Quatrain 68
Quatrain 68 of 75
“I have a Friend, a Woman-friend indeed,
More frail and fickle than I am told the Rose,—
Wine, Ruby Wine! my bosom-friend in need,
Brings smiling News of Spring before it blows.”
Reflection · Spring
The Wine as bosom-friend — more frail and fickle than the rose, which is itself the emblem of what does not last. And yet this is the friend Khayyam chooses, the one that brings smiling news of spring before it blows. Before the season arrives, wine announces it. More frail and fickle than the rose — Khayyam loves without illusion. This friend will not stay. This friend is already departing even as it arrives.
And it brings smiling news anyway, before the spring has fully come, before the rose has opened. This frail, fickle, beloved friend. This is enough.