14 Bahman 1404
Quatrain 12 of 75
“"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!”
Reflection · Winter 1404
The distant drum in winter sounds different — more muffled, less convincing, because the cold clarifies. The paradise to come loses some of its luster when it competes with a warm fire and the specific quiet of a winter evening. Mortal sovereignty looks expensive. The cash in hand in winter is perhaps the most honest version: small and particular — the warmth of this specific room, the person in this specific chair, the bread broken and the wine poured.
Khayyam's point holds in every season but lands hardest in winter: take the cash. The rest is music. Beautiful, brave music — but it is always a little way off, always around the next corner. What is here, in hand, now — this is the only coin that is actually yours to spend.