11 Bahman 1404
Quatrain 9 of 75
“But come with old Khayyam, and leave the Lot
Of Kaikobad and Kaikhosru forgot:
Let Rustum lay about him as he will,
Or Hatim Tai cry Supper—heed them not.”
Reflection · Winter 1404
In winter Khayyam's invitation shifts from delight to refuge. Come with old Khayyam — away from the noise of what other people think matters, away from the lot of kings and heroes. In the cold and dark, the strip of herbage is covered in frost, but the invitation stands. Heed them not — the voices that say your worth is measured by what you have conquered or given or built.
Old Khayyam, who in his long life solved cubic equations and reformed a calendar and wrote poems still being read a thousand years later, managed to do all of that while remaining fundamentally attached to the small things: the wine, the grass, the friend, the present moment. He is not asking you to achieve nothing. He is asking you, for this winter afternoon, to set down the measuring rod. Come sit with him. Leave the lot of heroism forgot.