A

V.

VI.

"The thoughtful soul to solitude retires" is the

only interpolation.

Not in the Persian, nor in Whinfield.
Partly original; partly agreeing with

VII. Not found in the Persian, nor in Whinfield.

VIII.

Life fleets Why care we then be it sweet or bitter?
At Balkh or at Naishápúr that the soul shall flitter?

Drink wine! for when we are gone, the Moon shall ever
Continue to wax and wane, to pale and glitter!

IX. Seems compounded of two Persian stanzas, § 455 250

370 of the original may be rendered thus

See how the zephyr tears the scarf of the rose away;

The rose's beauty charms the bulbul's woes away!

Go, sit in the shade of the rose, for every rose

370

That springs from the earth, again to earth soon goes away!

X.

Is a verbal echo of the Persian stanza, but
quite different in sense.....

.416 235

The original is

So long as thy frame of flesh and of bone shall be,
Stir not one step outside Fate's hostelry; -

Bow to no foe thy neck, were 't Rustum's self,
Take from no friend a gift, though Hatim he!

XI. Compounded of three stanzas..

82 in the original is

In the Springtime, biding with one who is houri-fair,
And a flask of wine, if 't is to be had somewhere
On the tillage's grassy skirt Alack! though most
May think it a sin, I feel that my heaven is there!

82 413 234 448 247

(F.)

413 in the original —

(N.)

(W.)

A flask of red wine, and a volume of song, together;
Half a loaf,-just enough the ravage of Want to tether:
Such is my wish then, thou in the waste with me!
Oh! sweeter were this than a monarch's crown and feather!

(A parallel is also found in No. 146 of the Persian,
which runs thus-

He who doth here below but half a loaf possess,
Who for his own can claim some sheltering nook's recess,
He who to none is either lord or thrall

Go! tell him he enjoys the world's full happiness!)

XIII. Compounded of two stanzas, the first of which is not in the printed text....

The Persian of N. 92, may be rendered thus

I know not if He who kneaded my clay to man
Belong to the host of Heaven or the Hellish clan;-

A life mid the meadows, with Woman, and Music, and Wine,
Heaven's cash is to me;-let Heaven's credit thy fancy trepan!

XIV. Not found in the Persian of Nicolas

XV.

189

156 95

This is very beautiful in Fitzgerald. The exact
rendering of the Persian is

Darling, ere sorrow thy nightly couch enfold again,
Bid wine be brought, red sparkling as of old, again!

And thou, weak fool! think not that thou art gold:
When buried, none will dig thee up from the mould again!

XVI. Not found in the Persian or in Whinfield.
XVII.

This old inn call'd the world, that man shelters his head in,
(Pied curtains of Dawn and of Dusk o'er it spreading;)—
"T is the banqueting-hall many Jamshids have quitted,
The couch many Bahrams have found their last bed in!

(N.)

(W.) 69 35

(F.)

XVIII.

Here, where Bahrám oft brimmed his glorious chalice,
Deers breed and lions sleep in the ruined palace; —
Like the wild ass he lassoed, the great Hunter
Lies in the snare of Death's wild Huntsman callous!

The verdure that yon rivulet's bank arraying is,
"The down on an angel's lip," in homely saying, is
O tread not thereon disdainfully! - it springeth
From the dust of some tulip-cheek that there decaying is!

XXI.

Let not the morrow make thee, friend, down-hearted!
Draw profit of the day yet undeparted:

We'll join, when we to-morrow leave this mansion,
The band seven thousand years ago that started!

XXII. A very beautiful stanza which I do not find in the Persian.

XXIII.

.269 167

348 205

The wheel of Heaven thy death and mine is bringing, friend!
Over our lives a deadly spell 't is flinging, friend!

Come, sit upon this turf, for little time is left

Ere fresher turf shall from our dust be springing, friend!

XXIV. Complementary to the sense of XXIII, with an addition not in the Persian.

XXV.

337 198

Myriad minds a-busy sects and creeds to learn,
The Doubtful from the Sure all puzzled to discern:
Suddenly from the Dark the crier raised a cry-

"Not this, nor that, ye fools! the path that ye must turn!"

How delicately and skilfully Fitzgerald turns the Persian expression literally into a common English phrase, "neither here nor there," to which

(F.)

XXVI.

he lends new force and effect! Instead of "from
the dark, the Crier," Whinfield has "from
behind the veil a Voice," while Fitzgerald ex-
presses it in a fine paraphrase, "A Muezzin
from the tower of Darkness."

Evidently from a Persian source which I
cannot identify. It resembles N. 120, W.
82, which correspond to the following-

The learned, the cream of mankind, who have driven
Intellect's chariot over the heights of heaven --

Void and o'erturned, like that blue sky they trace,
Are dazed, when they to measure Thee have striven!

XXVII.

(N.) (W.)

225 143

Forth, like a hawk, from Mystery's world I fly,
Seeking escape to win from the Low to the High:
Arriving,- when none I find who the secret knows,
Out through the door I go that I entered by!

XXIX.

XXX.

Paraphrased from the original (not in
Nicolas) of....

There is a hint of it in N. 42 and in W. 12, which
corresponds to N. 22. This last may be ren-
dered -

This life is but three days' space, and it speeds apace,
Like wind that sweeps away o'er the desert's face:

So long as it lasts, two days ne'er trouble my mind,
-The day undawned, and the day that has run its race.

185

64

XXXI.

161

Neither in Nicolas

XXXII

203

XXXIII. A fine stanza; not in N. or in W.

XXXIV.

Not in N. or W.

XXXV.

Not in the Persian text of Nicolas.

149

长

(F.)

A similar thought is contained in N. 389, W. 223

(N.) (W.)

Sprung from the Four, and the Seven! I see that never The Four and the Seven respond to thy brain's endeavourDrink wine! for I tell thee, four times o'er and more, Return there is none! - Once gone, thou art gone for ever! (The four elements and the seven heavens from which man derives his essence.)

A very fine and sufficiently close rendering, but
the final "prepares it for another guest con-
tains an idea which confuses the relations be-
tween the body and the soul. This is closer

Thy body's a tent, where the Soul, like a King in quest
Of the goal of Nought, is a momentary guest;

He arises; Death's farrásh uproots the tent,
And the King moves on to another stage to rest.

S 137

90

319

190

XLVI.

XLVII. Not found in the original.

XLVIII. Ditto. Perhaps suggested by N. 80 and N.
214. The latter (214) may be rendered -

Up! smooth-faced boy, the daybreak shines for thee:
Brimm'd with red wine let the crystal goblet be!

For this hour is lent thee in the House of Dust:-
Another thou may'st seek, but ne'er shalt see!