Quatrain 27
Quatrain 27 of 75
“Myself when young did eagerly frequent
Doctor and Saint, and heard great Argument
About it and about: but evermore
Came out by the same Door as in I went.”
Reflection · Summer
The same door. Not a different door, not a wiser door, not the door of certainty or peace. The same door that he entered. The great argument about it and about — the full weight of scholastic theology and natural philosophy and every spiritual tradition that ever tried to answer the question — all of it returned him to his starting place. Not through laziness but through thoroughness.
In summer this verse has a particular quality — summer is the season of activity, of pursuit, of going out and doing. And Khayyam went out, eagerly, in his youth, to pursue the biggest questions. He came back the same way he left. This is not a reason not to go. It is an honest report from someone who went.