29 Esfand 1404
Quatrain 26 of 75
“Oh, come with old Khayyam, and leave the Wise
To talk; one thing is certain, that Life flies;
One thing is certain, and the Rest is Lies;
The Flower that once has blown for ever dies.”
Reflection · Winter 1404
On the last day of the Persian year, this verse is a threshold ceremony. One thing is certain. The year that is dying tonight will not come back. Come with old Khayyam into the new year. Not because the new year resolves the uncertainty or corrects the dying. But because the old tent-maker from Nishapur understood that this is all there is and found it enough. More than enough — sufficient for a full life, a beautiful life.
The flower dies for ever. The new year comes. Both are true. Hold them together at the threshold of Nowruz. The one certainty is not a darkness at the door; it is the precise shape of the light.