said--«An Understanding blind.»
XXXV. In ed. 2:
I lean'd, the secret Well of Life to learn.
STANZA
XXXVI. In ed. 2:
And drink; and that impassive Lip I kiss'd.
XXXVIII. In ed. 2 the only difference is «For» instead of «And» in the
first line; but in the first draft of ed. 3 the stanza appeared thus:
For, in your Ear a moment--of the same
Poor Earth from which that Human Whisper came,
The luckless Mould in which Mankind was cast
They did compose, and call'd him by the name.
In ed. 3 the first line was altered to--
Listen--a moment listen!--Of the same, etc.
XXXIX. In ed. 2:
On the parcht herbage but may steal below.
XL. In ed. 2:
As then the Tulip for her wonted sup
Of Heavenly Vintage lifts her chalice up,
Do you, twin offspring of the soil, till Heav'n
To Earth invert you like an empty Cup.
In the first draft of ed. 3 the stanza is the same as in edd. 3 and 4,
except that the second line is--
Of Wine from Heav'n her little Tass lifts up.
XLI. In ed. 2 and the first draft of ed. 3:
Oh, plagued no more with Human or Divine
To-morrow's tangle to itself resign.
XLII. In ed. 2:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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