A NEW RUBAIYAT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20703, 29 April 1929, Page 17

A NEW RUBAIYAT.

OMAR KHAYYAM RIVALLED. Some_ 20 years ago there was published in London a little book, but a very great one (relates S. H. in the Melbourne Age). It was Henry Baerlein’s “ Diwan,” The Persian poet Omar Khayyam and the Arabian poet Abu’l-Ala were both writers of the tenth century, and both treated of the philosophy of life. While almost everyone who has in his composition’ a shred of literary leanings would recognise in a second the great Omar’s lines— Here with a loaf of bread beneath the bough, A flask of wine, a book of verse—and thou Beside me singing iri the wilderness— And Wilderness is Paradise enow— How many are familiar with these exquisite lines of the Arabian poet in his defence of animals ? God pities him who pities. Ah, pursue ’ No longer now the children of the wood; Or have yon not poor huntsman, understood That somebody is overtaking you? Edward Fitzgerald’s marvellous translation of Omar Khayyam’s work was neglected for years until a man of letters found and bought it for a small sum. Then its reign of triumph began. a Henry Baerlcin, who translated the Diwan ” from the Arabic, was born in Manchester in 1875, and educated at Charterhouse and Trinity College, Cambridge. Robert Blatchford, writing in * T." Weekly;” claims that the translation is equally as brilliant as Fitzgeiald s translation of the ft ßubaiyat,” iiP oenl equally as beautiful. Abu I-Ala was born in the year a.d. 029 44 years before Omar Khayyam. Omar was an picurian who sang of wine and women, while Abu was an ascetic who spoke only impersonally of love, and never mentioned wine. Abu married. Ihe naltive villagers made him their spokesman. He defended the poor and the oppressed, and was a great lover of animals. Like Omar, he was a religmus sceptic, and believed that death was final. Their feelings about death might easily have been expressed bv the same hand and mind. Here is Omar’s:— They say the lion and the lizard keep Ihe Courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep. Und Bahrain, that great hunter, the wild ass Stamps o’er his head, but cannot breakins sleep. And Abu’s— There is a palace, and the ruined wall JJivides the sand, a very home of tears • And where love whispered of a thousand years ihe silken-footed caterpillars crawl. Both show their impatience of the orthodox belief in the same, sentiments. Ihe Persian bard sings— Some for the glories of the world, and some Sigh for the Prophet’s Paradise to come ; Ah take the cash, and lot the credit mi *or heed the rumble of a distant drum: While the Arabian poet puts it thus— Abandon worship in the mosque, and' shrink From idle prayer, from sacrificial sheep, loi destiny will bring the bowl of sleep, Or bowl of tribulation—yon shall drink. At nq time was Abu’l-Ala a vearnim. lover in his poem. There is no verse about “A flask of wine, a book oi w,-,,. and thou ” in the whole of his writing But he shows a great universal love for his fellow creatures by his linos— If I have harbored love within mv breast, ’Twas for my comrades of the dustv day, J Who with me watched the loiterin'* stars at play; ” Who bore the burden of the same unrest. <a note o( " calm «ud gentle dignity does he end his song! Not with the haunting majesty of Omar’s last words— And then thyself with shining foot shall pass Among the guests star-scattered on the grass, And in thy joyous errand roach the spot Where I made one—turn down an empty glass! hut with others equally as beautiful:— The shadows come, and they will come to bless Their brother and In's dwellin' l and his fame; ° When I shall soil no more with any blame J Or any praise the silence I possess. , a “i.nwtlcaco, the *■ Rubaiyat ” and the Uiwan ” are almost the same size. The Rubaiyat” has 101 four-, line stanzas, the “ Diwan ” 109. Both have been equally fortunate in their translators. How strange that one should shine in the spotlight of a great success while the other 5s scarce? known! v