Omar Khayyam (259) “Have some wine, since no one is given a long life”

Juan Cole 01/17/2013

The revolving sky,
which has never revealed any mysteries,
has brutally crushed a thousand innocents.
Have some wine, since no one is given a long life
and once people have left this world
they aren’t coming back.

Translated by Juan Cole
from Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, [pdf] Whinfield 259

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page