Quatrain 16
Quatrain 16 of 75
“Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai
Whose Doorways are alternate Night and Day,
How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp
Abode his Hour or two, and went his way.”
Reflection · Autumn
The caravanserai verse is autumn's specific companion. Think, Khayyam says. Think how Sultan after Sultan with his pomp abode his hour or two and went his way. The autumn makes this undeniable. The year's sultans — all the ambitions and projects that arrived in Farvardin with great pomp — are going their way now, having abode their hour or two, making room for the caravanserai's winter guests.
The inn abides. It has held everyone who has ever seemed permanent. They all went their way. In autumn this verse lands with its full weight: the light is the exact amber of a caravanserai lamp at dusk, and the doorways are already cycling toward the night side. You abide your hour. You go your way. The inn will still be here, battered, receiving the next.