21 Ordibehesht 1405
Quatrain 47 of 75
“And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press,
End in the Nothing all Things end in—Yes—
Then fancy while Thou art, Thou art but what
Thou shalt be—Nothing—Thou shalt not be less.”
Reflection · Spring 1405
In spring the Nothing that all things end in is the most distant thing available. But Khayyam's verse visits spring because spring is also ending in Nothing — later, much later. Fancy while Thou art — spring is the great season for fancying. While you are here, in spring, with the bloom around you and the wine in hand — you are exactly what you will have been. Thou shalt not be less — spring makes this feel like the least of concerns.
But Khayyam plants the comfort here for the seasons when it will be needed. Yes, it ends in Nothing. And you will not be less than Nothing, because Nothing is the absolute. Your existence will not have been reduced. It will have been complete.