Page:The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East, Volume 08.djvu/67



Can alien Pharisees Thy kindness tell,

Like us, Thy intimates, who nigh Thee dwell?

Thou say'st, "All sinners will I burn with fire."

Say that to strangers-we know Thee too well.

O comrades dear, when hither ye repair

In times to come, communion sweet to share,

While the cupbearer pours your old Magh wine,

Call poor Khayyam to mind, and breathe a prayer.

For me heaven's sphere no music ever made,

Nor yet with soothing voice my fears allayed;

If e'er I found brief respite from my woes,

Back to woe's thrall I was at once betrayed.

Sooner with half a loaf contented be,

And water from a broken crock, like me,

Than lord it over one poor fellow man,

Or to another bow the vassal knee.

While Moon and Venus in the sky shall dwell,

None shall see aught red grape-juice to excel:

O foolish publicans, what can you buy

One half so precious as the goods you sell?

They who by genius, and by power of brain,

The rank of man's enlighteners attain,

Not even they emerge from this dark night,

But tell their dreams, and fall asleep again.