3 Ordibehesht 1405
Quatrain 29 of 75
“Into this Universe, and why not knowing,
Nor whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing:
And out of it, as Wind along the Waste,
I know not whither, willy-nilly blowing.”
Reflection · Spring 1405
In spring the willy-nilly quality is hardest to feel — spring is the season of becoming, of things doing things with visible purpose. The blossom pushes. The bird builds. The sap rises. Everything is pointed in a direction it seems to have chosen. But Khayyam knows better. The blossom pushes because it must. The bird builds because the season demands it. And you, in spring, moving toward your spring desires — willy-nilly, like water into the low places, following the channel already cut by everything that came before you.
This is not diminishment. The water's flow is beautiful. Come into this spring willy-nilly. You are already flowing.