Page:Quatrains of Omar Khayyam (tr. Whinfield, 1883).djvu/152

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96
THE QUATRAINS OF

141.

Ah! seasoned wine oft falls to rawest fools,
And clumsiest workmen own the finest tools;
    And Turki maids, fit to delight men's hearts,
Lavish their smiles on beardless boys in schools!


142.

Whilom, ere youth's conceit had waned, methought
Answers to all life's problems I had wrought;
    But now, grown old and wise, too late I see
My life is spent, and all my lore is naught.


143.

They, who of prayer-mats make such great display,
Are fools to bear hypocrisy's hard sway;
    Strange! under cover of this saintly show
They live like heathen, and their faith betray.


141.   N.   So Hafiz, 'If that Turki maid of Shiraz,' etc.


142.   N. [C. A. and I. give another version of this.]


143.   C. L. N. A. I.   In line 2, note the arrangement of the prepositions ba . . . . dar, Bl., Prosody 13.   There is a proverb, "The Devil lives in Mecca and Medinah."