Culture

Prudes don’t know Your grace the way we do, and strangers cannot know You as Your close friends do. You said, “If you commit a sin I will consign you to hell!” Yeah, sure- tell it to someone who doesn’t know the real You! Translated by Juan Cole from Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, [pdf] Whinfield 204

Omar Khayyam

Omar Khayyam (205) “when the waitress pours the Shiraz wine”

Juan Cole

When you next hold a party, my dear friends, rejoicing in how stylish you all are; and when the waitress pours the Shiraz wine, remember poor me in your evening prayers! Translated by Juan Cole from Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, [pdf] Whinfield 205

Omar Khayyam

Omar Khayyam (307) “clerics drink the people’s blood”

Juan Cole

I am busier than you are, cleric of the faith! And, despite my drunkenness, I’m soberer than you. I drink the blood of the vine, while you drink that of people. Be fair, which one of us is more bloodthirsty? Translated by Juan Cole from Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, [pdf] Whinfield 307

Omar Khayyam

Omar Khayyam (233) “The sun has lassoed rooftops with its rays”

Juan Cole

The sun has lassoed rooftops with its rays, and the king has splashed the light of day into my glass. Have some wine, for passionate love called out at dawn, saying ‘drink up’ every single day. Translated by Juan Cole from Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, [pdf] Whinfield 233

Omar Khayyam

Omar Khayyam (172) “A passion for heavenly goddesses”

Juan Cole

I hope my mind will always be consumed by a passion for heavenly goddesses, and that my hand will always cradle the juice of the grape. They tell me they hope that God will lead me to repent! But if he did that, and I didn’t respond, I’d be farther away than ever. Translated by Juan Cole […]

art and photography

Hitchhiking Camels, Libya (Photo)

Juan Cole

Photograph on road from Tripoli to Misrata, Libya, May, 2012, by Juan Cole

art and photography

Dear Mr. Romney: Palestinians are Poor Because You Stole from them and Kept them Stateless

Juan Cole

Mitt Romney, a privileged white man worth a quarter of a billion dollars who has sheltered his money from taxes in Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Switzerland, and who never misses a square meal, stooped to a new obscene low in blaming the victim on Monday by slamming the Palestinians for not being richer. Palestinian […]

art and photography

Looking out from the Misrata War Memorial Museum, Libya (Photo)

Juan Cole

Photograph by Juan Cole, late May 2012. View from the Misrata War Memorial Museum, looking across the street. The Misrata revolutionaries raided Qaddafi’s compound in Tripoli and confiscated the famous sculpture of a fist grasping a US fighter jet, erected after President Ronald Reagan bombed Tripoli and Benghazi in 1986. The Qaddafi memorial falsely claimed […]

art and photography

“Now the King loved science and geometry…” (Chagall Lithograph from Arabian Nights)

Juan Cole

Marc Chagall, “Now the King loved science and geometry…” Color lithograph 14 1/2 x 11 inches 1948 “Four Tales from the Arabian Nights,” Plate 10. Marc Chagall (1887-1985) was a Russian-French modern artist of Jewish heritage. He synthesized movements such as Expressionism, Cubism and Fauvism. Unlike many European Jewish modernist artists, he explored explicitly Jewish […]