Cosmos

Quatrain 16

“Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai

Whose Doorways are alternate Night and Day,

How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp

Abode his Hour or two, and went his way.”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 29

“Into this Universe, and why not knowing,

Nor whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing:

And out of it, as Wind along the Waste,

I know not whither, willy-nilly blowing.”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 31

“Up from Earth's Centre through the seventh Gate

I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate,

And many Knots unravel'd by the Road;

But not the Knot of Human Death and Fate.”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 32

“There was a Door to which I found no Key:

There was a Veil past which I could not see:

Some little Talk awhile of ME and THEE

There seemed—and then no more of THEE and ME.”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 33

“Then to the rolling Heav'n itself I cried,

Asking, "What Lamp had Destiny to guide

Her little Children stumbling in the Dark?"

And—"A blind understanding!" Heav'n replied.”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 38

“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!”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 46

“For in and out, above, about, below,

'Tis nothing but a Magic Shadow-show,

Play'd in a Box whose Candle is the Sun,

Round which we Phantom Figures come and go.”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 47

“And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press,

End in the Nothing all Things end in—Yes—

Then fancy while Thou art, Thou art but what

Thou shalt be—Nothing—Thou shalt not be less.”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 49

“'Tis all a Chequer-board of Nights and Days

Where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays:

Hither and thither moves, and mates, and slays,

And one by one back in the Closet lays.”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 50

“The Ball no Question makes of Ayes and Noes,

But Right or Left as strikes the Player goes;

And He that toss'd Thee down into the Field,

He knows about it all—HE knows—HE knows!”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 52

“And that inverted Bowl we call The Sky,

Whereunder crawling coop't we live and die,

Lift not thy hands to IT for help—for It

Rolls impotently on as Thou or I.”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 53

“With Earth's first Clay They did the Last Man's knead,

And then of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed:

Yea, the first Morning of Creation wrote

What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read.”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 54

“I tell Thee this—When, starting from the Goal,

Over the shoulders of the flaming Foal

Of Heav'n Parwin and Mushtari they flung,

In my predestin'd Plot of Dust and Soul”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 60

“And strange to tell, among that Earthen Lot

Some could articulate, while others not:

And suddenly one more impatient cried—

"Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?"”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 70

“Ah, Moon of my Delight who know'st no wane,

The Moon of Heav'n is rising once again:

How oft hereafter rising shall she look

Through this same Garden after me—in vain!”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 72

“Why, if the Soul can fling the Dust aside,

And naked on the Air of Heaven ride,

Wer't not a Shame—wer't not a Shame for him

In this clay carcass crippled to abide?”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 73

“Strange, is it not? that of the myriads who

Before us pass'd the door of Darkness through,

Not one returns to tell us of the Road,

Which to discover we must travel too.”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 74

“I sent my Soul through the Invisible,

Some letter of that After-life to spell:

And after many days my Soul return'd,

And said, "Behold, Myself am Heav'n and Hell."”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 75

“Heav'n but the Vision of fulfill'd Desire,

And Hell the Shadow of a Soul on fire;

And that is what I saw, and what I heard,

And all beside is Emptiness—or Ire!”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859