Zoroastrian Heritage


(From the translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam by Edward Fitzgerald. Illustrations by René Bull.)


Omar Khayyam: Bird of Time. Art: Rene Bull

Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring
The Winter Garment of Repentance fling:
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To fly---and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.

And look---a thousand blossoms with the Day
Woke---and a thousand scatter'd into Clay:
And this first Summer Month that brings the Rose
Shall take Jamshid and Kaikobad away.


Omar Khayyam: Bird of Time. Art: Rene Bull

Alas, that spring should vanish with the rose!
That Youth's sweet-scented Manuscript should close!
The nightingale that in the Branches sang,
Ah, whence, and whither flown again, who knows!

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.


BBC documentary on Omar Khayyam at YouTube:
Part 1;   Part 2;   Part 3;   Part 4;   Part 5.