Quatrain 40
Thursday
Print Article Yon rising Moon that looks for us again—
How oft hereafter will she wax and wane;
How oft hereafter rising look for us
Through this same Garden – and for one in vain!
FitzGerald, stanza 100, 5th edition
Heron-Allen, 145: "This quatrain in its various forms is inspired by O.5 [some of these 'various forms' occur in the Calcutta MS, as Arberry, 237 lists 3 different readings in this quatrain, though none of them significantly alter the meaning of the poem]."
چون عهده نمی کند کسی فردا را
حالی خوش کن تو این دل شیدا را
می نوش بنورماه ای ماه که ماه
بسیار بجوید و نیابد مارا
chon ohde nemi konad kasi fardaa raa
haali khosh kon to in del-e shaydaa raa
may nush benur-e maah ay maah ke maah
besyaar bejuyad o nayaabad maaraaSince no-one will go surety for tomorrow,
do you make happy now this distracted heart;
drink wine by the light of the moon, O moon, for the moon
will seek much (hereafter) and will not find us.
Arberry, 237Dashti, 63 publishes the same text except for the last line which reads betaabad, (the moon) will shine instead of bejuyad, will search. Hedayat has this quatrain, 112 and so does Saidi, 15 and Whinfield 7. Let me give Forughi-Ghani's reading, their quatrain 2, which varies slightly from what we have above, again without alteration of meaning, although their por sawdaa raa conclusion to the second line seems a 'better' reading if only because the general meaning of "full of melancholy/emotion" is less specific than lovesick shaydaa (having said that, I concede I don't know and probably no one else knows what the speaker of this quatrain had in mind). I italicize the variants:
چون عهده نمی شود کسی فردا را
حالی خوش دار این دل پر سودا را
می نوش بماهتاب ای ماه که ماه
بسیار بتابد و نیابد مارا
chon ohde nemi shavad kasi fardaa raa
haali khosh daar in del-e por sawdaa raa
may nush bemaahtaab ay maah ke maah
besyaar betaabad o nayaabad maaraaSince no one can Tomorrow guarantee,
Enjoy the moment, let your heart be free;
Ah, drink, my Moon, in moonlight for the moon
Will make its rounds but won't find you and me!
Saidi, quatrain 15,
with a note for my Moon,... 'a complimentary way of addressing the beloved. It implies beauty, purity and glamour.'Heron-Allen notes that FitzGerald's stanza in the first edition of 1859 was 'a good deal closer' [I would just say 'closer] to the above quatrain:
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.The promise of tomorrow--
no one can grant you that,
for your heart and all its burdens
be happy in the life that's now.
Drink wine by the light of the moon,
moon-radiant lovely friend,
let the moon shine on to find us
and find us not here again.
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