Mystery

Quatrain 04

“Now the New Year reviving old Desires,

The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires,

Where the WHITE HAND OF MOSES on the Bough

Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires.”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 19

“And this delightful Herb whose tender Green

Fledges the River's Lip on which we lean—

Ah, lean upon it lightly! for who knows

From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen!”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 22

“And we, that now make merry in the Room

They left, and Summer dresses in new Bloom,

Ourselves must we beneath the Couch of Earth

Descend, ourselves to make a Couch—for whom?”

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 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 35

“I think the Vessel, that with fugitive

Articulation answer'd, once did live,

And merry-make; and the cold Lip I kiss'd

How many Kisses might it take—and give.”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 36

“For in the Market-place, one Dusk of Day,

I watch'd the Potter thumping his wet Clay:

And with its all obliterated Tongue

It murmur'd—"Gently, Brother, gently, pray!"”

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 42

“And lately, by the Tavern Door agape,

Came stealing through the Dusk an Angel Shape,

Bearing a vessel on his Shoulder; and

He bid me taste of it; and 'twas—the Grape!”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 43

“The Grape that can with Logic absolute

The Two-and-Seventy jarring Sects confute:

The subtle Alchemist that in a Trice

Life's leaden Metal into Gold transmute.”

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 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 55

“The Vine had struck a Fibre; which about

If clings my Being—let the Sufi flout;

Of my Base Metal may be filed a Key,

That shall unlock the Door he howls without.”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 56

“And this I know: whether the one True Light,

Kindle to Love, or Wrath consume me quite,

One Glimpse of It within the Tavern caught

Better than in the Temple lost outright.”

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 59

“Listen again. One Evening at the Close

Of Ramazan, ere the better Moon arose,

In that old Potter's Shop I stood alone

With the clay Population round in Rows.”

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 66

“So, while the Vessels one by one were speaking,

One spied the little Crescent all were seeking:

And then they jogg'd each other, "Brother! Brother!

Hark to the Porter's Shoulder-knot a-creaking!"”

tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859

Quatrain 69

“Alas, that Spring should vanish with the Rose!

That Youth's sweet-scented Manuscript should close!

The Nightingale that in the Branches sang,

Ah, whence, and whither flown again, who knows!”

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