5 Ordibehesht 1405
Quatrain 31 of 75
“Up from Earth's Centre through the seventh Gate
I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate,
And many Knots unravel'd by the Road;
But not the Knot of Human Death and Fate.”
Reflection · Spring 1405
Up from Earth's centre through the seventh gate — this is spring's motion, the upward one, the emergence from depth to surface. The astronomer rises through the spheres as the spring rises through the soil. On Saturn's throne he found many things unravelled. Many things — and spring is full of many things, full of the multiplicity of what can be known. But not the Knot. This one clause sits in the spring like a seed.
Khayyam plants it here so that when winter comes, you remember: he sat on Saturn's throne and could not untie it either. You are not failing. It is untied by no one.