20 Ordibehesht 1405
Quatrain 46 of 75
“For in and out, above, about, below,
'Tis nothing but a Magic Shadow-show,
Play'd in a Box whose Candle is the Sun,
Round which we Phantom Figures come and go.”
Reflection · Spring 1405
The Magic Shadow-show in spring is at its most vivid and most convincingly real — the spring sun is brightening, the shadows are sharpening, the phantom figures are walking through the bright spring day with all the confidence of things that are not phantom at all. Khayyam's image is specifically astronomical and right: the Earth is a box, the Sun is the candle, we are the figures it casts.
Round which we Phantom Figures come and go — in spring the coming is more vivid than the going. The phantom figures are arriving, renewing. The going is barely noticed. But it is happening. The box is spinning. The candle burns.