Netpakistan - Poetry

n e t p a k i s t a n . c o m.

<a href="http://focusin.ads.targetnet.com/ad/id=netpakistan&opt=cin&cv=210&uid=1" target="_top"><br> <img src="http://focusin.ads.targetnet.com/ad/id=netpakistan&opt=hin&cv=210&uid=1" alt="Click here to visit our sponsor" width=468 height=60 border=0> </a><br><font face="arial" size="1"><a href="http://www.focusin.com">focusIN Specialty Web Network</a></font>

.	r u b á i y á t	.

...

Of Omar Khayyam

Translated by Edward Fitzgerald

-:-The Fourth Edition-:-

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!

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

Then said a Second-"Ne'er a peevish Boy

Would break the bowl from which he drank in joy;

And He that with His hand the Bessel made

Will surely not in after Wrath destroy."

Whereat some one of the loquacious Lot-

I think a Sufi pipkin- waxing hot-

"All this of Pot and Potter-Tell me then,

Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?"

"Well," murmur'd one, "Let whoso make or buy,

My Clay with long Oblivion is gone dry:

But fill me with the old familiar Juice,

Methinks I might recover by and by."

Ah, with the Grape my fading Life provide,

And wash the Body whence the Life has died,

And lay me, shrouded in the living Leaf,

By some not unfrequented Garden-side.

Indeed, the Idols I have loved so long

Have done my credit in this World much wrong:

Have drown'd my Glory in a shallow Cup,

And sold my Reputation for a Song.

And much as wine has play'd the Infidel,

And robb'd me of my Robe of Honour-Well,

I wonder often what the Vintners buy

One half so precious as the stuff they sell.

Would but the Desert of the Fountain yield

One glimpse-if dimly, yet indeed, reveal'd,

To which the fainting Travller might spring,

As springs the trampled herbage of the field!

Ah, Love! could you and I with Him conspire

To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire,

Would not we shatter it to bits-and then

Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire!

101

And when like her, oh Sákí, you shall pass

among the Guests Star-scatter'd on the Grass,

And in your joyous errand reach the spot

Where I made One-turn down an empty Glass!

As under cover of departing Day

Slunk hunger-stricken Ramazán away,

Once more within the Potter's house alone

I stood, surrounded by the Shapes of Clay.

Said one among them-"Surely not in vain

My substance of the common Earth was ta'en

And to this Figure moulded, to be broke,

Or trampled back to shapeless Earth again."

After a momentary silence spake

Some Vessel of a more ungainly make:

"They sneer at me for leaning all awry:

What! did the Hand then of the Potter shake?"

"Why," said another, "Some there are who tell

Of one who threatens he will toss to Hell

The luckless Pots he marr'd in making-Pish!

He's a Good Fellow, and 'twill all be well."

So while the Vessels one by one were speaking,

The little Moon look'd in that all were seeking:

And then they jogg'd each other, "Brother! Brother!

Now for the Porter's shoulder-knot a-creaking!"

That ev'n my buried Ashes such a snare

Of Vintage shall fling up into the Air

As not a True-believer passing by

but shall be overtaken unaware.

Indeed, indeed, Repentance oft before

I swore-but was I sober when I swore?

And then and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hand

My thread-bare Penitence apieces tore.

Yet Ah, that Spring should vanish with the Rose!

That Youth's sweet-scented manuscript should close!

The Nightingale that in the branches sang,

Ah, whence, and whither flown again, who knows!

Would but some wingéd Angel ere too late

Arrest the yet unfolded Roll of Fate,

and make the stern Recorder otherwise

Enregister, or quite obliterate!

100

You rising Moon that looks for us again-

How oft hereafter will she wax and wane;

How oft hereafter rising look for us

Through this same Garden-and for one in vain!

T a m á m

....

<< Back

1 - 20

21 - 40

41 - 60

61 - 80

81 - 101

Also, send your Comments or Suggestions To Netpakistan@mail.com
Copyright ©1997-99, NetPakistan. All Rights Reserved.
Any material obtained from this website is copyrighted by NetPakistan ,& may not be reproduced or reused in any form. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited by federal law and subject to criminal prosecution.