Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: “Who brought you, tipsy, here to me?”

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: Quatrain of the Day

Tonight, who brought you, tipsy, here to me?
Who brought you to my hand without a veil?
–to one on fire because you had been gone–
one like an arid wind; who brought you here?

trans. Juan Cole, (Whinfield 2)

امشب بر ما مست که آورد ترا
وز پرده بدین دست که آورد ترا
نزدیک کسی که بیتو در آتش بود
چون باد همی جست که آورد ترا

For the earliest collection of verse attributed to Omar Khayyam see my just-published The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: A New Translation from the Persian

(NB: the poem above isn’t in this collection– there are lots of such anthologies, and Whinfield favored the late Indian manuscripts.)

Here is what novelist Michael Chabon said about my new book:

“’To read Juan Cole’s deft, plain-spoken translation of the Rubáiyát is to find companionship, to rejoin a thousand-year human conversation about how to endure, enjoy, and find a fleeting beauty in everlastingly dire times. The lucid, cogent and mind-opening Epilogue is a kind of grace, a gift freely given, from one of our most astonishing and generous intellects.’”

― Michael Chabon, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of Moonglow (2017)

Order from

Bloomsbury (IB Tauris)

or Nicola’s Books in Ann Arbor, who will ship it to you

or Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor, who will ship it to you

or Amazon

or Barnes and Noble, who will ship or do curbside delivery.

It is, of course, available wherever fine books are sold and many local bookstores ship books or have curbside service during the quarantine.

Here is what Iranian-American novelist Porochista Khakpour is saying:

“’Omar Khayyam is a Persian treasure and Juan Cole’s new translation brings him anew to Western audiences who for centuries have been both delighted and educated by this medieval sage! Reading The Rubáiyát is a thrill – you feel the echoes of the 12th century seamlessly into our 21st, as this is a holy book of wisdom and magic. In another perilous era for Iranians, it’s wonderful to see this enchanting volume make its way through the world yet again!’” ―Porochista Khakpour, novelist, essayist and author of Brown Album (2020)

Many thanks to her for the kind words!