417.
Cupbearer! bring my wine-cup, let me grasp it!
Bring that delicious darling, let me grasp it!
That pleasing chain which tangles in its coils
Wise men and fools together, let me grasp it I
418.
Alas! my wasted life has gone to wrack!
What with forbidden meats, and lusts, alack!
And leaving undone what 'twas right to do,
And doing wrong, my face is very black!
419.
I could repent of all, but of wine, never!
I could dispense with all, but with wine, never!
If so be I became a Musulman,
Could I abjure my Magian wine? no, never!
417. L. N. Bipéchand seems a plural of dignity.
418. C. L. N. A. I. Harám, the predicate of lakma. These whimsical outbursts of self-reproach in the midst of antinomian utterances are characteristic of Khayyam.
