Ruba'iyat

I wonder at you, I wonder at you Time,
Magician who often put a sob into my voice.
How can I find a path of my own choice
When coming into life was not my choice?

Forced on me day, imposed O night
It was not by choice I came to light .
By someone borne into this life I came,
And when I leave some day, 'twill the same.

Though all are shaped of the same clay,
Born with eyes closed to light of day,
How come as the years follow one another
They grew to be so good the one, so evil the other?

The nipple glowed, and like a panther sprang erect.
My heart jumped with it away was swept.
O you who order girls their virtue to save,
Can you also teach nature how to behave?

I am the god of love and ecstasy.
I aimed at the dream of love the arrow of fantasy.
But the dream of love was so delicious,
That I shot all the arrows into me!

A thousand years old I am, yet so young
Alone, yet in my heart lives a throngx
Afraid and knowing it's myself I fear
Mute but with a heart full for who would hear.

I saw a newborn babe on his mother's arm,
he cried, she soothed and tried to calm.
He wailed, she said," Son, do utter some words
He who speaks not, will come to harm...

I love to live be it in a jungle deep
Naked to wake, and naked go to sleep.
To live as beast, bird, man or even ant.
Life is so lovely even as a plant!

Close your eyes and dance... Keep your step light
Your partner is life herself, you are her night.
She'll love you as long as you step proud and tall
If once you look down at your feet... You'll fall!

When man came into being I gasped in awe.
When he went back to nothing, I gasped at what I saw.
Life goes to dust, and dust becomes alive.
Is death, I wonder, or is life the primal law?

Life is a giant waiting room in which to bide,
Where men and asses wait, sitting side by side,
Their pains and fears are one, their boredom shared,
But no donkey tries to commit suicide.

When in the dark and light a distant thread,
I stand like stone afraid my arms would spread.
Ten roads appear when comes the light of day
And I'm more lost, for am I to tread?

I often met friends and missed the chance,
I often left the cup untouched and did not join the dance,
Should I regret the chances I let go,
Or rue the ones on which I fixed my glance?

Noah is gone, yet land's still out of reach
Our ark is still adrift and finds no beach
The flood is near, and far is the quiet bay,
Reach it we can't while evil rules the day...

I was first something, then something else became...
Strange are God's ways who Alone can take and give...
The trees shool their leaves and whispered my name.
"Something must die for something else to live".

Midgets on a worthless planet fit to ban,
What do you think you are in the cosmic plan?
A grain of sand, you fools! But then again,
The entire cosmos is in the mind of man!

Pure marble covers mighty mortal clay,
While in a nameless hole the homeless lay,
How strange, said I as I passed by one day,
In both I smell an odour of decay...

O you who are seeking a deity to adore
Like a drowning man reaching for the shore.
God is beauty, wisdom, mercy and love.
Be like Him and will reach His door!

Son, in this my last will I recommend flowers and moonlight.
Also enjoyment of Cairo's lovely enchanted night.
If I come to mind, go buy a jasmine chain
For a lovely lass. Never visit my grave. This I ordain