Friday, June 29, 2007

And now for some Persian poetry....



9

Each Morn a thousand Roses brings, you say:

Yes, but where leaves the Rose of Yesterday?

And this first Summer month that brings the Rose

Shall take Jamshyd and Kaikobad away.

10 Well, let it take them! What have we to do

With Kaikobad the Great, or Kaikhosru?

Let Zal and Rustum bluster as they will,

Or Hatim call to Supper--heed not you.

11 With me along the strip of Herbage strown

That just divides the desert from the sown,

Where name of Slave and Sultan is forgot--

And Peace to Mahmud on his golden Throne!

12 A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,

A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread--and Thou

Beside me singing in the Wilderness--

Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!

~from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

(Artwork by Edmund Dulac)
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Surely one of the most famous and beautiful lines in poetry, and how wonderful to have experienced that sort of moment with a lover.

elena maria vidal said...

At this point, I would be happy to sit alone in the wilderness with a good book!