The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon

Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring
The Winter Garment of Repentance fling:
   The Bird of Time has but a little way
To fly–and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.


The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon
Turns Ashes–or it prospers; and anon,
   Like Snow upon the Desert’s dusty Face
Lighting a little Hour or two–is gone.

And those who husbanded the Golden Grain,
And those who flung it to the Winds like Rain,
   Alike to no such aureate Earth are turn’d
As, buried once, Men want dug up again.


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.

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.

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.”

–Omar Khayyam
–Translator: Edward Fitzgerald