6 Bahman 1404
Quatrain 4 of 75
“Now the New Year reviving old Desires,
The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires,
Where the WHITE HAND OF MOSES on the Bough
Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires.”
Reflection · Winter 1404
In the deep of Dey or Bahman, this verse is a seed. You are holding it in winter so that you know what it feels like before it germinates. The New Year is coming — Nowruz is weeks away, then days — and the old desires that will revive then are already there, under the snow, under the cold, waiting for the equinox to release them.
Khayyam's genius was to understand that the New Year is not made at Nowruz; it is only revealed there. It has been forming all winter, under the ground, in the dark. Keep this verse close in winter. When the Esfand winds are cold and the days are still short, remember: somewhere under the frozen ground, Jesus is about to suspire. The White Hand is forming on the bough. The old desire is waking. Wait a little longer.