4 Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring The Bird of Time has but a little way 5 And look-a thousand Blossoms with the Day And this first Summer Month that brings the Rose Shall take Jamshýd and Kaikobád away. 6 With me along some Strip of Herbage strown, Where name of Slave and Sultán scarce is known, And pity Sultán Máhmúd on his Throne. 7 Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough, And Wilderness is Paradise enow. 8 '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! 9 Look to the Rose that blows about us -'Lo, IO The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face II And those who husbanded the Golden Grain, 12 Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai Whose Doorways are alternate Night and Day, 13 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. 14 I sometimes think that never blows so red 15 And this delightful Herb whose tender Green Ah, lean upon it lightly! for who knows 16 Ah, my Belovéd, fill the Cup that clears 17 Lo! some we loved, the loveliest and best 18 And we, that now make merry in the Room Ourselves must we beneath the Couch of Earth Descend, ourselves to make a Couch-for whom? 19 Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend, Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie, Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and-sans End! 20 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. 21 Myself when young did eagerly frequent 22 With them the Seed of Wisdom did I sow, 23 Into this Universe, and why not knowing, 24 What, without asking, hither hurried whence? The Memory of this Impertinence! 25 Up from Earth's Centre, through the Seventh Gate I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate, And many Knots unravel'd by the Road; But not the Knot of Human Death and Fate. 26 There was a Door to which I found no Key: Some little Talk awhile of ME and THEE 27 Ah, fill the Cup: what boots it to repeat 28 One Moment in Annihilation's Waste, One Moment, of the Well of Life to taste- 29 While the Rose blows along the River Brink, And when the Angel with his darker Draught Draws up to Thee-take that, and do not shrink. 30 The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, 31 And that inverted Bowl we call The Sky, 32 And this I know: whether the one True Light 33 Oh, Thou, who didst with Pitfall and with Gin Thou wilt not with Predestination round 34 Oh, Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make, And who with Eden didst devise the Snake; For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man Is blacken'd, Man's Forgiveness give-and take! 35 Listen again. One evening at the Close 36 And, strange to tell, among that Earthen Lot And suddenly one more impatient cried- 37 Then said another-'Surely not in vain 'My Substance from the common Earth was ta'en, "That He who subtly wrought me into Shape 'Should stamp me back to common Earth again.' 38 And much as Wine has play'd the Infidel, |