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[
[
[
"rubaiyat"
],
[
"<reply> Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night/Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight:/And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught/The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light.",
"<reply> Dreaming when Dawn's Left Hand was in the Sky/I heard a Voice within the Tavern cry,/\"Awake, my Little ones, and fill the Cup/\"Before Life's Liquor in its Cup be dry.\"",
"<reply> 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.\"",
"<reply> 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.",
"<reply> Iram indeed is gone with all its Rose,/And Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows;/But still the Vine her ancient Ruby yields,/And still a Garden by the Water blows.",
"<reply> And David's Lips are lock't; but in divine/High piping Pehlevi, with \"Wine! Wine! Wine!/\"Red Wine!\" - the Nightingale cries to the Rose/That yellow Cheek of hers to incarnadine.",
"<reply> Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring/The Winter Garment of Repentance fling:/The Bird of Time has but a little way/To fly - and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.",
"<reply> And look - a thousand Blossoms with the Day/Woke - and a thousand scatter'd into Clay:/And this first Summer Month that brings the Rose/Shall take Jamshyd and Kaikobad away.",
"<reply> But come with old Khayyam, and leave the Lot/Of Kaikobad and Kaikhosru forgot!/Let Rustum lay about him as he will,/Or Hatim Tai cry Supper - heed them not.",
"<reply> With me along some Strip of Herbage strown/That just divides the desert from the sown,/Where name of Slave and Sultan scarce is known,/And pity Sultan Mahmud on his Throne.",
"<reply> Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,/A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse - and Thou/Beside me singing in the Wilderness - /And Wilderness is Paradise enow.",
"<reply> \"How sweet is mortal Sovranty!\" - think some:/Others - \"How blest the Paradise to come!\"/Ah, take the Cash in hand and waive the Rest;/Oh, the brave Music of a distant Drum!",
"<reply> Look to the Rose that blows about us - \"Lo,/\"Laughing,\" she says, \"into the World I blow:/\"At once the silken Tassel of my Purse/\"Tear, and its Treasure on the Garden throw.\"",
"<reply> The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon/Turns Ashes - or it prospers; and anon,/Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face/Lighting a little Hour or two - is gone.",
"<reply> And those who husbanded the Golden Grain,/And those who flung it to the Winds like Rain,/Alike to no such aureate Earth are turn'd/As, buried once, Men want dug up again.",
"<reply> Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai/Whose Doorways are alternate Night and Day,/How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp/Abode his Hour or two, and went his way.",
"<reply> They say the Lion and the Lizard keep/The Courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep;/And Bahram, that great Hunter - the Wild Ass/Stamps o'er his Head, and he lies fast asleep.",
"<reply> I sometimes think that never so red/The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled;/That every Hyacinth the Garden wears/Dropt in its Lap from some once lovely Head.",
"<reply> And this delightful Herb whose tender Green/Fledges the River's Lip on which we lean - /Ah, lean upon it lightly! for who knows/From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen!",
"<reply> Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears/TO-DAY of past Regrets and future Fears - /To-morrow? - Why, To-morrow I may be/Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n Thousand Years.",
"<reply> Lo! some we loved, the loveliest and best/That Time and Fate of all their Vintage prest,/Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before,/And one by one crept silently to Rest.",
"<reply> Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend,/Before we too into the Dust descend;/Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie,/Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and - sans End!",
"<reply> Alike for those who for TO-DAY prepare,/And those that after a TO-MORROW stare,/A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries/\"Fools! your Reward is neither Here nor There!\"",
"<reply> Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd/Of the Two Worlds so learnedly, are thrust/Like foolish Prophets forth; their Words to Scorn/Are scatter'd, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust.",
"<reply> And we, that now make merry in the Room/They left, and Summer dresses in new Bloom,/Ourselves must we beneath the Couch of Earth/Descend, ourselves to make a Couch - for whom?",
"<reply> Oh, come with old Khayyam, and leave the Wise/To talk; one thing is certain, that Life flies;/One thing is certain, and the Rest is Lies;/The Flower that once has blown for ever dies.",
"<reply> Myself when young did eagerly frequent/Doctor and Saint, and heard great Argument/About it and about: but evermore/Came out by the same Door as in I went.",
"<reply> With them the Seed of Wisdom did I sow,/And with my own hand labour'd it to grow:/And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd - /\"I came like Water, and like Wind I go.\"",
"<reply> Into this Universe, and why not knowing,/Nor whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing:/And out of it, as Wind along the Waste,/I know not whither, willy-nilly blowing.",
"<reply> What, without asking, hither hurried whence?/And, without asking, whither hurried hence!/Another and another Cup to drown/The Memory of this Impertinence!",
"<reply> Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate/I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate,/And many Knots unravel'd by the Road;/But not the Knot of Human Death and Fate.",
"<reply> There was a Door to which I found no Key:/There was a Veil past which I could not see:/Some little Talk awhile of ME and THEE/There seemed - and then no more of THEE and ME.",
"<reply> Then to the rolling Heav'n itself I cried,/Asking, \"What Lamp had Destiny to guide/\"Her little Children stumbling in the Dark?\"/And - \"A blind Understanding!\" Heav'n replied.",
"<reply> Then to this earthen Bowl did I adjourn/My Lip the secret Well of Life to learn:/And Lip to Lip it murmur'd - \"While you live/\"Drink! - for once dead you never shall return.\"",
"<reply> I think the Vessel, that with fugitive/Articulation answer'd, once did live,/And merry-make; and the cold Lip I kiss'd/How many Kisses might it take - and give!",
"<reply> For in the Market-place, one Dusk of Day,/I watch'd the Potter thumping his wet Clay:/And with its all obliterated Tongue/It murmur'd - \"Gently, Brother, gently, pray!\"",
"<reply> Ah, fill the Cup: - what boots it to repeat/How Time is slipping underneath our Feet:/Unborn TO-MORROW, and dead YESTERDAY,/Why fret about them if TO-DAY be sweet!",
"<reply> One Moment in Annihilation's Waste,/One Moment, of the Well of Life to taste - /The Stars are setting and the Caravan/Starts for the Dawn of Nothing - Oh, make haste!",
"<reply> How long, how long, in infinite Pursuit/Of This and That endeavour and dispute?/Better be merry with the fruitful Grape/Than sadden after none, or bitter, Fruit.",
"<reply> You know, my Friends, how long since in my House/For a new Marriage I did make Carouse:/Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed,/And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse.",
"<reply> For \"IS\" and \"IS-NOT\" though with Rule and Line,/And \"UP-AND-DOWN\" without, I could define,/I yet in all I only cared to know,/Was never deep in anything but - Wine.",
"<reply> And lately, by the Tavern Door agape,/Came stealing through the Dusk an Angel Shape/Bearing a Vessel on his Shoulder; and/He bid me taste of it; and 'twas - the Grape!",
"<reply> The Grape that can with Logic absolute/The Two-and-Seventy jarring Sects confute:/The subtle Alchemist that in a Trice/Life's leaden Metal into Gold transmute.",
"<reply> The mighty Mahmud, the victorious Lord,/That all the misbelieving and black Horde/Of Fears and Sorrows that infest the Soul/Scatters and slays with his enchanted Sword.",
"<reply> But leave the Wise to wrangle, and with me/The Quarrel of the Universe let be:/And, in some corner of the Hubbub coucht,/Make Game of that which makes as much of Thee.",
"<reply> For in and out, above, about, below,/'Tis nothing but a Magic Shadow-show,/Play'd in a Box whose Candle is the Sun,/Round which we Phantom Figures come and go.",
"<reply> And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press,/End in the Nothing all Things end in - Yes - /Then fancy while Thou art, Thou art but what/Thou shalt be - Nothing - Thou shalt not be less.",
"<reply> While the Rose blows along the River Brink,/With old Khayyam the Ruby Vintage drink:/And when the Angel with his darker Draught/Draws up to Thee - take that, and do not shrink.",
"<reply> 'Tis all a Chequer-board of Nights and Days/Where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays:/Hither and thither moves, and mates, and slays,/And one by one back in the Closet lays.",
"<reply> The Ball no Question makes of Ayes and Noes,/But Right or Left, as strikes the Player goes;/And He that toss'd Thee down into the Field,/*He* knows about it all - He knows - HE knows!",
"<reply> The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,/Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit/Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,/Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.",
"<reply> And that inverted Bowl we call The Sky,/Whereunder crawling coop't we live and die,/Lift not thy hands to *It* for help - for It/Rolls impotently on as Thou or I.",
"<reply> With Earth's first Clay They did the Last Man's knead,/And then of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed:/Yea, the first Morning of Creation wrote/What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read.",
"<reply> I tell Thee this - When, starting from the Goal,/Over the shoulders of the flaming Foal/Of Heav'n Parvin and Mushtara they flung,/In my predestin'd Plot of Dust and Soul",
"<reply> The Vine had struck a Fibre; which about/If clings my Being - let the Sufi flout;/Of my Base Metal may be filed a Key,/That shall unlock the Door he howls without",
"<reply> And this I know: whether the one True Light,/Kindle to Love, or Wrathconsume me quite,/One Glimpse of It within the Tavern caught/Better than in the Temple lost outright.",
"<reply> Oh, Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make,/And who with Eden didst devise the Snake;/For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man/Is blacken'd, Man's Forgiveness give - and take!",
"<reply> Listen again. One Evening at the Close/Of Ramazan, ere the better Moon arose,/In that old Potter's Shop I stood alone/With the clay Population round in Rows.",
"<reply> Oh, Thou, who didst with Pitfall and with Gin/Beset the Road I was to wander in,/Thou wilt not with Predestination round/Enmesh me, and impute my Fall to Sin?",
"<reply> And, strange to tell, among that Earthen Lot/Some could articulate, while others not:/And suddenly one more impatient cried - /\"Who *is* the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?\"",
"<reply> Then said another - \"Surely not in vain/\"My Substance from the common Earth was ta'en,/\"That He who subtly wrought me into Shape/\"Should stamp me back to common Earth again.\"",
"<reply> Another said - \"Why, ne'er a peevish Boy,/\"Would break the Bowl from which he drank in Joy;/\"Shall He that *made* the Vessel in pure Love/\"And Fancy, in an after Rage destroy!\"",
"<reply> None answer'd this; but after Silence spake/A Vessel of a more ungainly Make:/\"They sneer at me for learning all awry;/\"What! did the Hand then of the Potter shake?\"",
"<reply> Said one - \"Folk of a surly Tapster tell/\"And daub his Visage with the Smoke of Hell;/\"They talk of some strict Testing of us - Pish!/\"He's a Good Fellow, and 't will all be well.\"",
"<reply> Then said another with a long-drawn Sigh,/\"My Clay with long oblivion is gone dry:/\"But, fill me with the old familiar Juice,/\"Methinks I might recover by-and-bye!\"",
"<reply> So while the Vessels one by one were speaking,/One spied the little Crescent all were seeking:/And then they jogg'd each other, \"Brother! Brother!/\"Hark to the Porter's Shoulder-knot a-creaking!\"",
"<reply> Ah, with the Grape my fading Life provide,/And wash my Body whence the Life has died,/And in the Windingsheet of Vine-leaf wrapt,/So bury me by some sweet Garden-side.",
"<reply> That ev'n my buried Ashes such a Snare/Of Perfume shall fling up into the Air,/As not a True Believer passing by/But shall be overtaken unaware.",
"<reply> Indeed the Idols I have loved so long/Have done my Credit in Men's Eye much wrong:/Have drown'd my Honour in a shallow Cup,/And sold my Reputation for a Song.",
"<reply> 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.",
"<reply> And much as Wine has play'd the Infidel/And robb'd me of my Robe of Honour - well,/I often wonder what the Vintners buy/One half so precious as the Goods they sell.",
"<reply> Alas, 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!",
"<reply> Ah Love! could thou and I with Fate 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!",
"<reply> Ah, Moon of my Delight who Know'st no wane/The Moon of Heav'n is rising once again:/How oft hereafter rising shall she look/Through this same Garden after me - in vain!",
"<reply> And when Thyself with shining Foot shall pass/Among the Guests Star-scatter'd on the Grass,/And in thy joyous Errand reach the Spot/Where I made one - turn down an empty Glass!"
]
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