Quatrain 38
Quatrain 38 of 75
“One Moment in Annihilation's Waste,
One moment, of the Well of Life to taste—
The Stars are setting, and the Caravan
Starts for the dawn of Nothing—Oh, make haste!”
Reflection · Winter
The Stars are setting. In winter this is most visible — the stars set earlier, the night is longer. And the caravan starts for the dawn of Nothing — not for the promised land but for Nothing itself. One moment in the Well of Life — this is Khayyam's mathematics of existence. One moment. Not a life's worth of moments but one, the single genuine drink from the well, before the caravan moves again.
Oh, make haste. In winter this is not panic but necessity. The stars are setting faster than they were in summer. Make haste not frantically but attentively — hasten to be present, to actually taste the one moment, to not let it pass with your eyes on the Nothing ahead rather than the Well beneath your lips.