Don’t give your body over to
lamenting cruel destiny;
Don’t dedicate your soul to grief
at recollections of the dead.
Don’t throw away your heart save on
the locks of your beloved’s hair.
Keep a full wine glass in your hand–
don’t waste a minute of your life.
Translated by Juan Cole
from Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, [pdf] Whinfield 412/ Arberry 1949
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ah, omar, you knew of course, that life is too short to be busy
Professor Cole, what is your take on Omar Khayyam’s wine being a metaphor rather than as a literal “spirit”?
Maybe for some medieval Persian poets, wine is a metaphor. But Khayyam is really interested in the real thing.
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wine is the juice
that unties tongues
it let’s the mind dance
in worlds far flung
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