containing only 62 quatrains.
QUATRAINS OF OMAR KHAYYAM
1.
At dawn a cry through all the tavern shrilled,
«Arise my brethren of the revellers' guild,
That I may fill our measure, full of wine
Or e'er the measure of our days be filled.»
1. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. Bl. considers this quatrain Mystical.
2.
Who was it brought thee here at nightfall, who?
Forth from the harem in this manner, who?
To him who in thy absence burns as fire,
And trembles like hot air, who was it, who?
2. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. Bl. says the omission of the copulative _wa_ in
line 4 of the original is characteristic of Khayyam. In line 4 I follow
Blochmann's rendering. It may mean, «when the wind blows.»
3.
'Tis but a day we sojourn here below,
And all the gain we get is grief and woe,
And then, leaving life's riddles all unsolved,
And burdened with regrets, we have to go.
3. N.
4.
Khaja! grant one request, and only one,
Wish me God-speed, and get your preaching done;
I walk aright, 'tis you who see awry;
Go! heal your purblind eyes, leave me alone.
4. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J.
5.
Arise! and come, and of thy courtesy
Resolve my weary heart's perplexity,
And fill my goblet, so that I may drink,
Or e'er they make their goblets out of me.
5. Bl. C. L. N A. I. J. The heart is supposed to be the seat of reason.
«Or ever» and «or e'er» are both found in Elizabethan English. Abbot,
Shakespearian Grammar, p. 89.
6.
When I am dead, with wine my body lave,
For obit chant a bacchanalian stave,
And, if you need me at the day of doom,
Beneath the tavern threshold seek my grave.
6. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J.
7.
Since no one can assure thee of the morrow,
Rejoice thy heart to-day, and banish sorrow
With moonbright wine, fair moon, for heaven's moon.
Will look for us in vain on many a morrow.
7. Bl. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. Line 2 is in metre 14.
8.
Let lovers all distraught and frenzied be,
And flown with wine, and reprobates, like me;
When sober, I find everything amiss,
But in my cups cry, «Let what will be, be.»
8. Bl. L. N. Line 3 is in metre 13.
9.
In Allah's name, say, wherefore set the wise
Their hearts upon this house of vanities?
Whene'er they think to rest them from their toils,
Death takes them by the hand, and says, «Arise.»
9. Bl. C. L. N. A. I.
10.
Men say the Koran holds all heavenly lore,
But on its pages seldom care to pore;
The lucid lines engraven on the bowl,--
_That_ is the text they dwell on evermore.
10. Bl. L. N. A. B. I. J. Lines were engraven on the bowl to measure out
the draughts. Bl.
11.
Blame not the drunkards, you who wine eschew,
Had I but grace, I would abstain like you,
And mark me, vaunting zealot, you commit
A hundredfold worse sins than drunkards do.
11. Bl. C. L. N. A. I.
12.
What though 'tis fair to view, this form of man,
I know not why the heavenly Artisan
Hath set these tulip cheeks and cypress forms
To deck the mournful halls of earth's divan.
12. Bl. C. L. N. A. I.
13.
My fire gives forth no smoke-cloud here below,
My stock-in-trade no profit here below,
And you, who call me tavern-haunter, know
There is indeed no tavern here below
13. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. The anacoluthon in line 3, and the missing
rhyme before the burden, in line 4, are characteristic of Khayyam. Bl.
14.
Thus spake an idol to his worshipper,
«Why dost thou worship this dead stone, fair sir?
'Tis because He who gazeth through thine eyes,
Doth some part of His charms on it confer.»
14. L. Meaning, all is of God, even idols.
15.
Whate'er thou doest, never grieve thy brother,
Nor kindle fumes of wrath his peace to smother;
Dost thou desire to taste eternal bliss,
Vex thine own heart, but never vex another!
15. L. b. Line 1 is in metre 14.
16.
O Thou! to please whose love and wrath as well,
Allah created heaven and likewise hell;
Thou hast thy court in heaven, and I have naught,
Why not admit me in thy courts to dwell?
16. Bl. L. The person addressed is the prophet Muhammad. The Sufis were
fond of dwelling on the opposition between the beautiful and the
terrible attributes of Deity.
17.
So many cups of wine will I consume,
Its bouquet shall exhale from out my tomb,
And every one that passes by shall halt,
And reel and stagger with that mighty fume.
17. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J.
18.
Young wooer, charm all hearts with lover's art,
Glad winner, lead thy paragon apart!
A hundred Ka'bas equal not one heart,
Seek not the Ka'ba, rather seek a heart!
18. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. Line 2, «In the presence seize the perfect
heart.»
19.
What time, my cup in hand, its draughts I drain,
And with rapt heart unconsciousness attain,
Behold what wondrous miracles are wrought,
Songs flow as water from my burning brain.
19. L. N.
20.
To-day is but a breathing space, quaff wine!
Thou wilt not see again this life of thine;
So, as the world becomes the spoil of time,
Offer thyself to be the spoil of wine!
20. L. N.
21.
'Tis we who to wine's yoke our necks incline,
And risk our lives to gain the smiles of wine;
The henchman grasps the flagon by its throat
And squeezes out the lifeblood of the vine.
21. L. N. Line 3 is in metre 19.
22.
Here in this tavern haunt I make my lair,
Pawning for wine, heart, soul, and all I wear,
Without a hope of bliss, or fear of bale,
Rapt above water, earth, and fire, and air.
22. Bl. C. L. N. A. B. I. J.
23.
Quoth fish to duck, «Twill be a sad affair,
If this brook leaves its channel dry and bare»;
To whom the duck, «When I am dead and roasted
The brook may run with wine for aught I care.»
23. L. Meaning, «_Après nous le déluge_».
24.
From doubt to clear assurance is a breath,
A breath from infidelity to faith;
O precious breath! enjoy it while you may,
'Tis all that life can give, and then comes death.
24. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J.
25.
Ah! wheel of heaven to tyranny inclined,
'Twas e'er your wont to show yourself unkind;
And, cruel earth, if they should cleave your breast,
What store of buried jewels they would find!
25. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. «Wheel of heaven,» _i.e._, destiny, fortune.
Sir Thomas Browne talks of the «wheel of things.»
26.
My life lasts but a day or two, and fast
Sweeps by, like torrent stream or desert blast,
Howbeit, of two days I take no heed,--
The day to come, and that already past.
26. Bl. C. L. N. A. B. I. J.
27.
That pearl is from a mine unknown to thee,
That ruby bears a stamp thou canst not see
The tale of love some other tongue must tell,
All our conjectures are mere phantasy.
27. Meaning, real love of God differs from the popular idea of it. Bl.
28.
Now with its joyful prime my age is rife,
I quaff enchanting wine, and list to fife;
Chide not at wine for all its bitter taste,
Its bitterness sorts well with human life!
28. Bl. C. L. N. A. B. I. J.
29.
O soul! whose lot it is to bleed with pain,
And daily change of fortune to sustain,
Into this body wherefore didst thou come,
Seeing thou must at last go forth again?
29. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J.
30.
To-day is thine to spend, but not to-morrow,
Counting on morrows breedeth naught but sorrow;
Oh! squander not this breath that heaven hath lent thee,
Nor make too sure another breath to borrow!
30. Bl. C. N. A. B. I.
31.
'Tis labour lost thus to all doors to crawl,
Take thy good fortune, and thy bad withal;
Know for a surety each must play his game,
As from heaven's dice-box fate's dice chance to fall.
31. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. _Naksh_, the dots on dice.
32.
This jug did once, like me, love's sorrows taste,
And bonds of beauty's tresses once embraced,
This handle, which you see upon its side,
Has many a time twined round a slender waist!
32. Bl. C. L. N. A. B. I. J.
33.
Days changed to nights, ere you were born, or I,
And on its business ever rolled the sky;
See you tread gently on this dust--perchance
'Twas once the apple of some beauty's eye.
33. C. L. N. A. I. J.
34.
Pagodas, just as mosques, are homes of prayer,
'Tis prayer that church-bells chime unto the air,
Yea, Church and Ka'ba, Rosary and Cross
Are all but divers tongues of world-wide prayer.
34. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. Meaning, forms of faith are indifferent.
35.
'Twas writ at first, whatever was to be,
By pen, unheeding bliss or misery,
Yea, writ upon the tablet once for all,
To murmur or resist is vanity.
35. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. Meaning, fate is heartless and resistless.
36.
There is a mystery I know full well,
Which to all, good and bad, I cannot tell;
My words are dark, but I cannot unfold
The secrets of the «station» where I dwell.
36. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. _Hale_, a state of ecstasy.
37.
No base or light-weight coins pass current here,
Of such a broom has swept our dwelling clear
Forth from the tavern comes a sage and cries,
«Drink! for ye all must sleep through ages drear»
37. Bl. L. N. Meaning, Mullahs' fables will not go down with us.
38.
With outward seeming we can cheat mankind,
But to God's will we can but be resigned,
The deepest wiles my cunning e'er devised,
To balk resistless fate no way could find.
38. L. N. Meaning, weakness of human rule compared to the strength of
Divine decrees.
39.
Is a friend faithless? spurn him as a foe;
Upon trustworthy foes respect bestow;
Hold healing poison for an antidote,
And baneful sweets for deadly eisel know.
39. L. N. These gnomical epigrams are not common in Khayyam.
40.
No heart is there but bleeds when torn from Thee,
No sight so clear but craves Thy face to see;
And though perchance Thou carest not for them,
No soul is there but pines with care for Thee.
40. C. L. N. A. I. J. _Jigar_, the liver, was considered to be the seat
of love.
41.
Sobriety doth dry up all delight,
And drunkenness doth drown my sense outright;
There is a middle state, it is my life,
Not altogether drunk, nor sober quite.
41. C. N. I. _Masti_ o: scan _mastiyo_. The Epicurean golden mean. See
Ecclesiastes, vii, 16, 17.
42.
Behold these cups! Can He who deigned to make them,
In wanton freak let ruin overtake them,
So many shapely feet and hands and heads,--
What love drives Him to make, what wrath to break them?
42. C. N. A. B. I. J. _Pryalae_, a cup. So Job, «Thy hands have made me,
yet thou dost destroy me.»
43.
Death's terrors spring from baseless phantasy,
Death yields the tree of immortality;
Since 'Isa breathed new life into my soul,
Eternal death has washed its hands of me!
43. L. N. Meaning, the Sufi doctrine of _Baka ba'd ul fana_. See
_Gulshan i Raz_, p. 31.
44.
Like tulips in the Spring your cups lift up,
And, with a tulip-cheeked companion, sup
With joy your wine, or e'er this azure wheel
With some unlooked-for blast upset your cup.
44. C. L. N. A. I. J.
45.
Facts will not change to humour man's caprice,
So vaunt not human powers, but hold your peace;
Here must we stay, weighed down with grief for this,
That we were born so late, so soon decease.
45. C. L. N. A. I. J. Meaning, the futility of striving against
predestination. _Ank_, for _anki_. Bl., Prosody 13.
46.
Khayyam! why weep you that your life is bad?
What boots it thus to mourn? Rather be glad.
He that sins not can make no claim to mercy,
Mercy was made for sinners--be not sad.
46. C. L. N. A. B. I. See note on No. 130
47.
All mortal ken is bounded by the veil,
To see beyond man's sight is all too frail;
Yea! earth's dark bosom is his only home;--
Alas! 'twere long to tell the doleful tale.
47. C. L. N. A. B. I. J.
48.
This faithless world, my home, I have surveyed,
Yea, and with all my wit deep question made,
But found no moon with face so bright as thine,
No cypress in such stateliness arrayed.
48. L. N.
49.
In synagogue and cloister, mosque and school,
Hell's terrors and heaven's lures men's bosoms rule,
But they who master Allah's mysteries,
Sow not this empty chaff their hearts to fool.
49. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. Meaning, souls re-absorbed in the Divine
essence have no concern with the material heaven and hell.
50.
You see the world, but all you see is naught,
And all you say, and all you hear is naught,
Naught the four quarters of the mighty earth,
The secrets treasured in your chamber naught.
50. L. N. Meaning, all is illusion (_Maya_).
51.
I dreamt a sage said, «Wherefore life consume
In sleep? Can sleep make pleasure's roses bloom?
For gather not with death's twin-brother sleep,
Thou wilt have sleep enough within thy tomb!»
51. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. So Homer, _Kasignetos thanatoio_.
52.
If the heart knew life's secrets here below,
At death 'twould know God's secrets too, I trow;
But, if you know naught here, while still yourself,
To-morrow, stripped of self, what can you know?
52. C. L. N. A. I. In line 2 scan _Ilahi_. Bl., Prosody, p. 7.
53.
On that dread day, when wrath shall rend the sky,
And darkness dim the bright stars' galaxy,
I'll seize the Loved One by His skirt, and cry,
«Why hast Thou doomed these guiltless ones to die?»
53. C. L. N. A. I. J. See Koran, lxxxii. 1. Note the _alif i wasls_ in
lines 1 and 2. In line 4 scan _kata lat_, transposing the last vowel.
Bl., Prosody, p. ii.
54.
To knaves Thy secret we must not confide,
To comprehend it is to fools denied,
See then to what hard case Thou doomest men,
Our hopes from one and all perforce we hide.
54. C. L. N. A. B. I. There is a variation of this, beginning _Asrar i
jahan_.
55.
Cupbearer! what though fate's blows here betide us,
And a safe resting-place be here denied us,
So long as the bright wine-cup stands between us,
We have the very Truth at hand to guide us.
55. C. L. N. A. I. In line 3 scan _mayast_. Bl., Prosody, p. 13, and
note _tashdid_ on _hakk_ dropped. Ibid, p. iv.
56.
Long time in wine and rose I took delight,
But then my business never went aright;
Since wine could not accomplish my desire,
I have abandoned and forsworn it quite.
56. C. L. N. A. I. J.
57.
Bring wine! my heart with dancing spirits teems,
Wake! fortune's waking is as fleeting dreams;
Quicksilver-like our days are swift of foot,
And youthful fire subsides as torrent streams.
57. C. L. N. A. I. J. In line 3 scan _bedariyi_.
58.
Love's devotees, not Moslems here you see,
Not Solomons, but ants of low degree;
Here are but faces wan and tattered rags,
No store of Cairene cloth or silk have we.
58. L. N. For the story of Solomon and the ants, see Koran, xxvii., 18.
_Kasab_, linen made in Egypt.
59.
My law it is in pleasure's paths to stray,
My creed to shun the theologic fray;
I wedded Luck, and offered her a dower,
She said, «I want none, so thy heart be gay.»
59. C. L. N. A. I. J.
60.
From mosque an outcast, and to church a foe,
Allah! of what clay didst thou form me so?
Like sceptic monk, or ugly courtesan,
No hopes have I above, no joys below.
60. C. L. N. A. I. J. _Ummed_ has the _tashdid ob metrum_. Bl., Prosody
9. Line 2 is in metre 17. _Gil i mara_ for _gil i man ra_, Vullers, pp.
173 and 193.
61.
Men's lusts, like house-dogs, still the house distress
With clamour, barking for mere wantonness;
Foxes are they, and sleep the sleep of hares;
Crafty as wolves, as tigers pitiless.
61. C. L. N. A. I. J. «Sleep of hares,» deceit.
62.
Yon turf, fringing the margent of the stream,
As down upon a cherub's lip might seem,
Or growth from dust of buried tulip cheeks;
Tread not that turf with scorn, or light esteem!
62. C. L. N. A. I. J. _Juyiy_: the _ya_ of _juy_ is hamzated because
followed by another _ya_. Vullers, p. 24.
63.
Hearts with the light of love illumined well,
Whether in mosque or synagogue they dwell,
Have _their_ names written in the book of love,
Unvexed by hopes of heaven or fears of hell.
63. C. L. N. A. I. J. Compare Hafiz, Ode 79: «Wherever love is, there is
the light of the Beloved's face.»
64.
One draught of wine outweighs the realm of Tus,
Throne of Kobad and crown of Kai Kawus;
Sweeter are sighs that lovers heave at morn,
Than all the groanings zealot breasts produce.
64. C. L. N. A. I. J. _Kawus_ is the old spelling.
65.
Though Moslems for my sins condemn and chide me,
Like heathens to my idol I confide me;
Yea, when I perish of a drunken bout,
I'll call on wine, whatever doom betide me.
65. L. N.
66.
In drinking thus it is not my design
To riot, or transgress the law divine,
No! to attain unconsciousness of self
Is the sole cause I drink me drunk with wine.
66. C. L. N. A. I. J. Perhaps a hit at the orthodox Sufis.
67.
Drunkards are doomed to hell, so men declare,
Believe it not, 'tis but a foolish scare;
Heaven will be empty as this hand of mine,
If none who love good drink find entrance there.
67. C. L. N. A. I. J. Line 4 is in metre 17.
68.
'Tis wrong, according to the strict Koran,
To drink in Rajah, likewise in Sha'ban,
God and the Prophet claim those months as theirs;
Was Ramazan then made for thirsty man?
68. C. L. N. A. I. J. The point, of course, is that Ramazan is the
Mahammadan Lent.
69.
Now Ramazan is come, no wine must flow,
Our simple pastimes we must now forego,
The wine we have in store we must not drink,
Nor on our mistresses one kiss bestow.
69. L. N. Does _Sada_ mean the winter feast?
70.
What is the world? A _caravanserai_,
A pied pavilion of night and day;
A feast whereat a thousand Jamshids sat,
A couch whereon a thousand Bahrams lay.
70. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. _Wamanda_, «leavings.»
71.
Now that your roses bloom with flowers of bliss,
To grasp your goblets be not so remiss,
Drink while you may! Time is a treacherous foe,
You may not see another day like this.
71. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. _Bar bar_ «blooming, on the branch,» _i.e._,
you are still young. Bl.
72.
Here in this palace, where Bahram held sway,
The wild roes drop their young, and tigers stray;
And that great hunter king--ah! well-a-day!
Now to the hunter death is fallen a prey.
72. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. _Daro_: see Bl., Pros. 11.
73.
Down fall the tears from skies enwrapt in gloom,
Without this drink, the flowers could never bloom!
As now these flowerets yield delight to me,
So shall my dust yield flowers,--God knows for whom.
73. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. In line 4 _ta_ is the «_ta i tajahul_,»
meaning, «I do not know whether,» «perhaps.» Bl.
74.
To-day is Friday, as the Moslem says,
Drink then from bowls served up in quick relays;
Suppose on common days you drink one bowl,
To-day drink two, for 'tis the prince of days.
74. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. Friday is the day «of assembly,» or Sabbath.
75.
The _very_ wine a myriad forms sustains,
And to take shapes of plants and creatures deigns
But deem not that its essence ever dies,
Its forms may perish, but its self remains.
75. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. On this Bl. notes «The Arabic form _hayawan_
is required by the metre.» And _Suwar_ is the Arabic plural, used as a
singular. Bl., Prosody 5. Wine means the divine «_Noumenon_.» _Gulshan i
Raz_, 825.
76.
'Tis naught but smoke this people's fire doth bear,
For my well-being not a soul doth care;
With hands fate makes me lift up in despair,
I grasp men's skirts, but find no succour there.
76. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. Scan _tayifa_.
77.
This bosom friend, on whom you so rely,
Seems to clear wisdom's eyes an enemy;
Choose not your friends from this rude multitude,
Their converse is a plague 'tis best to fly.
77. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. The MSS. transpose the lines.
78.
O foolish one! this moulded earth is naught,
This particoloured vault of heaven is naught;
Our sojourn in this seat of life and death
Is but one breath, and what is that but naught?
78. Bl. L. N. _Shakl i mujassam_, «the earth.» Bl.
79.
Some wine, a Houri (Houris if there be),
A green bank by a stream, with minstrelsy;--
Toil not to find a better Paradise
If other Paradise indeed there be!
79. Bl. C. L. N. A. I. J. _Dozakh i farsuda_, «an old hell,» _i.e._,
vain things which create a hell for you. Bl.
80.
To the wine-house I saw the sage repair,
Bearing a wine-cup, and a mat for prayer;
I said, «O Shaikh, what does this conduct mean?»
Said he, «Go drink! the world is naught but air.»
80. N.
81.
The Bulbul to the garden winged his way,
Viewed lily cups, and roses smiling gay,
Cried in ecstatic notes, «O live your life,
You never will re-live this fleeting day.»
81. N. The MSS. have a variation of this beginning, _Bulbul chu. Jam .
ra_. See Bl., Prosody, p. 12.
82.
Thy body is a tent, where harbourage
The Sultan spirit takes for one brief age;
When he departs, comes the tent-pitcher death,
Strikes it, and onward moves, another stage.
82. C. L. N. A. I. J. _Manzil_, in line 2, «lodging»; in line 3, «stage»
_Khimaye_, a «tent.»
83.
Khayyam, who long time stitched the tents of learning,
Has fallen into a furnace, and lies burning,
Death's shears have cut his thread of life asunder,
Fate's brokers sell him off with scorn and spurning.
83. C. L. N. A. B. I. J.
84.
In the sweet spring a grassy bank I sought,
And thither wine, and a fair Houri brought;
And, though the people called me graceless dog,
Gave not to Paradise another thought!
84. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. _Batar_, a contraction. See Bl., Prosody, p.
10.
85.
Sweet is rose-ruddy wine in goblets gay,
And sweet are lute and harp and roundelay;
But for the zealot who ignores the cup,
'Tis sweet when he is twenty leagues away!
85. N. The MSS. have a variation of this. Note _Khush_.
86.
Life, void of wine, and minstrels with their lutes,
And the soft murmurs of Irakian flutes,
Were nothing worth: I scan the world and see:
Save pleasure, life yields only bitter fruits.
86. L. N. See an answer to this in No. 97.
87.
Make haste! soon must you quit this life below,
And pass the veil, and Allah's secrets know,
Make haste to take your pleasure while you may,
You wot not whence you come, nor whither go.
87. C. L. N. A. I. In line 3 scan _nidaniyaz_.
88.
Depart we must! what boots it then to be,
To walk in vain desires continually?
Nay, but if heaven vouchsafe no place of rest,
What power to cease our wanderings have we?
88. N. In line 3 scan _jayiga_. Bl., Prosody, p. 15.
89.
To chant wine's praises is my daily task,
I live encompassed by cup, bowl and flask;
Zealot! if reason be thy guide, then know
That guide of me doth ofttimes guidance ask.
89. C. L. N. A. I. J. In line 1 scan _maddahiyi_; and compare Horace,
«_Edocet artes;
Fecundi calices quem non fecere disertum._»
90.
O men of morals! why do ye defame,
And thus misjudge me? I am not to blame.
Save weakness for the grape, and female charms,
What sins of mine can any of ye name?
90. C. L. N. A. I. J. This change of persons is called _Iltifat_.
Gladwin, Persian Rhetoric, p. 56.
91.
Who treads in passion's footsteps here below,
A helpless pauper will depart, I trow;
Remember who you are, and whence you come.
Consider what you do, and whither go.
91. C. L. N. A. I. _Khabarat_: see Bl., Prosody, p. v.
92.
Skies like a zone our weary lives enclose,
And from our tear-stained eyes a Jihun flows;
Hell is a fire enkindled of our griefs;
Heaven but a moment's peace, stolen from our woes.
92. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. This balanced arrangement of similes is called
_Tirsi'a_. Gladwin, p. 5.
93.
I drown in sin--show me Thy clemency!
My soul is dark--make me Thy light to see!
A heaven that must be earned by painful works,
I call a wage, not a gift fair and free.
93. C. L. N. A. I. J. Arabic words like _raza_, drop the _hamza_ in
Persian, except with the _izafat_: (Bl., Prosody 14). For this _hamza,
ya_ is often used, as here.
94.
Did He who made me fashion me for hell,
Or destine me for heaven? I cannot tell.
Yet will I not renounce cup, lute and love,
Nor earthly cash for heavenly credit sell.
94. C. L. N. A. B. I. In line 4 the _izafat_ is dropped after silent
_he_. Bl., Prosody, p. 15.
95.
From right and left the censors came and stood,
Saying, «Renounce this wine, this foe of good»;
But if wine be the foe of holy faith,
By Allah, right it is to drink its blood!
95. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. See Koran, ii. 187.
96.
The good and evil with man's nature blent,
The weal and woe that heaven's decrees have sent,--
Impute them not to motions of the skies,--
Skies than thyself ten times more impotent.
96. C. L. N. A. I. J. Fate is merely the decree of Allah. For the
distinction between _kaza_ and _kadar_, see Pocock, «_Specimen Historiae
Arabum_,» p. 207.
97.
Against death's arrows what are buckles worth?
What all the pomps and riches of the earth?
When I survey the world, I see no good
But goodness, all beside is nothing worth.
97. N. Possibly written on the margin by some pious reader as an answer
to No. 86.
98.
Weak souls, who from the world cannot refrain,
Hold life-long fellowship with rule and pain;
Hearts free from worldly cares have store of bliss,
All others seeds of bitter woe contain.
98. L. N. _Tajrid_, see _Gulshan i Raz_, p. 8, n.
99.
He, in whose bosom wisdom's seed is sown,
To waste a single day was never known;
Either he strives to work great Allah's will,
Or else exalts the cup, and works his own.
99. C. L. N. A. B. I. J. _Tarabe_, query, _takhme?_ giving a line in
metre 23.
100.
When Allah mixed my clay, He knew full well
My future acts, and could each one foretell;
Without His will no act of mine was wrought;
Is it then just to punish me in hell?