22 Khordad 1405
Quatrain 3 of 75
“And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before
The Tavern shouted—"Open then the Door.
You know how little while we have to stay,
And, once departed, may return no more."”
Reflection · Spring 1405
The cock crows at the boundary of night and day, and the crowd at the tavern door is not asking for a drink. They are asking for admittance to their own lives. Open then the Door — there is desperation in the shout, but also the specific desperation of people who know their time is short and feel the door still between them and the thing they came for.
In spring this verse arrives as both celebration and shadow. The door is opening — the whole season is an opening, blossom after blossom unlocking, warmth returning. And yet even here, the crowd outside knows: we have a little while. The return journey is not available. This is Khayyam's distinctive quality — he does not let beauty live without its context, does not allow joy to float free of the fact that joy is finite. Not to ruin joy. To deepen it.