Curiosity

Quatrain 25

“Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd

Of the Two Worlds so learnedly, are thrust

Like foolish Prophets forth; their Words to Scorn

Are scatter'd, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust.”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 27

“Myself when young did eagerly frequent

Doctor and Saint, and heard great Argument

About it and about: but evermore

Came out by the same Door as in I went.”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 28

“With them the Seed of Wisdom did I sow,

And with my own hand labour'd it to grow:

And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd—

"I came like Water, and like Wind I go."”

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 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 41

“For "IS" and "IS-NOT" though with Rule and Line,

And, "UP-AND-DOWN" without, I could define,

I yet in all I only cared to know,

Was never deep in anything but—Wine.”

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 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