The Sufistic Quatrains Of Omar Khayyam Part 46

211. B. Here read _mayi_, with one _ya_, and _kasra_, because the metre requires a word of only two consonants, and two short vowels, of the _wazn mafa_.

212.

Ah! thou hast snared this head, though white as snow, Which oft has vowed the wine-cup to forego; And wrecked the mansion long resolve did build, And rent the vesture penitence did sew!

212. B. _Nabid_ is often written _nabiz_, probably a survival from the time when _dals_ were dotted. Bl., Prosody 17.

213.

I am not one whom Death doth much dismay, Life's terrors all Death's terrors far outweigh; This life, that Heaven hath lent me for a while, I will pay back, when it is time to pay

213. C. L. A. B. I. B. reads _nim_ for _bim_ in line 2.

214.

The stars, who dwell on heaven's exalted stage, Baffle the wise diviners of our age; Take heed, hold fast the rope of mother wit.

These augurs all distrust their own presage.

214. L. B. A hit at the astrologers.

215.

The people who the heavenly world adorn, Who come each night, and go away each morn, Now on Heaven's skirt, and now in earth's deep pouch, While Allah lives, shall aye anew be born!

215. L. B. Earth's pouch, _i.e._, beneath the earth. _Rezaye._ L.

reads _didaye_. Both readings are probably wrong.

216.

Slaves of vain wisdom and philosophy, Who toil at Being and Nonent.i.ty, Parching your brains till they are like dry grapes, Be wise in time, and drink grape-juice, like me!

216. B. The vanity of learning.

217.

Sense, seeking happiness, bids us pursue All present joys, and present griefs eschew; She says, we are not as the meadow gra.s.s, Which, when they mow it down, springs up anew.

217. C. L. A. B. I. J. _Goyid_, from _goyidan_. _Ya i maksur_ followed by another _ya_ is in Persian words always _hamzated_ (Lumsden, i. 29; Vullers, p. 24); and this _hamza i maksur_ is p.r.o.nounced _ye_. Ibrahim, Grammar, p. 24.

218.

Now Ramazan is past, Shawwal comes back, And feast and song and joy no more we lack; The wine-skin carriers throng the streets and cry, Here comes the porter with his precious pack.

218. B. I incline to read _pusht bast_ for _pusht pusht_, which I do not understand.

219.

My comrades all are gone; Death, deadly foe, Has caught them one by one, and trampled low; They shared life's feast, and drank its wine with me, But lost their heads, and dropped a while ago.

219. C. L. A. I. Quoted by _Badauni_, ii. 159.

220.

Those hypocrites, all know so well, who lurk In streets to beg their bread, and will not work, Claim to be saints, like s.h.i.+bli and Junaid, No s.h.i.+blis are they, though well known in Karkh!

220. C. L. A. I. L. Reads _bakahna namad_, but the line will not scan with that reading. Line 4 is in metre 9. A saint called _Ma'ruf i Karkhi_, the famed one of Karkh, is mentioned in the _Nafahat ul Uns_.

Karkh was a suburb of Bagdad.

221.

When the great Founder moulded me of old, He mixed much baser metal with my gold; Better or fairer I can never be Than I first issued from his heavenly mould.

221. C. L. A. I.

222.

The joyous souls who quaff potations deep, And saints who in the mosques sad vigils keep, Are lost at sea alike, and find no sh.o.r.e, ONE only wakes, all others are asleep.

222. L. B. One, _i.e._, the Deity.

223.

Not-being's water served to mix my clay, And on my heart grief's fire doth ever prey, And blown am I like wind about the world, And last my crumbling earth is swept away.

223. L. This introduction of the four elements in one quatrain is called _Mutazadd_. Gladwin, p. 60.

224.

Small gains to learning on this earth accrue, They pluck life's fruitage, learning who eschew; Take pattern by the fools who learning shun, And then perchance shall fortune smile on you.

224. C. L. A. I. _Bu_ contracted from _buzad_

225.