[Poetry Chaikhana] Omar Khayyam - [11] Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,

October 10, 2008

A familiar quatrain by permission from Ivan from a great Sufi poet.Read his commentary at the foot of the page- most apposite,--- On Fri, 10/10/08, Poetry Chaikhana <ivan wrote:

Poetry Chaikhana <ivan[Poetry Chaikhana] Omar Khayyam - [11] Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,alanadamsjacobsDate: Friday, 10 October, 2008, 4:39 PM

Here's your Daily Poem from the Poetry Chaikhana --

[11] Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,

By Omar Khayyam(11th Century)

English version by Edward FitzGerald

Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse -- and Thou Beside me singing in the Wilderness --And Wilderness is Paradise enow.

-- from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, by Omar Khayyam / Translated by Edward FitzGerald

Amazon.com / Photo by kochtopf /

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Thought for the Day:

Meditation is not what you do,it is what you are.

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Vishwa Mohan Bhatt

Indian Delta

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Hi Alan -Omar Khayyam was best known in his time as a mathematician and astronomer. His theorems are still studied by mathematicians today. His poetry really only became widely read when Edward FitzGerald collected several quatrains (rubaiyat) that were attributed to Khayyam and translated them into English as the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.The common view in the West of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam is that it is a collection of sensual love poems. Although some scholars debate this question, many people assert that Omar Khayyam was a Sufi, as well as a poet and mathematician, and that his Rubaiyat can only be truly understood using the language of mystical metaphor.---When thinking about images of food in sacred poetry, I couldn't help but hear this classic verse from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. That alternate translation still hovers in the air: "A loaf of bread,

a jug of wine, and Thou..."These lines can be read on so many different levels. At first glance, Khayyam seems to be giving us a picture of a garden dalliance -- bread, wine, love poetry, and an enticing, unnamed "Thou." A lovers' tryst in the wilderness.But, of course, in the Sufi tradition, these seemingly earthy images are transformed into the most sublime of meanings. Khayyam's mysterious beloved is God. This is the sacred meeting of soul with the Eternal.In Wednesday's email, we considered some esoteric ways to understand bread in a poem like this. The wine is the blissful drink of selflessness and divine ecstasy. The book of verse could be a reference to the Quran or, more broadly, any sacred writings -- or perhaps the profound recognition of how all of creation is written with subtle, poetic meaning.And the wilderness? Our meeting place? Well, that is the heart, the space of awareness at one's core. It is

"wild" because it is undefined by concepts and mental labels. The wilderness of the heart is expansive, with reaching tendrils that climb over stone walls until everything is lost in its rich verdure.Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough...After this week's emails, are you getting hungry? Time for an end-of-the-summer picnic.Let's join with Khayyam and sing of our secret love affair with the Divine. Eating our fill of the bread of union, drinking the wine of bliss, we come into the presence the Beloved.Ivan

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