Quatrain 25
Quatrain 25 of 75
“Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd
Of the Two Worlds so learnedly, are thrust
Like foolish Prophets forth; their Words to Scorn
Are scatter'd, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust.”
Reflection · Winter
The Two Worlds have been argued about by the finest minds in every tradition. All their mouths are stopped with dust. This is not Khayyam's most popular argument — it offends the religious and the philosophical alike. But it is his most honest one: the evidence is consistent. No one who has learned what lies beyond has returned to report it.
In winter this verse is felt in the body, not just the mind. The cold makes the dust more present — the frozen ground, the bare trees, the smell of earth. Learn from the saints, study the sages, hold their wisdom carefully. But do not mistake their certainty for contact. Their mouths are stopped too. The Two Worlds remain exactly as Khayyam left them: one inhabited, one unknown.