Page:Quatrains of Omar Khayyam (tr. Whinfield, 1883).djvu/336

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Cupbearer! bring my wine-cup, let me grasp it! Bring that delicious darling, let me grasp it! That pleasing chain which tangles in its coils Wise men and fools together, let me grasp it I

Alas! my wasted life has gone to wrack! What with forbidden meats, and lusts, alack! And leaving undone what 'twas right to do, And doing wrong, my face is very black!

I could repent of all, but of wine, never! I could dispense with all, but with wine, never! If so be I became a Musulman, Could I abjure my Magian wine? no, never!