13 Esfand 1404
Quatrain 40 of 75
“You know, my Friends, with what a brave Carouse
I made a Second Marriage in my house:
Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed,
And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse.”
Reflection · Winter 1404
In winter the Daughter of the Vine is wine — the pressed and fermented version, the transformed vintage at its most concentrated and complex. Old barren Reason has been locked out through all the seasons, and winter tests the decision. In winter Reason's arguments for readmission are at their strongest — the cold, the dark, the calculation of what has been spent and what remains. Khayyam keeps the door shut.
The Daughter of the Vine in winter is the fire and the cup and the winter warmth in a cold world. The vine knows the season. The wine holds the summer. The marriage to the present moment, however cold the present moment is, remains the only marriage worth keeping.