Edward Fitzgerald
Edward Fitzgerald
Edward FitzGeraldwas an English poet and writer, best known as the poet of the first and most famous English translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. The writing of his name as both FitzGerald and Fitzgerald is seen. The use here of FitzGerald conforms with that of his own publications, anthologies such as Quiller-Couch's Oxford Book of English Verse, and most reference books up until about the 1960s...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth31 March 1809
credit cup drowned honour idols indeed loved reputation shallow sold
Indeed the Idols I have loved so long / Have done my credit in this World much wrong: / Have drowned my Honour in a Shallow Cup / And sold my Reputation for a Song.
among empty errand foot guests joyous pass reach shall shining spot thyself turn
And when Thyself with shining Foot shall pass / Among the Guests Star-scattered on the Grass, / And in thy joyous Errand reach the Spot / Where I made one - turn down an empty Glass!
shall
And when like her, O Saki, you shall pass.
less shall today tomorrow yesterday
Think then you are Today what Yesterday you were - Tomorrow you shall not be less
cancel finger half lure moves nor piety shall wash wit word
The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.
delight garden hereafter moon oft rising shall
Ah, Moon of my Delight who know'st no wane, / The Moon of Heav'n is rising once again: / How oft hereafter rising shall she look;/ Through this same Garden after me - in vain!
leaves roses thousand
Each Morn a thousand Roses brings, you say: / Yes, but where leaves the Rose of Yesterday?
ball player question strikes
The Ball no question makes of Ayes and Noes, / But Here or There as strikes the Player goes.
devise earth eden face forgiveness man sin
Oh, Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make, / And who with Eden didst devise the Snake; / For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man / Is blackened. Man's Forgiveness give - and take!
absolute grape jarring logic
The Grape that can with Logic absolute / The Two-and-Seventy jarring Sects confute.
door found past veil
There was a Door to which I found no Key: / There was a Veil past which I could not see.
alternate battered night portals whose
This battered Caravanserai / Whose Portals are alternate Night and Day.
bowl caught east hunter light morning night noose puts stars stone
Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight: And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light
cup dreaming dreams dry fill hand heard left liquor sky tavern voice within
Dreaming when Dawn's Left Hand was in the sky I heard a Voice within the Tavern cry: 'Awake, my Little ones, and fill the Cup Before Life's Liquor in its Cup be dry