Fate

Quatrain 10

“With me along some Strip of Herbage strown

That just divides the desert from the sown,

Where name of Slave and Sultan scarce is known,

And pity Sultan Mahmud on his Throne.”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 12

“"How sweet is mortal Sovranty!"—think some:

Others—"How blest the Paradise to come!"

Ah, take the Cash in hand and waive the Rest;

Oh, the brave Music of a distant Drum!”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 14

“The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon

Turns Ashes—or it prospers; and anon,

Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face

Lighting a little Hour or two—is gone.”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 15

“And those who husbanded the Golden Grain,

And those who flung it to the Winds like Rain,

Alike to no such aureate Earth are turn'd

As, buried once, Men want dug up again.”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 24

“Alike for those who for TO-DAY prepare,

And those that after a TO-MORROW stare,

A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries

"Fools! your Reward is neither Here nor There."”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

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 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 30

“What, without asking, hither hurried Whence?

And, without asking, Whither hurried hence!

Another and another Cup to drown

The Memory of this Impertinence!”

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 39

“How long, how long, in infinite Pursuit

Of This and That endeavour and dispute?

Better be merry with the fruitful Grape

Than sadden after none, or bitter, Fruit.”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 45

“But leave the Wise to wrangle, and with me

The Quarrel of the Universe let be:

And, in some corner of the Hubbub coucht,

Make Game of that which makes as much of Thee.”

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 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 51

“The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,

Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit

Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,

Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.”

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 57

“Oh Thou who didst with Pitfall and with Gin

Beset the Road I was to wander in,

Thou wilt not with Predestination round

Enmesh me, and impute my Fall to Sin?”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 58

“Oh Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make,

And who with Eden didst devise the Snake;

For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man

Is blacken'd, Man's Forgiveness give—and take!”

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 61

“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."”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 62

“Another said—"Why, ne'er a peevish Boy

Would break the Bowl from which he drank in Joy;

Shall He that made the Vessel in pure Love

And Fansy, in an after Rage destroy!"”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 63

“None answer'd this; but after Silence spake

A Vessel of a more ungainly Make:

"They sneer at me for leaning all awry;

What? did the Hand then of the Potter shake?"”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 64

“Said one—"Folks of a surly Tapster tell,

And daub his Visage with the Smoke of Hell;

They talk of some strict Testing of us—Pish!

He's a Good Fellow, and 'twill all be well."”

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