Quatrain 30
Quatrain 30 of 75
“What, without asking, hither hurried Whence?
And, without asking, Whither hurried hence!
Another and another Cup to drown
The Memory of this Impertinence!”
Reflection · Summer
Impertinence — the universe's treatment of him: thrown into existence without being asked, hurried out without consent. And his response is not rage or grief but laughter — another cup, to drown the memory of this cosmic rudeness. This is Khayyam's humor at its best. The universe is impertinent. The solution is wine. The tone is not bitter but genuinely amused.
In summer this verse is almost celebration. The cup is full, the season is at its height, and the impertinence of existence has brought you here, to this particular summer, with this particular cup in hand. You didn't ask for it. You weren't consulted. And yet here you are, and the cup is good, and another cup seems like exactly the right response to the whole situation.