18 Mordad 1405
Quatrain 60 of 75
“And strange to tell, among that Earthen Lot
Some could articulate, while others not:
And suddenly one more impatient cried—
"Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?"”
Reflection · Summer 1405
Strange to tell — the strangeness is the strangeness of self-awareness itself: that among the things the Potter made, some of them can ask about the Potter. This is the summer condition, the consciousness fully engaged with its own existence. Among that earthen lot, some could articulate — in summer the articulation is most full. The voices are strongest.
Who is the Potter, and who the Pot? In summer this is genuinely two questions: not just who made me, but in what proportion are we each both maker and made? Khayyam does not answer. The question is the point.