The Sufistic Quatrains Of Omar Khayyam Part 20

_Ref._: O. 2, C. 272, L. 427, B. 423, S.P. 221, P. 7, B. ii. 294, T.

172.--W. 262, N. 222, V. 465.

LXXVIII.*

What! out of senseless Nothing to provoke A conscious Something to resent the yoke Of unpermitted Pleasure, under pain Of everlasting Penalties, if broke!

It is not easy to deal with this and the three following quatrains separately, the sentiments of all four being closely interchangeable and largely identical. To avoid confusion, however, I have attempted the task. There are some scores of ruba'iyat that may be said to have contributed their imageries to the quatrain. The main sources of the first of them seem to be C. 85 and N. 226:

G.o.d, when he fas.h.i.+oned the clay of my body, Knew by my making what would come of it; (Since) there is no sin of mine without his order Why should he seek to burn me at the Day of Resurrection?

_Ref._: C. 85, L. 194, B. 191, S.P. 99, P. 18, T. 66.--W. 100, N. 99, V.

190.

Thou knowest that abstinence from that (sin) is impossible, Having (nevertheless) ordered and ordained abstinence from it; Thus between the order and the prohibition we stand helpless, We mortals are helpless at the permission to slant (the cup) but not to spill (its contents).[80]

_Ref._: N. 226, L. 442, B. 438, S.P. 225, P. 317, B. ii. 297, T.

180.--W. 265, V. 479.

LXXIX.*

What! from his helpless Creature be repaid Pure Gold for what he lent him dross-allay'd-- Sue for a Debt he never did contract, And cannot answer--Oh the sorry trade!

This quatrain would seem to be specially inspired by C. 201 and 433, which are so much alike (ll. 2, 3, and 4 are practically identical in both) that one or the other is obviously the addition of a later scribe.

When they mixed the earth of my shaping-mould, They produced an hundred wonders from me;[81]

I cannot be better than I am, For this is how I was turned out of the crucible.

_Ref._: C. 201, L. 355, B. 351, T. 128.--W. 221, V. 354.

Lx.x.x.

Oh Thou, who didst with pitfall and with gin Beset the Road I was to wander in, Thou wilt not with Predestined Evil round Enmesh, and then impute my Fall to Sin!

This quatrain is translated from O. 148.

In a thousand places on the road I walk, Thou placest snares, Thou say'st I will catch thee if thou settest foot in them, In no smallest thing is the world independent of Thee, Thou orderest all things, and (yet) callest me rebellious!

_Ref._: O. 148, B. ii. 546.--W. 432, N. 390.

Lx.x.xI.

Oh Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make, And ev'n with Paradise devise the Snake: For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man Is blacken'd--Man's forgiveness give--and take!

This is a very composite quatrain, round which some controversy has raged. Professor Cowell has given the weight of his authority to the statement that there is no original for the line about the snake. This is true in so far as that the image does not occur in Omar, but FitzGerald had seen it in an important apologue in the Mantik ut-tair (beginning at distich 3229) in which we read of the presence of the Snake (Iblis) in Paradise, at the moment of the creation of Adam, and in the course of which, Satan himself addresses G.o.d thus:

If malediction comes from Thee, there comes also mercy, The created thing is dependent upon Thee since Destiny is in Thy hands; If malediction be my lot, I do not fear, There must be poison, everything is not antidote.

The influence of the following is traceable in the quatrains, C. 115, C.

286, and C. 510:

I am a disobedient slave, where is Thy mercy?

My heart is dark, where is Thy light and clearness?

If, for serving Thee, Thou givest me heaven, This a reward, but Thy grace and Thy gifts--where are they?

_Ref._: C. 115, L. 217, B. 214, S.P. 91, P. 23.--W. 93, N. 91, V. 211.

Oh! Thou who knowest the secrets of the hearts of all, Protector of all in their hours of helplessness: Oh, Lord! grant me repentance and accept my excuses, Oh! Thou who grantest repentance and acceptest the excuses of all.

_Ref._: C. 286, L. 449, B. 445, S.P. 235, B. ii. 308, T. 188.--W. 276, N. 236, V. 488.

Professor Cowell attributes FitzGerald's quatrain to the above ruba'i.

_Vide_ the Editorial Note previously referred to.

The manager of the affairs of the dead and living art thou, Thou art the keeper of this unstable heaven; Though I am wicked, thou art my Master, Who can sin, seeing that thou art the Creator (of all)?

_Ref._: C. 510, L. 700, B. 691, S.P. 431, P. 2, B. ii. 584.--W. 471, N.

436, V. 753.

Lx.x.xII.[82]

As under cover of departing Day Slunk hunger-stricken Ramazan away, Once more within the Potter's house alone I stood, surrounded by the Shapes of Clay.

Lx.x.xIII.*

Shapes of all Sorts and Sizes, great and small, That stood along the floor and by the wall; And some loquacious Vessels were; and some Listen'd, perhaps, but never talk'd at all.

Lx.x.xVII (_post_).

FitzGerald constructed these three quatrains from O. 103.

I went last night into the workshop of a potter, I saw two thousand pots, some speaking, and some silent; Suddenly one of the pots cried out aggressively:-- Where are the pot-maker, and the pot-buyer, and the pot-seller?

_Ref._: O. 103, C. 301, L. 470, B. 466, S.P. 242, P. 102, B. ii. 323, T.

202 and 297, P. v. 37.--W. 283, N. 243, E.C. 26, V. 509.

It will be observed that the reading of quatrain 87, l. 4, in the third edition of FitzGerald is close to this original. Who makes--Who buys--Who sells--Who is the Pot?

Hunger stricken Ramazan is described in C. 198.