Ref.: C. 431, L. 655, B. 647, B. ii. 510.—W. 425, V. 704.
The flowers are blooming, bring wine, O Saki,
Abandon the practices of the zealot, O Saki.
Ref.: C. 460, L. 684, B. 675, B. ii. 540.—V. 736.
The image of the flight of time permeates the whole of the quatrains. The precise image that FitzGerald uses in ll. 3 and 4 I find in the 24th distich of the Mantik ut-tair of Ferid ud din Attar.
The bird of the sky flutters along its appointed path.
VIII.*[28]
Whether at Naishapur or Babylon,
Whether the Cup with sweet or bitter run,
The Wine of Life keeps oozing drop by drop,
The Leaves of Life keep falling one by one.
This quatrain is taken mainly from O. 47 (C. 123). It does not occur in the first edition, and FitzGerald was evidently «reminded of it» by Nicolas, in whose reading of the text, alone, the town of Naishapur is mentioned instead of Balkh. Balkh and Babylon are constantly interchanged in Persian belles lettres.
Since life passes; what is Baghdad and what is Balkh?
When the cup is full, what matter if it be sweet or bitter?[29]
Drink wine, for often, after thee and me, this moon
Will pass on from the last day of the month to the first, and from the first to the last.