Page:Quatrains of Omar Khayyam (tr. Whinfield, 1883).djvu/366

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Why unripe grapes are sharp, prithee explain, And then grow sweet, while wine is sharp again? When one has carved a block into a lute, Can he from that same block a pipe obtain?

When dawn doth silver the dark firmament, Why shrills the bird of dawning his lament? It is to show in dawn's bright looking-glass How of thy careless life a night is spent.

Cupbearer, come! from thy full-throated ewer Pour blood-red wine, the world's despite to cure! Where can I find another friend like wine, So genuine, so solacing, so pure?