Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears
TO-DAY of past Regrets and future Fears -
To-morrow ? Why tomorrow I may be
Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n Thousand Years.
This quatrain is a prime example of the carpe diem message of the poem compiled by Edward Fitzgerald. The narrator asks for more wine. The alcoholic beverage is lauded as the one true helpful source of wisdom throughout the poem. With its help the individual can stop to think of past and present, thoughts that are considered useless and hindering, and fully focus on the one thing they know is real, the now.
Myself when young did eagerly frequent
Doctor and Saint, and heard great Argument
About it and about: but evermore
Came out by the same Door as in I went.
This quatrain is an example of the criticism of learned individuals. The narrator complains that so much time is lost in learning and listening to dogma. One has to consider that the original poem would have been written at a time when religious thought and science were treated as one and the same. The original author, being a know mathematician and astronomer, would indeed consider such lectures a waste of time. The door in the quatrain can be seen as a metaphor for change and progression. Leaving through the same door is a metaphor for having learnt nothing new.
For in and out, above, about, below,
'Tis nothing but a Magic Shadow-show,
Play'd in a Box whose Candle is the Sun,
Round which we Phantom Figures come and go.
This quatrain bears great resemblance to the cave analogy of Plato, of ancient Greece. It argues that the only thing we can know is what we see, and what we see is simply the reflection of the true thing. It is part of the human experience to be unable to fully understand the truth and therefore have to be content with what we can grasp. Omar Khayyam's answer throughout the poem to this existential dilemma is wine, massive amounts of wine.
The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
This quatrain discusses the concept of fate. The narrator clearly states that fate is something that cannot be changed, no matter how hard we cry or fight against it. The section also contains a slight criticism of those that try to change theirs through faith or wisdom. This concept of fate and that one has to surrender to it correlates to the futility of thought on anything but the present. The narrator has found that the only thing that is real is the here and now, and that any plan to change anything beyond that is destined to fail.
Indeed, indeed, Repentance oft before
I swore - but was I sober when I swore ?
And then and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hand
My thread-bare Penitence apieces tore.
The final section of Edward Fitzgerald's compilation talks about the narrators lack of faith. They often have gotten into trouble for drinking too much and then ridiculing some ancient dogma. This quatrain shows that they might tell you that they will become better, but such promises are empty coming from a constantly drunken mind.
