Sunday, November 25, 2012

Rubaiyats of Omar Khayyam

Into the universe,why not knowing,
Nor whence, like water willy-nilly flowing.
And out of it,like wind along the waste,
I know not whither,willy-nilly blowing.

What,without asking,hither hurried whence,
And without asking,whither hurried hence.
O many a cup of this forbidden wine,
Must drown the worry,of that insolence!

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 me  and thee,
There was,and then-no more of thee & me!

When you and i,behind the veil are past,
Oh!but a long long while,the world shall last,
Which of our coming and departure heeds,
As the sea's self should heed,a pebble cast!

I do not know the name of the person who has translated these beautiful verses full of philosophy & deep meaning-my thanks to both-the poet & the translator!

19 comments :

  1. I have read few of Omar Khayyam's rubaiyats, translated to Hindi, English. They never fail to charm. very nice translation indeed. Thanks for sharing

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  2. Ah !you are also an admirer of this poet?Your poem has already told me that you are a very good poet yourself !!!!!

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    1. Thanks Mam, you are too generous with your appreciation. That's the biggest complement for my ordinary skills!

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  3. This is most probably from the Fitzgerald translation, which is the most common translation of the rubaiyat. Apart from the famous "a jug of wine, a book of verse and thou beside me" image, this is also the work from where these lines come - "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." There are several translations and reworking of this work, including ones in Hindi by Mythili Sharan Gupta and Harivansh Rai Bacchan, and in Bengali by Shakti Chatterjee. Along with Hafiz and Firdousi, Omar Khayyam's work is deeply imbued with spirituality in spite of their apparently hedonistic subject.

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    1. Thank you Subho,you have told me so many new things about this poet.The moving finger...... one is truly great!

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  4. I am yet to read this poet ..
    but the little poem you have put is amazing .. and thanks to the person who translated ..

    Bikram's

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  5. Yes Bikramjit all four verses are really amazing--there are loads of his works on the internet.

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  6. This is Edward Fitzgerald's translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. I stumbled into a second-hand copy of this last Saturday and even wrote a post on it. When I opened the book, it automatically opened to the page which had these lines. :-)

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    1. Sudhagee welcome to jeeteraho.What a strange coincidence this is.All wise women think alike ?

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    2. Thanks for the info about the translation.

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    3. Here's another co-incidence. I read R's Mom's post about your post on secondhand books and have it open to read after Indu's post on Omar Khayyam, Sudhagee. This reminder about our insignificance in this vast universe, is beautifully expressed. Thanks for sharing, Indu.

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    4. KayEm thanks for visiting.Reality is sometimes stranger than fiction.

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  7. Hey Indu, This is the second post on Omar Khayyam I am reading this week. And both are lovely. Mailing you, with lots of news!!

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  8. Yes Zephyr Sudhagee told me-it is so strange, because it is not as if he has been in the news lately.

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  9. Rubayat is one the finest forms of urdu poetry and it is very difficult to translate.Thanks for sharing~

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Ghazala--your name itself is so lyrical!!!!

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  10. Thanks Indu ji
    for this post
    I have a copy of the rubayat and yes its a fabulous book .Love reading it again and again
    thanks and reagrds
    rajni


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  11. I am glad you liked it.I have only these four verses which i copied down in my diary aeons ago.
    Thanks a bunch!

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