Page:The Luzumiyat of Abu'l-Ala.djvu/103



The purple, white, and gray garments, symbolizing Man's dreams of power, of love, and of bliss.

The same idea is expressed by Omar Khayyam. Here are the first three lines of the 122nd quatrain of Heron-Allen's literal translation:

"Howdaj," a sort of palanquin borne by camels; hence, a wedding or a triumphal procession.

"Thamud" and "'Ad," two of the primitive tribes which figure prominently in the legendary history of Arabia. They flouted and stoned the prophets that were sent to them, and are constantly held up in the Koran as terrible examples of the pride that goeth before destruction. "Hashem's fearless lad," Mohammed the Prophet.

I quote again from Omar, Fitzgerald's translation:

In justice to both the Persian and the Arab poet, however, I give the 43d quatrain of Heron-Allen's, which I think contains two lines of that of Fitzgerald, together with Abu'l-Ala's own poetic-fancy.