Watts's III. Who blent thy song with sound of cattle lowing, CHORUS. Omar Khayyám! IV. 'Twas Fitz, "Old Fitz," whose knowledge, farther going Than lore of Omar, "Wisdom's starry Cham," Made richer still thine opulent epigram: CHORUS. Omar Khayyám! In this red wine, where Memory's eyes seem glowing APPENDIX LI. The following quatrain, to which reference is made on page lxvii of the Introduction, appears in a slightly different form in the Bibliography, p. 469. There is also a variant of it under Darmesteter, on p. 516. It is said that one evening as Omar was sitting with some friends a sudden wind sprang up and extinguished the candles, and in the confusion ensuing the jug of wine was broken and spilt; whereupon the poet immediately composed the irreverent Rubá'iy : : Tu as brisé ma cruche de vin, mon Dieu! tu as Nicolas ainsi fermé sur moi la porte de la joie, mon Dieu! tu as versé à terre mon vin limpide. Oh! (puisse ma bouche se remplir de terre!) serais-tu ivre, mon Dieu ? (388) Thou hast broken my wine-jug, O Lord, thou hast McCarthy closed against me the door of delight, O Lord, thou hast spilt upon the earth my clear wine; earth be in my mouth unless thou art drunk, O Lord. (401) Oh! Thou hast shattered to bits my jar of wine, my M. K. Lord! Thou hast shut me out from the gladness that was mine, my Lord! Thou hast spilt and scattered my wine upon the clayO dust in my mouth! if the drunkness be not Thine, my Lord! "According to the testimony of an old MS., according to Nicolas, the third line of this stanza ought to run thus: 'I drink the wine; 't is Thou who feel'st its power Bodenstedt Meinen Weinkrug hast Du mir zerschlagen, o Herr! Der Wein floss in den Staub statt in den Magen, o Herr! (II. 21) Die Pforte des Genusses hast Du mir verschlossen, Ich blieb nüchtern: kannst Du das auch sagen, o Herr? Nicolas (275) The legend runs that, after uttering this blasphemy, he chanced to look into the glass, and saw that his face had turned black as coal. Whereupon he composed another equally audacious, expressing his detestation of the doctrine of future punishment, to the effect that if the Almighty punished him for his sins, there would be no difference between them! [See Appendix XXXVI, Nicolas, 256, etc.] And he more than once refers to the clemency of God in washing his face white, and erasing his evil record from the Black Book in which the Angel Sehel (al Sijil, or Sijjil) keeps an account of each man's sins: Ta miséricorde m'étant acquise, je n'ai point peur du péché. Avec les provisions que tu possèdes, je n'ai pas à m'inquiéter des embarras du voyage. Ta bienveillance rendant mon visage blanc, du livre noir je n'ai aucune crainte. McCarthy (244) Seeing that thy mercy is vouchsafed to me, I have no fear for my iniquities; since thou possessest all goodness, I need not be anxious to provide myself for the journey. The leaves of the book have no terrors for me, since thy clemency has cleared my coun tenance. Sure of Thy grace, for sins why need I fear? Whinfield (318) Deine Barmherzigkeit macht keine Furcht in mir Bodenstedt (I. 15) rege, Deine Fürsorge schützt mich vor Mangel allerwege, Deine Gnade macht weiss mein Angesicht, Und vor dem schwarzen Buche erschreck' ich nicht. APPENDIX LII. OMAR AND HIS OPPONENTS. It was inevitable that with all the stir which Omar has made in the modern world of thought and literature, there should be some who could see nothing in him; who would regard his Rubáiyát, especially in the narrower limits of FitzGerald's paraphrase, as dangerous and heretical. There would still remain some of The the odium theologicum which, as we have seen, did not opposition cease to pursue him during his life, and while his to Omar's memory was still green. To many also, out of sheer philosophy opposition, so characteristic of certain orders of mind, the popularity of Omar would savor of affectation: on hearing so much of his greatness, they would echo Horace's words: : "Persicos odi, puer, apparatus." A sarcastic appeal to Omar Some expression of this has appeared; and I may be pardoned for quoting two or three anonymous poems which embody this cavilling spirit. It is rather remarkable that there is not more sarcastic or flippant reference to Omar and his philosophy: TO OMAR KHAYYAM. Late from thy face the veil of darkness clears; So that we wonder as we listen, how We've done without thee this eight hundred years. We wonder if thy critics bade thee take Thy rhymes elsewhere, and hint that thou wouldst make A good vine-dresser, or might'st guide the plough; And bid thee sing no more for pity's sake. Thou hadst a secret, so our young men say, World-weary youths who writhe and groan that they tell Us nought besides of thy strange-titled lay. Hadst thou of that red wine a famous brand, Couldst thou unpricked a rosy wreath entwine? What loss if thou hadst laid its answer bare! |