Omar Khayyam Poems
A collection of select Omar Khayyam famous poems that were written by Omar Khayyam or written about the poet by other famous poets. PoetrySoup is a comprehensive educational resource of the greatest poems and poets on history.
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by
Omar Khayyam
He who has had the intelligence to sow joy in his
heart has not lost a single day in sorrow; he has employed
his faculties in seeking the will of God, or has procured
repose for his soul by taking a cup of wine....Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
One host of men is pondering upon belief, or on the
faith; others are hovering between doubt and certainty.
But suddenly behind the veil there's one will cry: O
ignorant ones! the way that you seek is neither here
nor there!...Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
By reason's dictates it is right to live,
But of ourselves we know not how to live,
So Fortune, like a master, rod in hand,
Raps our pates well to teach us how to live!...Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
If you have sense, true senselessness attain,
And the Etern Cupbearer's goblet drain,
If not, true senselessness is not for you,
Not every fool true senselessness can gain!...Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
With going to and fro in this sad vale
Thou art grown double, and thy credit stale,
Thy nails are thickened like a horse's hoof,
Thy beard is ragged as an ass's tail....Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
To prayer and fasting when my heart inclined,
All my desire I surely hoped to find;
Alas! my purity is stained with wine,
My prayers are wasted like a breath of wind....Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
Who framed the lots of quick and dead but Thou?
Who turns the troublous wheel of heaven but Thou?
Though we are sinful slaves, is it for Thee
To blame us? Who created us but Thou?...Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
Many have come, and run their eager race,
Striving for pleasures, luxuries, or place,
And quaffed their wine, and now all silent lie,
Enfolded in their parent earth's embrace....Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
Thou hast broken my pitcher of wine, my God! Thou
hast shut upon me the portals of joy, my God! Thou
hast poured upon earth my limpid wine, my God! Oh!
[would that my mouth were filled with earth!] couldst
Thou have been drunk, my God?
376...Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
'Tis well to drink, and leave anxiety
For what is past, and what is yet to be;
Our prisoned spirits, lent us for a day,
A while from season's bondage shall go free!...Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
Pierced with a vain hope, I have thrown to the wind
a part of my existence, and that without having known
here below a day of happiness. That which I fear now
is that time will prevent me from seizing the opportunity
to make amends for the past....Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
Was e'er man born who never went astray?
Did ever mortal pass a sinless day?
If I do ill, do not requite with ill!
Evil for evil how can'st Thou repay?...Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
Like unto a sparrow-hawk, I am flying away from this
world of mysteries, hoping to lift myself to a higher
world; but, fallen, here below, and finding no one worthy
to share my secret thoughts, I go out through the door
by which I entered....Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
Chief of old friends! hearken to what I say,
Let not heaven's treacherous wheel your heart dismay;
But rest contented in your humble nook,
And watch the games that wheel is wont to play....Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
Ask not the chances of the time to be,
And for the past, 'tis vanished, as you see;
This ready-money breath set down as gain,
Future and past concern not you or me....Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
We have violated all the vows that we have made; we
have closed upon us the door of what is called good and
what is called bad. Then blame me not if you see me
committing senseless deeds, for we are drunk with the
wine of love, and all are drunk as we....Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
«For once, while roses are in bloom,» I said,
«I'll break the law, and please myself instead,
With blooming youths, and maidens' tulip cheeks
The plain shall blossom like a tulip-bed.»...Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
Thy passion, man, resembles in all things a house dog
which never leaves his kennel. It has the slyness of the
fox, it lies low like a hare, and to the rage of the tiger
adds the voracity of a wolf....Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
I am constantly attracted by the sight of limpid wine,
my ears are ever attentive to the melodious sounds of
the flute and of the rubab [viol]. Oh, if the potter make
a pitcher of my dust, would that that pitcher might constantly
be full of wine!...Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
Since at this moment there only remains to you the
memory of pleasure passed away; since for a perfect friend
you have only a cup of wine; finally, since that is all you
own, rejoice at least in this possession and let the cup
not slip from your hands....Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
Though I drink wine, I am no libertine,
Nor am I grasping, save of cups of wine;
I scruple to adore myself, like you;
For this cause to wine-worship I incline....Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
A potter at his work I chanced to see,
Pounding some earth and shreds of pottery;
I looked with eyes of insight, and methought
'Twas Adam's dust with which he made so free!...Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
O limpid wine, wine full of sheen! Fool that I am, I'd
drink thee in such quantity, that all perceiving me from
far would my identity confound with thine, and say to
me: O master wine! tell me, whence do you come?...Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
O Thou who givest sight to emmet's eyes,
And strength to puny limbs of feeble flies,
To Thee we will ascribe Almighty power,
And not base, unbecoming qualities....Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
Me, cruel Queen! you love to captivate,
And from a knight to a poor pawn translate,
You marshal all your force to tire me out,
You take my rooks with yours, and then checkmate!...Read more of this...