Page:Quatrains of Omar Khayyam (tr. Whinfield, 1883).djvu/348

292

O wheel of heaven, you thwart my heart's desire, And rend to shreds my scanty joy's attire, The water that I drink you foul with earth, And turn the very air I breathe to fire!

O soul! could you but doff this flesh and bone, You'd soar a sprite about the heavenly throne; Had you no shame to leave your starry home, And dwell an alien on this earthy zone?

Ah, potter, stay thine hand! with ruthless art Put not to such base use man's mortal part! See, thou art mangling on thy cruel wheel Farídun's fingers, and Kai Khosrau's heart!