Monday, August 13, 2007

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam...



Rubaiyat , written by Omar Khayyam , is one of the masterpieces of Persian poetry and has been translated into several languages. Omar Khayyam lived from approximately 1048 to 1131 AD. Khayyam means tentmaker and Omar was famous in his lifetime as an astronomer and mathematician. He lived under Turkish rule but his language and culture were Persian. [1]Rubaiyat" (derived from the Arabic root word for 4) means "Quatrains": verses of four lines. One of the most famous translations of the Rubaiyat from Farsi into English was undertaken in 1859 by Edward J. Fitzgerald". I am putting together few of my favorite rubai's in their literal / Fitzgerald versions ..... [2]

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(Literal )

I resolve daily that at dusk I shall repent
For a night with a cup full of wine spent.
In the presence of flowers, my resolve simply went
In such company, I only regret that I ever resolved to repent.

*
(Literal)

The secrets eternal neither you know nor I
And answers to the riddle neither you know nor I
Behind the veil there is much talk about us, why
When the veil falls, neither you remain nor I.

*
(Literal)

Some in deep thought spirit seek
Some lost in awe, of doubt reek
I fear the voice, hidden but not weak
Cry out "awake! Both ways are oblique.

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( Fitzgerald's Translation)

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.

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( Literal)

The grass that grows by every stream
Like angelic smiles faintly gleam
Step gently, cause it not to scream
For it has grown from a lover’s dream.

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( Fitzgerald's Translation)

And strange to tell, among that Earthen Lot
Some could articulate, while others not:
And suddenly one more impatient cried--
"Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?"

*

References :
[2] I have taken these lines from Rubaiyat from http://www.okonlife.com/poems/index.htm - a wonderful collection of rubaiyat that are almost universally believed to be authentic: in Persian, accompanied by several translations into English as well as German.
[3]Read more about Omar Khayyam at : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Khayyam
[5] Another good source for Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam is : http://www.omar-khayyam.org/

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