15 Ordibehesht 1405
Quatrain 41 of 75
“For "IS" and "IS-NOT" though with Rule and Line,
And, "UP-AND-DOWN" without, I could define,
I yet in all I only cared to know,
Was never deep in anything but—Wine.”
Reflection · Spring 1405
Is and Is-Not in spring are particularly interesting: Is spring really spring? Is-Not winter anymore? The philosophical question has a botanical answer that is more convincing than any logical proof. The blossom doesn't need the rule and line to define its Is-ness. It is. Khayyam the mathematician and Khayyam the poet inhabit the same body, and in spring they reach their most interesting accommodation.
Was never deep in anything but wine — in spring this reads as joy rather than confession. The deepness that wine represents is the deepness of full presence, of the senses fully engaged. Everything else is surface compared to this.