"Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate; And many a Knot unravel'd by the Road; But not the Master-knot of Human Fate."

"There was a Door to which I found no Key: There was a Veil past which I could not see: Some little Talk awhile of and There seemed — and then no more of and ."

"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 and There was — and then no more of and ."

"Then of the works behind The Veil, I lifted up my hands to find A Lamp amid the Darkness; and I heard, As from Without — "!""

"Then to the lip of this poor earthen Urn I lean'd, the Secret of my Life to learn: And Lip to Lip it murmur'd — "While you live Drink! — for, once dead, you never shall return.""

"For in the Market-place, one Dusk of Day, I watch'd the Potter thumping his wet Clay: And with its all obliterated Tongue It murmur'd—"Gently, Brother, gently, pray!""

"Ah, fill the Cup: — what boots it to repeat How Time is slipping underneath our Feet: Unborn and dead , Why fret about them if be sweet!"

"One Moment in Annihilation's Waste, One moment, of the Well of Life to taste — The Stars are setting, and the Caravan Starts for the dawn of Nothing — Oh, make haste!"

"For "" and "" though with Rule and Line, And, "Up-and-down" without, I could define, I yet in all I only cared to know, Was never deep in anything but — Wine."

"Perplext no more with Human or Divine, To-morrow's tangle to the winds resign, And lose your fingers in the tresses of The Cypress — slender Minister of Wine."

"And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press End in what All begins and ends in — Yes; Think then you are To-day what Yesterday You were — To-morrow You shall not be less."

"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."

"Well, let it take them! What have we to do With Kaikobad the Great, or Kaikhosru? Let Zal and Rustum bluster as they will, Or Hatim call to Supper — heed not you."

"Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd Of the Two Worlds so wisely — they are thrust."

"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."

"With me along the strip of Herbage strown That just divides the desert from the sown, Where name of Slave and Sultan is forgot — And Peace to Mahmud on his golden Throne!"

"Irám indeed is gone with all its Rose, And Jamshýd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows; But still the Vine her ancient Ruby yields, And still a Garden by the Water blows."

"Of threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise! One thing at least is certain — This Life flies."

"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."

"With me along some Strip of Herbage strown That just divides the desert from the sown, Where name of Slave and Sultán scarce is known, And pity Sultán Mahmúd on his Throne."

"Alike for those who for prepare, And those that after some stare, A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries "Fools! your Reward is neither Here nor There.""

"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!"

"Each Morn a thousand Roses brings, you say; Yes, but where leaves the Rose of Yesterday?"

"Now the New Year reviving old Desires, The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires, Where the on the Bough Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires."

"Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight: And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light."

"Ah, but my Computations, People say, Reduced the Year to better reckoning? — Nay 'Twas only striking from the Calendar Unborn To-morrow, and dead Yesterday."

"You know, my Friends, with what a brave Carouse I made a Second Marriage in my house; Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse."

"And lately, by the Tavern Door agape, Came shining through the Dusk an Angel Shape Bearing a Vessel on his Shoulder; and He bid me taste of it; and 'twas — the Grape!"

"The mighty Mahmud, Allah-breathing Lord That all the misbelieving and black Horde Of Fears and Sorrows that infest the Soul Scatters before him with his whirlwind Sword."

"Why, be this Juice the growth of God, who dare Blaspheme the twisted tendril as a Snare? A Blessing, we should use it, should we not? And if a Curse — why, then, Who set it there?"

"I must abjure the Balm of Life, I must, Scared by some After-reckoning ta'en on trust, Or lured with Hope of some Diviner Drink, To fill the Cup — when crumbled into Dust!"

"Oh, threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise! One thing at least is certain — This Life flies; One thing is certain and the rest is Lies; The Flower that once has blown for ever dies."

"Strange, is it not? that of the myriads who Before us pass'd the door of Darkness through, Not one returns to tell us of the Road, Which to discover we must travel too."

"The Revelations of Devout and Learn'd Who rose before us, and as Prophets burn'd, Are all but Stories, which, awoke from Sleep, They told their comrades, and to Sleep return'd."

"I sent my Soul through the Invisible, Some letter of that After-life to spell: And by and by my Soul return'd to me, And answer'd "I Myself am Heav'n and Hell.""

"Heav'n but the Vision of fulfill'd Desire, And Hell the Shadow from a Soul on fire, Cast on the Darkness into which Ourselves, So late emerged from, shall so soon expire."

"We are no other than a moving row Of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go Round with the Sun-illumined Lantern held In Midnight by the Master of the Show;"

"The Ball no Question makes of Ayes and Noes, But Right or Left as strikes the Player goes; And He that toss'd Thee down into the Field, He knows about it all — knows — HE knows!"

"But Here or There as strikes the Player goes."

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

"And that inverted Bowl we call The Sky, Whereunder crawling coop't we live and die, Lift not thy hands to It for help — for It Rolls impotently on as Thou or I."

"And that inverted Bowl they call the Sky."

"As impotently moves as you or I."

"And this I know: whether the one True Light, Kindle to Love, or Wrath consume me quite, One Glimpse of It within the Tavern caught Better than in the Temple lost outright."

"One Flash of It within the Tavern caught."

"Oh Thou who didst with Pitfall and with Gin Beset the Road I was to wander in, Thou wilt not with Predestination round Enmesh me, and impute my Fall to Sin?"

"Thou wilt not with Predestined Evil round Enmesh, and then impute my Fall to Sin!"

"With Earth's first Clay They did the Last Man knead, And there of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed: And the first Morning of Creation wrote What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read."

"For some we loved, the loveliest and the best That from his Vintage rolling Time hath prest."