If you will listen to me, I will give you some advice:
[Here it is] For the love of God put not on the mantle
of hypocrisy. Eternity is for all time, and this world
is but an instant. Then sell not for an instant the empire
of eternity.
How long can I hold you by my ignorance? My own
annihilation oppresses my heart. Straightway I gird my
loins with the ephod of the priests. Do you know why?
Because it is the fashion of the Musulman, and I am one.
O Khayyam! when intoxicate, be happy; when seated
near a beauty, joyous be. Since the end of things in this
world is annihilation, pretend that you are not, but
since you are, give yourself up to pleasure.
Yesterday, I visited the workshop of a potter; there I
saw two thousand pitchers, some speaking, others silent.
Each one of these seemed to say to me: Where is the
potter? Where is the buyer of pitchers? Where the
seller?
Yesterday, while passing drunk before an inn, I met an
old man overcome with wine and carrying a gourd of
wine upon his back. I said to him: O aged man! have
you no fear of God? He answered me: Pity comes from
Him; go, drink some wine.