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-hand
My thread-bare Penitence apieces tore.
XCV
And much as Wine has play'd the Infidel,
And robb'd me of my Robe of Honour--Well,
I wonder often what the Vintners buy
One half so precious as the stuff they sell.
XCVI
Yet Ah, 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 flown again, who knows!
XCVII
Would but the Desert of the Fountain yield
One glimpse--if dimly, yet indeed, reveal'd,
To which the fainting Traveller might spring,
As springs the trampled herbage of the field!
XCVIII
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!
XCIX
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
Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire!
* * * * *
C
Yon rising Moon that looks for us again--
How oft hereafter will she wax and wane;
How oft hereafter rising look for us
Through this same Garden--and for _one_ in vain!
CI
And when like her, oh, Saki, you shall pass
Among the Guests Star-scatter'd on the Grass,
And in your Joyous errand reach the spot
Where I made One--turn down an empty Glass!
TAMAM
[Illustration: RUBAIYAT.OF.OMAR.KHAYYAM]
VARIATIONS IN THE THIRD EDITION OF THE TRANSLATION
In the first draught of the Third Edition the first quatrain stood thus:
Wake! For the Sun before him into Night
A signal flung that put the Stars to flight;
And, to the field of Heav'n ascending, strikes
The Sultan's Turret with a Shaft of Light.
The tenth quatrain read thus in the Third Edition:
Well, let it take them! What have we to do
With Kaikobad the Great, or Kaikhosru?
Let Zal and Rustum thunder as they will,
Or Hatim Tai "To supper!"--heed not you.
In the first draught of Third Edition the thirty-eighth verse was as
follows:
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 the final draught of the Third Edition it was changed to read:
Listen--a moment listen!--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 the first draught of Third Edition quatrain forty ran thus:
As then the Tulip from her wonted sup
Of Wine from Heav'n her little Tass lifts ups
Do you, twin offspring of the soil, till Heav'n
To Earth invert you like an empty cup.
The first draught of the Third Edition carried quatrain forty-two as
follows:
And if the Cup, and if the Lip you press,
End in what All begins and ends in--Yes;
Imagine then you _are_ what heretofore
You _were_--hereafter you shall not be less.
Quatrain forty-eight in the first draught of Third Edition read:
A Moment's Halt--a momentary taste
Of BEING from the Well amid the Waste--
Before the starting Caravan has reach'd
The Nothing it set out from--Oh, make haste!
In the final draught of Third Edition the same stanza ran:
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, make haste!
In the first draught of the Third Edition, there stood the following
quatrain, later deleted:
Better, oh, better, cancel from the Scroll
Of Universe one luckless Human Soul,
Than drop by drop enlarge the Flood that rolls
Hoarser with Anguish as the Ages Roll.
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
4. Because the nature of this work is to present and compare the several
translations, no spelling or end of sentence punctuation corrections
have been made in the Quatrains. The reader will encounter several
Quatrains that end without punctuation and the word "Paradist"
appearing in Quatrain LXXXI in the "Fifth Edition" may be a
typographical error for "Paradise," but has been retained as printed.
5. Spelling corrections made in Biographical Preface:
p. xv, "Sufi" to "Sufi" (the great Sufi poet)
p. xvi, "Schegel" to "Schlegel" (August Wilhelm von Schlegel)
p. xvi, "strongely" to "strongly" (strongly illustrated by)
p. xviii, "perfomed" to "performed" (could have performed)
6. Word Variations: ((x) shows number of occurences)
"Iram" (1) and "Iram" (2)
"Mahmud" (5) and "Mahmud" (3)
"Pehlevi" (1) and "Pehlevi" (2)
"Ruba'iyyat" (6) and "Rubaiyat" (7)
"Shiraz" (1) and "Shiraz" (1)
"Sultan" (15) and "Sultan" (4)
"Worshipers" (1) and "Worshipper" (2)
7. Words in the original work using the [OE] ligature, which has been
recreated as "OE" in this e-text: OEdipus.
End of Project Gutenberg's Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, by Omar Khayyam