The Sufistic Quatrains Of Omar Khayyam Part 78

Each mouthful of wine which the cupbearer pours into the cup helps to extinguish the fire of anger in thy burning eyes. Has it not been said, O great G.o.d, that wine is an elixir which drives from the heart a hundred sorrows that oppress it?

189.

When the violet has tinted her cheeks, when the zephyr has made the roses bloom, then he who is wise in company with the fact will drink wine until he can dash the cup against a stone [showing emptiness].

190.

The devotee knows not how to appreciate as well as we Thy divine pity. A stranger can never know Thee as perfectly as a friend. [They pretend] that Thou hast said: If you commit sin, I will send you into h.e.l.l. Go now--tell that to one who knows Thee not.

191.

A cup of wine is worth the empire of the universe; the brick which covers the jar is worth a thousand lives.

The napkin with which one wipes lips moistened with wine is indeed worth a thousand turbans.

192.

O Friends! meet together [after my death]. Once reunited, rejoice in being together and, when the cupbearer takes in his hand a cup of old wine, remember poor Khayyam and drink to his memory.

193.

Not a single time has the Wheel of Heaven been propitious to me, never for one instant has it allowed me to hear a sweet voice, not a day has it given me a second of happiness but that very day it has plunged me into an abyss of grief.

194.

A cup of wine is worth a hundred hearts, a hundred creeds, a mouthful of this juice divine is worth the Empire of China. What is there, truly, on the earth preferable to wine? It is a bitter that is a hundred times sweeter than life.

195.

The Wheel of Heaven only multiplies our griefs! It places nothing here below that it does not soon bear away. Oh! if those who have not yet come knew the suffering this world inflicts, they would guard themselves well from coming here.

196.

Drink, drink this wine which gives eternal life; drink, for it is the source of youthful joy; it burns like fire, but, like life's essence, drives away your care. Then drink!

197.

O Friend, to what good art thou preoccupied with _being_? Why trouble thus thy heart, thy soul with idle thoughts? Live happily, pa.s.s thy time joyously, for you were not asked your opinion about the making of things as they are.

198.

The inhabitants of the tomb are returned to earth in dust; the atoms [of which they are composed] are scattered here and there, separated one from the other.

Alas! what is this drink in which the human race is soaked and which holds it thus in dizzy ignorance of all things, even to the day of doom?

199.

O heart! act as if all the good things of this world belonged to you; imagine that this house is provided with everything, that it is richly furnished, and live joyously in this domain of disorder. Realize that thou restest here for two or three days, and that thereafter thou shalt rise and go away.

200.

The dogmas of religion admit only that which places you under obligation to the Divinity. That morsel of bread that you have, refuse not to others; keep from speaking evil; render evil to no one, and it is I who promise you a future life: bring wine.

201.

Dragged through the rapid course of time, which accords its favors only to the least worthy, my life is pa.s.sed in a gulf of grief and sorrow. In this garden of being, my heart is hard as is the green bud of a rose; and like a tulip, it is dipped in blood.

202.

What belongs to youth is wine, the limpid juice of the vine and the society of beauty; and since water once brought ruin to this world by annihilating it, it is our part to drown ourselves in wine, to pa.s.s our life in drunkenness complete.

203.

Bring wine from this ruby vessel and pour it into a simple crystal cup; bring that thing habitual and dear to every n.o.ble man. Since you know that all beings are but dust, and that a two-day tempest makes them disappear, bring wine.

204.

O Thou, the quest of whom holds all in dizziness and distress, the dervish and the rich are equally void of means of reaching Thee. Thy name is in the speech of all, but all are deaf; Thou art present to the eyes of all, but all are blind.

205.

In company with one dear friend, how pleasing to me is a cup of wine. When I become the prey of care, it is fitting that my eyes should be filled with tears. Oh!

this abject world has nothing lasting for us, and best it is to dwell inebriate.

206.

Keep thyself from drinking wine in the company of a boorish, violent character, having no mind or self-control, for such a man knows only how to cause unpleasantness.

For the time, thou wouldst have to undergo the disorder of his drunkenness, his vociferations, his folly. And the next day, his prayers for excuse and pardon would come to weary thy head.

207.

Since you only possess what G.o.d has given you, torment not yourself to obtain the object of your covetousness.