Ourselves must we beneath the Couch of Earthĭescend, ourselves to make a Couch - for whom?Īh, make the most of what we may yet spend, They left, and Summer dresses in new Bloom, Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before, That Time and Fate of all their Vintage prest, Lo! some we loved, the loveliest and best Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n Thousand Years. To-day of past Regrets and future Fears. The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled ĭropt in its Lap from some once lovely Head.Īnd this delightful Herb whose tender Greenįledges the River's Lip on which we lean -įrom what once lovely Lip it springs unseen! I sometimes think that never blows so red Stamps o'er his Head, but cannot break his Sleep. The Courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep:Īnd Bahram, that great Hunter - the Wild Ass Whose Doorways are alternate Night and Day, Lighting a little Hour or two - is gone.Īnd those who husbanded the Golden Grain,Īnd those who flung it to the Winds like Rain,Īlike to no such aureate Earth are turn'd The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon Tear, and its Treasure on the Garden throw." Laughing," she says, "into the World I blow:
Look to the Rose that blows about us - "Lo, What? for ourselves, who know not if we shallīreathe out the very Breath we now breathe in! Some for the Glories of This World and someĪh, take the Cash, and let the Promise go, Where name of Slave and Sultan is forgot -Īnd Peace is Mahmud on his Golden Throne!Ī Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread, - and Thou That just divides the desert from the sown, With me along the strip of Herbage strown Yes, but where leaves the Rose of Yesterday?Īnd this first Summer month that brings the Roseīut come with old Khayyam, and leave the Lot Morning a thousand Roses brings, you say The Leaves of Life kep falling one by one. The Wine of Life keeps oozing drop by drop, Whether the Cup with sweet or bitter run, To fly - and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing. That yellow Cheek of hers to incarnadine.Ĭome, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring Red Wine!" - the Nightingale cries to the Rose High piping Pehlevi, with "Wine! Wine! Wine! Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires.Īnd Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one Knows īut still the Vine her ancient ruby yields,Īnd David's Lips are lock't but in divine Where the White Hand of Moses on the Bough You know how little while we have to stay, The Tavern shouted - "Open then the Door! There was the Door to which I found no key There was the Veil through which I might not see: Some little talk awhile of ME and THEE There was-and then no more of THEE and ME.ĭoctor and Saint, and heard great Argumentĭreaming when Dawn's Left Hand was in the SkyĪnd, as the Cock crew, those who stood before Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight:Īnd Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught Poems And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before The Tavern shouted-"Open then the Door! You know how little while we have to stay, And, once departed, may return no more." Versions of the forms and verses used in the Rubaiyat existed in Persian literature before Khayyam, and only about 120 of the verses can be attributed to him with certainty. Khayyam's fame as a poet has caused some to forget his scientific achievements which were much more substantial. Outside the world of mathematics, Khayyam is best known as a result of Edward Fitzgerald's popular translation in 1859 of nearly 600 short four line poems the Rubaiyat. For comparison the length of the year at the end of the 19th century was 365.242196 days, while today it is 365.242190 days. Khayyam measured the length of the year as 365.24219858156 days, we know now that the length of the year is changing in the sixth decimal place over a person's lifetime. During this time Khayyam led work on compiling astronomical tables and he also contributed to calendar reform in 1079. It was a period of peace during which the political situation allowed Khayyam the opportunity to devote himself entirely to his scholarly work. Other leading astronomers were also invited to work at the observatory and for 18 years Khayyam led the scientists and produced work of outstanding quality. His vizier Nizam-ul-Mulk invited Khayyam to Isfahan, to set up an observatory.
Malik Shah the grandson of Toghril Beg, the founder of the Seljuk dynasty ruled the city of Isfahan from 1073 AD. There Khayyam was supported by Abu Tahir, a prominent jurist of Samarkand, and this allowed him to write his most famous algebra work, Treatise on Demonstration of Problems of Algebra.
In 1070 he moved to Samarkand in Uzbekistan which is one of the oldest cities of Central Asia. He was an outstanding mathematician and astronomer and, wrote several works including Problems of Arithmetic, a book on music and one on algebra before he was 25 years old.