[Poetry Chaikhana] Omar Khayyam - [4] Now the New Year reviving old Desires,

January 2, 2009

An appropriate poem for New Year's day from Ivan--- On Fri, 2/1/09, Poetry Chaikhana <ivan wrote:

Poetry Chaikhana <ivan[Poetry Chaikhana] Omar Khayyam - [4] Now the New Year reviving old Desires,alanadamsjacobsDate: Friday, 2 January, 2009, 5:09 PM

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

[4] Now the New Year reviving old Desires,

By Omar Khayyam(11th Century)

English version by Edward FitzGerald

Now the New Year reviving old Desires,The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires, Where the White Hand of Moses on the BoughPuts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires.

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

Amazon.com / Photo by Hamed Masoumi /

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Thought for the Day:

There is a misconception that Eternityis somewhere in the future.If you want to touch Eternity,dive deep into the present.

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Here's your Daily Music selection --

Manish Vyas & Dina Awwad

Sufi Splendor

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Hi Alan -This verse is a recognition of the turning of the wheel of life and what we choose to do with each renewal.He starts off with, "Now the New Year reviving old Desires." Why does the New Year revive old desires? The new year is a rebirth of the seasons, signalling a new cycle in our lives. If we don't apply conscious willpower, however, we instinctively follow the patterns we set in the previous year. So, with the new year, we are reborn, but so too are our old habits and old desires.But "The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires." We always have a choice: We can give in to those old, often limiting patterns, getting caught up in the frantic activity and mental ruts of satisfying those old desires; or we can choose to let go of those compulsions and impulses and, instead, turn inward in contemplation, in meditation, in prayer. We can step out of the hustle and bustle

of the hungry mind and retire to peaceful solitude.(This applies not only to our inner lives, but to how we live in the world, as well. The new year is the ideal time to re-imagine how the world community can work, and commit ourselves, each in our own way, to striving for a more just and humane world.)Solitude, here, is not isolation or separation from others. For the mystic, true solitude is oneness, unity, wholeness -- whether or not other people are around. In this solitude, we encounter the living presence of the Divine, which Omar Khayyam evokes with the sacred figures of Moses and Jesus.The "Bough" mentioned is the Tree of Life, which we find growing within us. Here we discover the guiding "White Hand of Moses." Moses represents awareness of the Divine Law and, although we have turned inward, we are being freed from the captivity of the limited awareness and false identity that had been held in place by those old mental

patterns. The journey inward is a journey outward, the true exodus.The closing line "and Jesus from the Ground suspires" is especially powerful. This breath, this suspiring is significant. Omar Khayyam is, of course, writing from a Muslim perspective, and in Muslim mystical traditions Jesus is often associated with healing, life-giving breath. To Muslims, Jesus embodies the breath of life, the breath of God. So, even though Jesus is in the ground, buried in the tomb (or born in the cave), we discover that he breathes! After feeling dead, no matter how we have stumbled or struggled, we discover new life buried secretly within us, we discover the Divine is breathing life into us. And we are that breath!--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.Ivan

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