The Sufistic Quatrains Of Omar Khayyam Part 94

[63] _Azal_ in Persian dogma is eternity without beginning, _i.e._, _from_ all time, as opposed to _abad_, eternity without end, _i.e._, _to_ all eternity.

[64] In the East a man may divorce his wife twice and take her back again, but the third time it is irrevocable--unless (curiously enough) she has been married to someone else in the meantime.

[65] _i.e._, Wine, a recurrent Persian metaphor. Comp.: Arabic _bint-ul-kerm_.

[66] _Zahir_ = exoteric, as opposed to _batin_ = esoteric, in line 2.

[67] C. reads I am weary.

[68] The opening lines of FitzGerald's quatrain refer to Omar's reformation of the calendar, and inst.i.tution of the Jalali era, which Gibbon describes as a computation of time which surpa.s.sed the Julian, and approached the accuracy of the Gregorian style. (Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Gibbing's edition, 1890, vol. iv., p. 180.)

[69] C. reads So long as I live, I will not grieve for two days.

[70] _i.e._, Wine.

[71] The _Lauh u Kalam_ are the Tablet and Pen whereon and wherewith the Divine decrees of what should be from all time were written. Compare Koran, ch. lxviii, 1. By the Pen and what they write, O Muhammad! thou art not distracted.

[72] The river Oxus.

[73] The editor of the Calcutta Review appends the following note at the foot of Prof. Cowell's article (E.C.), These lanthorns are very common in Calcutta. They are made of a tall cylinder with figures of men and animals cut out of paper and pasted on it. The cylinder, which is very light, is suspended on an axis, round which it easily turns. A hole is cut near the bottom, and the part cut out is fixed at an angle to the cylinder so as to form a vane. When a small lamp or candle is placed inside, a current of air is produced which keeps the cylinder slowly revolving.

[74] This refers to the game of Polo. In the First and Second Editions for Here or There we read Right or Left as in the original.

[75] C. reads Upon the Tablet.

[76] Literally, For the Pen once gone comes not back.

[77] See FitzGerald's note on this quatrain.

[78] _i.e._, Of reality as opposed to the dream existence of the present. (E.B.C.)

[79] The _Mihrab_ is the spot in a Mosque indicating the precise direction of Mecca towards which all Muhammadans turn in prayer.

[80] This metaphor recurs frequently in the ruba'iyat. Compare W. 261 (N. 221) and W. 275 (L. 428).

[81] _i.e._, it was quite problematical how I might turn out.

[82] Here begins the section devoted especially to the talking pots in the workshop of the potter--it ends at quatrain No. 90. In the first edition this section was ent.i.tled KUZA-NAMA = the Pot-book or Book of Pots. It may be observed that the quatrains in this section are not so closely rendered from recognisable originals as the other quatrains composing FitzGerald's poem. This may be accounted for by the fact that the comparison between the human form--the Personal Ego--and a pot made of earth by the Supreme Potter (if one may be allowed the phrase) is constantly recurrent in all ruba'iyat attributed to Omar Khayyam. The section is therefore to a great extent a poetical reflection upon this phase of the philosophy of the ruba'iyat. The use FitzGerald has made of O. 103 cannot fail to amaze the student. _Vide_ his own Note to quatrain 89.

[83] Ramazan (or Ramadan) is the ninth month of the Muhammadan year, which is observed as a month of fasting and penance, during which rigid Moslems may neither eat, drink, wash, nor caress their wives, excepting so far as is necessary to support life. Sha'ban is the month immediately preceding it. Shawwal is the month that follows it, which begins with the great feast of Bairam, the festival referred to in line 4.

[84] A very obscure distich to translate. The sense is here, however.

[85] Compare Romans ch. ix. v. 21. Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour.

[86] _i.e._, Helping one another to raise their loads. Prof. Denison Ross suggests that this refers to the cry of the porters and muleteers in the narrow streets of Persian cities. _Pusht! Pusht!_ _i.e._, Mind your backs!

[87] _Kah-ruba_ means literally attracting straws; hence amber, the ??e?t??? of the Greeks. Here it is used in the descriptive sense to mean yellow.

[88] _Wuzu_, the ceremonial Ablution enjoined upon Muhammadans to put them into a state of grace before prayer.

[89] _Wakt-i-gul_ = the season of roses, a common synonym for Spring.

[90] Literally has become Dai, the first winter-month; translated December, _sub_ quatrain No. 9.

[91] _Lit._: Or from the invisible world increase my daily provision.

[92] C. reads this heart full of melancholy (or pa.s.sion).

[93] It will be observed that this quatrain in the first edition came a good deal closer to the original than this.

[94] _Maghanah_ means anything connected with the Maghs or Magians (_i.e._, the Guebres or Fire-wors.h.i.+ppers), and came to be a synonym for age, superiority, excellence, in which sense it is used here. S.

Rousseau has a very interesting note upon the history of this word at p.

176 of his Flowers of Persian Literature (London, 1801).

[95] Meaning FitzGerald's Introduction. See Page 1.

[96] Prof. Cowell says: I am not sure, but I fancy this hard verse really is: O thou who art burned (in sorrow) for one burnt (in h.e.l.l)--thyself being doomed to be burnt. If this is correct (which is most probable) the accuracy of FitzGerald's translation is remarkable.

[97] The phrase _gauhar suftan_ = to thread pearls is used in Persian to mean to write verses or to tell a story. Omar uses it here referring to the generally antinomian tendency of his ruba'iyat.

[98] In this line Omar claims consideration on the ground that he has never questioned the Unity of G.o.d. _Tawhid kerdan_ = to acknowledge One G.o.d. Muhammadanism is essentially Unitarian. FitzGerald appears to have missed the meaning here, reversing the doctrine, unless he means I never misread One _as_ Two.

[99] L. 1. _lit._ rubbed its side with heaven. This is the quatrain that R.B.M. Binning found written upon a stone in the ruins of Persepolis (A Journal of Two Years' Travel in Persia, Ceylon, etc., London, 1857, Vol. ii. p. 20). FitzGerald quotes it in a letter to Prof.

Cowell, under date 13th January, 1859. (Letters and Literary Remains of Edward FitzGerald, London, 1889. Macmillan, 3 vols., and 1894, 2 vols.) The word _ku_ in Persian signifies Where?

[100] The fifth edition is identical with the fourth.

[101] See Defremery, _Recherches sur le regne de Barkiarok_, p. 51.

[102] Avicenna died in 428 A.H.