The School Bag




from Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

Edward Fitzgerald

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 Sultán'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 Jamshýd'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 Pehleví, 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.

VIII
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 Jamshýd and Kaikobád away.

IX
But come with old Khayyám, and leave the Lot
Of Kaikobád and Kaikhosrú forgot :
  Let Rustum lay about him as he will,
Or Hátim Tai cry Supper - heed them not.  
                               
X
With me along some Strip of Herbage strown
That just divides the desert from the sown,
  Where name of Slave and Sultán scarce is known,
And pity Sultán Mahmud on his Throne.

XI
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.

XII
"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!

XIII
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.”

XIV
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.

XV
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.

XVI
Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai
Whose Doorways are alternate Night and Day,
  How Sultán after Sultán with his Pomp
Abode his Hour or two, and went his way.

XVII
They say the Lion and the Lizard keep
The Courts where Jamshýd gloried and drank deep;
  And Bahrám, that great Hunter - the Wild Ass
Stamps o'er his Head, and he lies fast asleep.

XVIII
I sometimes think that never blows 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.

XXIX
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!

XX
Oh, my Belovéd, 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.

XXI
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.

XXII
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?

XXIII
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!

XXIV
Alike for those who for T0-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!”

XXV
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.

XXVI
Oh, come with old Khayyám, 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.

XXVII
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.

XXVIII
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.” 

1859

spoken = Tom Zingarelli