The Sufistic Quatrains of Omar KhayyamOmar Khayyam
ReligionSufism
The Sufistic Quatrains of Omar Khayyam
Omar Khayyam
FitzGerald, Edward, 1809-1883; Sufi poetry
LXXIX. In ed. 2:
Pure Gold for what he lent us dross-allay'd.
LXXXI. In ed. 2:
For all the Sin the Face of wretched Man
Is black with--Man's Forgiveness give--and take!
LXXXIII. In ed. 2:
And once again there gather'd a scarce heard
Whisper among them; as it were, the stirr'd
Ashes of some all but extinguisht Tongue
Which mine ear kindled into living Word.
LXXXIV. In ed. 2:
My Substance from the common Earth was ta'en,
That He who subtly wrought me into Shape
Should stamp me back to shapeless Earth again?
LXXXV. In ed. 2
Another said--«Why, ne'er a peevish Boy
Would break the Cup from which he drank in Joy;
Shall He that of His own free Fancy made
The Vessel, in an after-rage destroy!»
LXXXVI. In ed. 2:
None answer'd this, but after silence spake.
LXXXVII. In ed. 2:
Thus with the Dead as with the Living, _What?_
And _Why?_ so ready, but the _Wherefor_ not,
One on a sudden peevishly exclaim'd,
«Which is the Potter, pray, and which the Pot?»
STANZA
LXXXVIII. In ed. 2:
Said one--«Folks of a surly Master tell,
And daub his Visage with the Smoke of Hell;
They talk of some sharp Trial of us--Pish!
He's a Good Fellow, and 'twill all be well.»
In the first draft of ed. 3. the stanza begins:
«Why,» said another, «Dismal people tell
Of an old Savage who will toss to Hell
The luckless Pots,» etc.
LXXXIX. In ed. 2:
«Well,» said another, «Whoso will, let try.»
XC. In ed. 2:
One spied the little Crescent all were seeking.
XCI. In ed. 2:
And wash my Body whence the Life has died.
XCIII. In ed. 2:
Have done my credit in Men's eye much wrong.
XCV. In ed. 2:
One half so precious as the ware they sell.
XCVII. In ed. 2:
Toward which the fainting Traveller might spring.
XCVIII. In ed. 2:
Oh if the World were but to re-create,
That we might catch ere closed the Book of Fate,
And make The Writer on a fairer leaf
Inscribe our names, or quite obliterate!
XCIX. In ed. 2:
Ah Love! could you and I with Fate conspire.
C. In ed. 2:
But see! The rising Moon of Heav'n again
Looks for us, Sweet-heart, through the quivering Plane:
How oft hereafter rising will she look
Among those leaves--for one of us in vain!
STANZA
CI. In ed. 2:
And when Yourself with silver Foot shall pass.
In the first draft of ed. 3 «Foot» is changed to «step.»
In ed. 3:
And in your blissful errand reach the spot.
STANZAS WHICH APPEAR IN THE SECOND EDITION ONLY
XIV. Were it not Folly, Spider-like to spin
The Thread of present Life away to win--
What? for ourselves, who know not if we shall
Breathe out the very Breath we now breathe in!
XX. (This stanza is quoted in the note to stanza XVIII.
in the third and fourth editions.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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