Khayyam
1048 to 1131, Nishapur
The rose and the wine cup. What is here is what there is.
About Khayyam
Ghiyath al-Din Abu’l-Fath Umar ibn Ibrahim Khayyam Nishapuri was, in his own lifetime and by his own reckoning, a mathematician and an astronomer. He wrote a treatise on cubic equations and helped reform the Persian calendar into the Jalali, which is more accurate than the Gregorian.
The quatrains came to English through Edward FitzGerald in 1859, in a version loose enough that scholars still argue about how much of it is Khayyam. The Persian originals are shorter, drier and harder.
چون عهده نميشود كسي فردا را
حالي خوش دار اين دلِ پر سودا را
مِي نوش به ماهتاب اي ماه كه ماه
بسيار بتابد و نيابد ما را
Since none can guarantee tomorrow, keep this restless heart content today / Drink wine by moonlight — the moon will shine long after we are gone.