A verse a day: 'The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam'.

[Guest]

[carter]

20

Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears
TO-DAY of past Regrets and future Fears -
  To-morrow? - Why, To-morrow I may be
Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n Thousand Years.

[Will]

fill the Cup that clears
TO-DAY of past Regrets and future Fears

Fill the cup???  Hell, just stick it in my vein.   

Tomorrow and yesterday...hmmm, a bit puzzled by that one.  Perhaps noting a consistency in life?  Perhaps dreading it, hence the cup runneth over?   

[carter]

Tomorrow and yesterday...hmmm, a bit puzzled by that one.  Perhaps noting a consistency in life?  Perhaps dreading it, hence the cup runneth over?

Tricky bit, this, due to the structure of the couplet. My reading is that the narrator cares not for tomorrow, for tomorrow he himself may be as one with yesterday's seven thousand years - in other words dead. So this is a restatement of Editor's favourite "carpe diem".

Carter.

[carter]

21

Lo! some we loved, the lovliest and best
That Time and Fate of all their Vintage prest,
  Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before,
And one by one crept silently to Rest.

[Will]

Remembering loved ones I assume.  crept silently to rest-I also assume this refers to death, but why silently?  I know very few silent people.   

[carter]

Remembering loved ones I assume.  crept silently to rest-I also assume this refers to death, but why silently?  I know very few silent people.   

Maybe not just loved ones, but those we admire, those that have inspired us also? The great figures from our or any age. I suppose you could take this as an aspect of the Latin phrase 'corruptio optimi pessima' ('the corruption of the best is the worst'): we may mourn the passing of those we admire/love, but they pass just like anyone else: and so, by extension, will we.

Carter.

[carter]

22

And we, that now make merry in the Room
They left, and Summer dresses in new Bloom,
  Ourselves must we beneath the Couch of Earth
Descend, ourselves to make a Couch - for whom?

[carter]

23

Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend,
Before we too into the Dust descend;
  Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie,
Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and - sans End!

[carter]

I puzzled about sans in the last line of verse 23, then someone told me about sans in French meaning 'without', which makes sense. Wonder if the use of French words like that was more common in Victorian times?

Carter.

[carter]

24

Alike for those who for TO-DAY prepare,
And those that after a TO-MORROW stare,
  A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries
'Fools! your Reward is neither Here nor There!'

[carter]

A Muezzin is the guy that issues the call to prayer at a Mosque, of old from the top of a minaret - though now they mostly use loudspeakers! Better in the old days.

Carter.

[Will]

Couch of Earth?

Sans is one thing I recognized right a way.  Thank you semester of French.  Without wine, song and dance...but without end?  Death is immortal? 

[carter]

Couch of Earth?

Sans is one thing I recognized right a way.  Thank you semester of French.  Without wine, song and dance...but without end?  Death is immortal?

I should have taken more notice in my classes! "Sans end" here means, maybe, not that death is immortal but that it's endless. Once we're gone it's forever; there's no coming back.

As for "couch of earth"... well... suppose a couch is a place where we rest, where we reside, and the ground we walk on (the earth) fulfils the same function. The only difference is that once we die we go back to dust, and so make up part of the "couch" on which those after us live their lives. I think.

Carter.

[carter]

25

Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd
Of the Two Worlds so learnedly, are thrust
  Like foolish Prophets forth; their words to Scorn
Are scatter'd, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust.

[Will]

Two worlds-life and afterlife? 

It seems like every quatrain is basically saying, "We're alive, we're going to be dead, so lets pleasure ourselves and each other without limits."  My kind of message.   

[carter]

Two worlds-life and afterlife? 

It seems like every quatrain is basically saying, "We're alive, we're going to be dead, so lets pleasure ourselves and each other without limits."  My kind of message.   

That's what I thought about two worlds too.

I think you're right about living for today, though maybe it's not just about pleasure. Verse 24 warns of preparing for today, and verse 25 scorns those that debate existence instead of simply existing: perhaps the Rubaiyat is about living life as it comes, not through plans and designs?

Carter.

[carter]

26

Oh, come with old Khayyam, and leave the Wise
To talk; one thing is certain, that Life flies;
  One thing is certain, and the Rest is Lies;
The Flower that once has blown for ever dies.

[Will]

I sense that when the author refers to the Wise, he/she's being facetious. 

[carter]

I sense that when the author refers to the Wise, he/she's being facetious. 

Think you're right. We all know people that go about telling everyone how wise/intelligent they are. windbags, all of em!

Carter.

[carter]

27

Myself when young did eagerly frequent
Doctor and Saint, and heard great Argument
 About it and About; but evermore
Came out by the same Door as in I went.

[carter]

28

With them the Seed of Wisdom did I sow,
And with my own hand labour'd it to grow:
  And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd -
'I came like Water and like Wind I go.'

[Will]

28

With them the Seed of Wisdom did I sow,
And with my own hand labour'd it to grow:
  And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd -
'I came like Water and like Wind I go.'

This is my favorite verse so far.  It reads beautifully. 

[carter]

It does, doesn't it?

'I came like Water and like wind I go.'... Seems to sum up my life right now.

Carter.

[carter]

29

Into this Universe, and why not knowing,
Nor whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing:
  And out of it, as Wind along the Waste,
I know not whither, willy-nilly blowing.

[Will]

Sorry I've been away for a few days.  The holidays are hectic and I spent it with a stomach virus I contracted from my nephew.  Anyway, I wonder how willy-nilly looks translated back into the original language.  Seems odd to me.  I see this verse seems to expand on the last line of the previous verse.