Quatrain 7
Quatrain 7 of 75
“Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring
The Winter Garment of Repentance fling:
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To fly—and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.”
Reflection · Spring
Fling off winter. Not put aside gently, not pack carefully for next year — fling, into fire. The Winter Garment of Repentance is everything you gathered against yourself during the dark months, all the accounting and self-correction and sobriety that winter encourages. Khayyam says: into the fire with it. Spring is not the season for your penitence. Spring is the season for your cup.
The Bird of Time is the most compressed image in all the Rubaiyat — four words that hold everything. Time is not an abstraction here. It is alive, it has wings, and it is already flying. Already. Look up. It is on the wing right now, as you read this, as you decide whether to fill the cup or wait for a better moment. There is no better moment. This is what the Bird tells you every spring. The cup is here. The fire is burning. The garment of winter is on your shoulders still. What are you waiting for?