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| Rubaiyat 301-350 |
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| 301 Label me, if you wish so, a drunken bum, impudent trouble-maker, rebellious scum. For I am what I am, and as such shall remain, despite all accusations, remorseless Khayyam. 302 Life is fickle, fraught with both evil and good, now pleasant and, suddenly, in a bad mood. Thus to have peace of mind it's very important to believe one has lived it as well as one could. 303 Love and wine I worship, my sweetheart adore, accusations of madness steadfastly ignore. What is bound to happen shall happen precisely as it should, all the same, no less, no more. 304 A learned man, so much wiser than you and I, doesn't warrant respect if he would brag and lie. But a simple man clearly deserves a high honor on whose word as on the hard rock we can rely. 305 They who roused by passions would blindly leap into Life, overwhelmed by its maddening sweep, after having enough of its wild excitements in the soft arms of Death fall forever asleep. 306 Passion doesn't care whether one's ugly or fine - both are slaves of the force, which must be divine. Matters not to a lover if he eats or sleeps - he is either elated, in doubt, or pines. 307 Rather than fretting daily of the common good bring some joy to the friends you've had since childhood. Rather than contemplating the needs of mankind with a neighbor in need share your clothes and food. 308 Time is turning and turning, like a potter's wheel, it makes sense just to those with knowledge and zeal, or to drunks who are used to see the world spinning and derive from it nothing but a senseless thrill. 309 Though a wise man isn't supposed to care if he is rich or poor, none can live just on air. When a poor violet by the roadside's fading, a rich rose in the garden has beauty to spare. 310 In this world, if you ever want to succeed, be prepared to endure pain, to sweat and bleed. Even a silver spoon, put by Fate in your mouth, must be moved by a hand to get all that you need. 311 Drink with him you can trust, who is smart as you are, or with your sweetheart, beautiful as a star. Don't tell anyone how long you've been drinking, drink at home, in the fields, on the streets, in a bar. 312 There are thoughts in my head, matters not how true, to tell them may cost me my head - then I am through. Only this sheet of paper, alas, could be trusted, o my friends, it's a pity, but I can't trust you. 313 I would like to forget the unfaithful at once, to embrace a new love, to start a new romance, I would like to - but my eyes with tears filled and misted, won't let me even steal at someone else a glance. 314 A nightingale's song inspired me to lie with my sweetheart under a tree. In its shade, drinking wine and smelling roses, I wish we could stay for eternity. 315 I do not drink because a forbidden fruit's sweet, nor to bring joy to heart, neither to mind wit. I just want to forget all that ever caused pain, every cruel betrayal and foul deceit. 316 "Hell and Heaven wait after death", say hypocrites. Looking into myself, I must say, they are cheats. Hell and Heaven are not some mysterious places - into Heaven and Hell, two halves, my soul splits. 317 May be I loose my head, after drinking a lot, wine tends to erase every rational thought. Proud are of themselves hypocrites and teetotalers, drinking wine helps me to be what I am not. 318 I drink wine, for soon I will rot in a grave, from which the best lies have no power to save. Lies about damnation of the evil cowards, or rewards after death of the good and the brave. 319 "Your drinking, Khayyam, is a terrible vice", I am told as if I needed any advice from the hypocrites whose sins if ever exposed would make me, in comparison, look rather nice. 320 For the one who can pierce thru a face to a core, bad and good are like silver and gold, no more. Good and bad, gold and silver we have for a while, then they pass, burned as quickly as a meteor. 321 Old I am, but again imprisoned by love, want to kiss and embrace, not to write epitaph. I forsook everything for my dear beloved, am not sure anymore whether to cry or laugh. 322 Let me drink your red lips, do not say a word, your passionate kisses are my best reward. You're a well in a desert when I'm from thirst dying, you're a nest to which I fly to rest like a bird. 323 There is only one remedy, only one cure from a grief or hangover, of which I am sure. If you want to help me to recover from either, bring a bottle of wine, two glasses and pour. 324 This green knoll, by the river which before us lies, doesn't it look to you like a true paradise? Rest on the silken grass, drink a nectar-like wine, in the beauty of the houris bathe your eyes! 325 I wake up, and the first thought is - "Where is my glass?" Looks at me from the mirror a face, red as brass. What was it that caused me to descend so low, to sink helplessly into this drunken morass? 326 If it's fated that life shall pass by all the same, let it pass at least quietly, gentle and tame. If you are cheerful, life can come as consolation, if you are gloomy, it will just maul you and maim. 327 Drinking helped me to salvage life, almost lost, brought back the warmth of youth into the old age frost. Wine set in my soul the unquenchable fire, its light chased into darkness death's terrible ghost. 328 If you want to put into your spirit some grit, if you want to escape one more crushing defeat, if you want to enjoy a pure pleasure - remember: adding water to wine will just spoil it. 329 To a man in distress, who is at his wits end, to a desperate man wine is the best friend. It's a shelter from storm for the tired and homeless, for the needy and hungry it's a helping hand. 330 If a beauty fills a cup with wine for me, if she lies on the carpet of grass next to me, if I think, after all, paradise is in Heaven, let whoever pass by in disgust spit on me. 331 In this world a flower of truth cannot bloom. Before being born, fairness dies in a womb. Amidst cruelty, treachery, greed and corruption, for the truthful and fair there is no room. 332 To a tavern we can't forget a beaten path. No money can buy back a good name for us. For to patch all the holes in a drunk's reputation, there is not enough cloth in the world, alas. 333 We sin, guzzling wine and beer, it's a fact. Our sins help to keep pubs and taverns intact. God, have mercy on us! Your endless compassion, if we didn't sin, would not have reason to act. 334 Among the living, who did not sin? Answer me! If you didn't, then what did you win? Answer me! Is it better to risk one's life to win the world, or to waste it just to save one's skin? Answer me! 335 Why have you dropped my glass on the floor, dear God? To my heaven - a pub, locked the door, dear God? Spilt on the dirty tiles my precious wine? Are you drunk as I am, or much more, dear God? 336 A bad taste in the mouth, the eyes puffed and blear - after drinking all night the new morning is here. Why, what was so sweet, has become so vile? Is the answer in wine, or vodka, or beer? 337 Everyone prays to God in a different way, yet we all ask for Heaven, not Hell, as we pray. Only wise men, who have penetrated God's mind, ignore Heaven and Hell, and live from day to day. 338 It is better to drink, to embrace, to caress, than to pray for salvation, to fast and confess. If Hell is the right place for the lovers and drunkards, not too many would go to Heaven, I guess. 339 I do not grumble, nor genuflect like a slave, I drink, hoping that God, in his mercy, would save me, a sinner, for He must love sin more than virtue: He can only forgive those who misbehave. 340 Light in darkness, the way to salvation we are. Joy in sadness, the source of elation we are. The inscription of God's will, explicit and final, on the precious ring of Creation we are. 341 If a rose has fallen, a dry thorn would do. If there is no Heaven, then dark Hell would do. If a mosque and mullah's nowhere to be found, any church, any clergyman for me would do. 342 Take up where I have left off, the moment I'm gone. Disregard my departure, talk, laugh, have some fun. Fill your glasses with wine once more and remember: what is lost is revealed only in the long run. 343 Lord, amidst your splendor why am I bored stiff? Such ungratefulness must cause you nothing but grief. These legs carrying me daily to drink in a tavern, this hand holding a glass lovingly, please forgive. 344 If you suddenly feel your life is a mess, try on armor of faith, mail of righteousness. But becoming a holy man, don't get angry with a poor me, who may prefer some other dress. 345 Bring me a glass of wine, it's worth now more than the future delights Paradise holds in store. And, whatever the taste of it, I don't mind, if it is bitter, then bitterness I prefer. 346 Don't beg for love from the unfaithful! At night under her windows don't curse your plight. Instead try, like a dervish, to look independent, may be this simple trick will whet her appetite. 347 Don't envy the powerful, vain and rich - six feet under the ground are enough for each. So, just take it easy, relax and remember: all die sooner or later, and life is a bitch. 348 Woe is me! My heart has become cold as ice. What have I done to pay such a terrible price? How bring back the times when a day spent without love felt like being locked out of Paradise? 349 Wine humbles the proud, makes everyone small, the great kings, the poor servants, it levels them all. Even Satan himself, if sufficiently drunken, would before Adam on his knees abjectly fall. 350 Life is short, no more than a blink of an eye, over it, like spilt milk, it is useless to cry. Fill your cup not with tears but with sparkling wine, tears of heart will dry up when you empty it dry. |
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