Page:Quatrains of Omar Khayyam (tr. Whinfield, 1883).djvu/72

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16
THE QUATRAINS OF

21.

'Tis we who to wine's yoke our necks incline,
And risk our lives to gain the smiles of wine;
   The henchman grasps the flagon by its throat
And squeezes out the lifeblood of the wine.

22.

Here in this tavern haunt I make my lair,
Pawning for wine, heart, soul, and all I wear,
   Without a hope of bliss, or fear of bale,
Rapt above water, earth and fire and air.

23.

Quoth fish to duck, "'Twill be a sad affair,
If this brook leaves its channel dry and bare;"
   To whom the duck, " When I am dead and roasted
The brook may run with wine for aught I care."


21.   L. N.   Line 3 is in metre 19.


22.   Bl. C. L. N. A. B. I. J.   Note the diphthong in mái dissolved in scanning. Bl., Prosody 13.


23.   L.   Meaning Après nous le déluge.