Quatrain 61
Quatrain 61 of 75
“Then said another—"Surely not in vain
My substance from the common Earth was ta'en,
That He who subtly wrought me into Shape
Should stamp me back to common Earth again."”
Reflection · Winter
In winter the argument of the pot is most fully itself: surely not in vain. The winter pot, at the end of its year of service, makes the argument it has been making since it was formed. Khayyam does not answer. He records the cry. He was one of the pots that could articulate.
But He who subtly wrought and He who stamps back are the same He. The Potter makes and unmakes with equal craft. The common earth receives what it gave. Whether this is vain or not — this is the question whose answer Khayyam took with him, unanswered, when his particular pot was stamped back.