The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

I. 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. II. 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." 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 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. VI. And David's Lips are lock't; but in divine High piping Pelevi, with "Wine Wine Wine Red Wine "-the Nightingale cries to the Rose That yellow Cheek of hers to'incarnadine. VII. 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.

I. 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. II. 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." 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 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. VI. And David's Lips are lock't; but in divine High piping Pelevi, with "Wine Wine Wine Red Wine "-the Nightingale cries to the Rose That yellow Cheek of hers to'incarnadine. VII. 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.

In July 1856, Professor Edward Cowell sent his friend Edward Fitzgerald a Persian-language copy of poems by Omar Khayyam, the 12th century Persian poet, astronomer, and mathematician. Fitzgerald strove for three years to turn the 'essence' of these poems into English, and in 1859 published his classic free translation of the Persian Master's verse. The book was not an instant success; but the beautiful quatrains that Fitzgerald so painstakingly put together have stood the test of time, and made his work the most popular rendering of Khayyam's Rubaiyat.

Revered in eleventh-century Persia as an astronomer, mathematician and philosopher, Omar Khayyam is now known first and foremost for his Ruba'iyat. The short epigrammatic stanza form allowed poets of his day to express personal feelings, beliefs and doubts with wit and clarity, and Khayyam became one of its most accomplished masters with his touching meditations on the transience of human life and of the natural world. One of the supreme achievements of medieval literature, the reckless romanticism and the pragmatic fatalism in the face of death means these verses continue to hold the imagination of modern readers.

Revered in eleventh-century Persia as an astronomer, mathematician and philosopher, Omar Khayyam is now known first and foremost for his Ruba'iyat. The short epigrammatic stanza form allowed poets of his day to express personal feelings, beliefs and doubts with wit and clarity, and Khayyam became one of its most accomplished masters with his touching meditations on the transience of human life and of the natural world. One of the supreme achievements of medieval literature, the reckless romanticism and the pragmatic fatalism in the face of death means these verses continue to hold the imagination of modern readers.

In July 1856, Professor Edward Cowell sent his friend Edward Fitzgerald a Persian-language copy of poems by Omar Khayyam, the 12th century Persian poet, astronomer, and mathematician. Fitzgerald strove for three years to turn the 'essence' of these poems into English, and in 1859 published his classic free translation of the Persian Master's verse. The book was not an instant success; but the beautiful quatrains that Fitzgerald so painstakingly put together have stood the test of time, and made his work the most popular rendering of Khayyam's Rubaiyat.