2 Shahrivar 1405
Quatrain 75 of 75
“Heav'n but the Vision of fulfill'd Desire,
And Hell the Shadow of a Soul on fire;
And that is what I saw, and what I heard,
And all beside is Emptiness—or Ire!”
Reflection · Summer 1405
Heaven but the Vision of fulfilled Desire — in summer the vision is most vivid, the fulfillment most complete. The cup is full. The company is here. The summer evening is warm. This is the vision. This is the heaven. Hell the Shadow of a Soul on fire — in summer, even in summer, the shadow is present. The soul that cannot be fully present, that is always reaching for the next thing, always burning with some desire that this abundance cannot satisfy — that soul is in hell in the middle of heaven.
Khayyam has seen both. And all beside is emptiness or ire.