11 Azar 1404
Quatrain 25 of 75
“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.”
Reflection · Autumn 1404
The saints and sages, scattered and stopped — in autumn their absence is more palpable. Autumn is the season that builds toward silence, and Khayyam's verse about silenced mouths fits perfectly into a season of falling leaves and lengthening dark. What survives? The wine. The verse. The ancient ruby in the vine. The garden by the water. These do not claim to answer the Two Worlds question; they simply continue, year after year, indifferent to the question's unresolvability.
In autumn this is a comfort of a specific kind: the question is not yours to answer. No one has answered it. No one will, in the way we imagine answers. What you have instead is this autumn day, this particular light, this cup, this company.