Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
Omar Khayyam
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Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám is the title that Edward FitzGerald gave to his 1859 translation from Persian to English of a selection of quatrains (rubāʿiyāt) attributed to Omar Khayyam (1048–1131), dubbed "the Astronomer-Poet of Persia".

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

By Omar Khayyam


Rendered into English Verse by Edward Fitzgerald


Fifth Edition

I.

WAKE! For the Sun, who scatter’d into flight
The
Stars before him from the Field of Night,
Drives
Night along with them from Heav’n, and strikes
The
Sultan’s Turret with a Shaft of Light.

II.

Before the phantom of False morning died,
Methought
a Voice within the Tavern cried,
“When
all the Temple is prepared within,
“Why
nods the drowsy Worshiper outside?”

III.

And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before
The
Tavern shouted — “Open then the Door!
“You
know how little while we have to stay,
And,
once departed, may return no more.”

IV.

Now the New Year reviving old Desires,
The
thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires,
Where
the WHITE HAND OF MOSES on the Bough
Puts
out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires.

V.

Iram indeed is gone with all his Rose,
And
Jamshyd’s Sev’n-ring’d Cup where no one knows;
But
still a Ruby kindles in the Vine,
And
many a Garden by the Water blows.

VI.

And David’s lips are lockt; but in divine
High-piping Pehlevi, with “Wine! Wine! Wine!
“Red Wine!” — the Nightingale cries to the Rose
That sallow cheek of hers t’ incarnadine.

VII.

Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring
Your
Winter garment of Repentance fling:
The
Bird of Time has but a little way
To
flutter — and the Bird is on the Wing.

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