Page:Quatrains of Omar Khayyam (tr. Whinfield, 1883).djvu/336

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280
THE QUATRAINS OF

417.

Cupbearer! bring my wine-cup, let me grasp it!
Bring that delicious darling, let me grasp it!
    That pleasing chain which tangles in its coils
Wise men and fools together, let me grasp it I


418.

Alas! my wasted life has gone to wrack!
What with forbidden meats, and lusts, alack!
    And leaving undone what 'twas right to do,
And doing wrong, my face is very black!


419.

I could repent of all, but of wine, never!
I could dispense with all, but with wine, never!
    If so be I became a Musulman,
Could I abjure my Magian wine? no, never!


417.   L. N.   Bipéchand seems a plural of dignity.

418.   C. L. N. A. I.   Harám, the predicate of lakma.   These whimsical outbursts of self-reproach in the midst of antinomian utterances are characteristic of Khayyam.