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And David's lips are lockt; but in divine
High-piping Pehlevf, with "Wine! Wine!
Wine!

And those who husbanded the Golden Grain,
And those who flung it to the winds like Rain,
Alike to no such aureate Earth are turn'd

Red Wine!"-the Nightingale cries to the As, buried once, Men want dug up again.

Rose

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XXIV

Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend, Before we too into the Dust descend;

Dust into Dust, and under Dust to lie, Sans12 Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and-sans End!

XXV

Alike for those who for TO-DAY prepare,
And those that after some TO-MORROW stare,
A Muezzín13 from the Tower of Darkness
cries,

"Fools! your Reward is neither Here nor There.''

XXVI

Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd Of the Two Worlds so wisely-they are thrust Like foolish Prophets forth; their Words to Scorn

Are scatter'd, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust.

XXVII

Myself when young did eagerly frequent
Doctor and Saint, and heard great argument
About it and about: but evermore
Came out by the same door where in I went.

XXVIII

With them the seed of Wisdom did I sow, And with mine own hand wrought to make it grow;

And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd"I came like Water, and like Wind I go."'

XXIX

Into this Universe, and Why not knowing
Nor Whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing;
And out of it, as Wind along the Waste,
I know not Whither, willy-nilly, blowing.

XXX

What, without asking, hither hurried Whence?
And, without asking, Whither hurried hence!
Oh, many a Cup of this forbidden Wine
Must drown the memory of that insolence!

XXXI

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Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh And not a drop that from our Cups we throw

Gate

I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn14 sate, And many a Knot unravell'd by the Road; But not the Master-knot of Human Fate.

XXXII

There was the Door to which I found no Key;

12 without

13 A summoner to prayer.

14 "Lord of the Seventh Heaven."

For Earth to drink of, but may steal below To quench the fire of Anguish in some Eye There hidden-far beneath, and long ago.

XL

As then the Tulip for her morning sup
Of Heav'nly Vintage from the soil looks up,
Do you devoutly do the like, till Heav'n
To Earth invert you-like an empty Cup.

15 "Some dividual Existence or Personality dis tinct from the Whole."

XLI

Perplext no more with Human or Divine, To-morrow's tangle to the winds resign, And lose your fingers in the tresses of The Cypress-slender Minister of Wine.

XLII

And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press, End in what All begins and ends in-Yes;

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Think then you are TO-DAY what YESTERDAY | Running Quicksilver-like eludes your pains;

You were-To-MORROW you shall not be less.

XLIII

So when the Angel of the darker Drink
At last shall find you by the river-brink,

And, offering his Cup, invite your Soul Forth to your Lips to quaff-you shall not shrink.

XLIV

Why, if the Soul can fling the Dust aside,

And naked on the Air of Heaven ride,

Were 't not a Shame-were 't not a Shame for him

In this clay carcase crippled to abide?

XLV

Taking all shapes from Máh to Máhi; and They change and perish all-but He remains;

LII

A moment guess 'd-then back behind the Fold
Immerst of Darkness round the Drama roll'd
Which, for the Pastime of Eternity,
He doth Himself contrive, enact, behold.

LIII

But if in vain, down on the stubborn floor
Of Earth, and up to Heav'n's unopening Door,
You gaze To-DAY, while You are You-how
then

TO-MORROW, You when shall be You no more?

LIV

'Tis but a Tent where takes his one day's rest Waste not your Hour, nor in the vain pursuit A Sultán to the realm of Death addrest;

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Of This and That endeavour and dispute; Better be jocund with the fruitful Grape Than sadden after none, or bitter, Fruit.

LV

You know, my Friends, with what a brave Carouse

I made a Second Marriage in my house; Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed, And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse.

LVI

For "Is" and "IS-NOT" though with Rule and Line,

AndUP-AND-DOWN'' by Logic I define,

Of all that one should care to fathom, I Was never deep in anything but-Wine.

LVII

Ah, but my Computations, People say,
Reduced the Year to better reckoning-Nay,
'Twas only striking from the Calendar
Unborn To-morrow, and dead Yesterday.

LVIII

And lately, by the Tavern Door agape,
Came shining through the Dusk an Angel Shape

3 The letter a. often represented by a slight mark
like an apostrophe, the presence or absence of
which could change the meaning of a word.
4 from fish to moon

5 Omar assisted in reforming the calendar.

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