Page:Quatrains of Omar Khayyam (tr. Whinfield, 1883).djvu/334

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278
THE QUATRAINS OF

414.

Bulbuls, doting on roses, oft complain
How froward breezes rend their veils in twain;
    Sit we beneath this rose, which many a time
Has sunk to earth, and sprung from earth again.


415.

Suppose the world goes well with you, what then?
When life's last page is read and turned, what then?
    Suppose you live a hundred years of bliss,
Yea, and a hundred years besides, what then?


416.

How is it that of all the leafy tribe.
Cypress and lily men as " free " describe?
    This has a dozen tongues, yet holds her peace,
That has a hundred hands which take no bribe.


414.   L. N. B.   So Moschus on the mallows.

415.   C. L. N. A. I. J.   Ránda, see Vullers, p. 100.

416.   L. N.   Sa'di in the Gulistan, Book viii., gives another explanation of this expression.   "Tongues, stamens, and hands, branches."