Songs from the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

Song Cycle by Don Murray (b. 1925)

1.   [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
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 Sultán's Turret in a Noose of Light.

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

2.   [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before
The Tavern shouted -- "Open then the Door!
"You know how little while we have to stay,
"And, once departed, may return no more."

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3.   [sung text not yet checked]

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But come with old Khayyám, and leave the Lot
Of Kaikobád and Kaikhosrú forgot!
Let Rustum lay about him as he will,
Or Hátim Tai cry Supper -- heed them not.

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5.   [sung text not yet checked]

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Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse -- and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness --
And Wilderness is Paradise enow.

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Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani

6.   [sung text not yet checked]

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I sometimes think that never blows so red
The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled,
That [every]1 Hyacinth the Garden wears
Dropt in [her]2 lap from some once lovely head.

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1 Lehmann: "ev'ry"
2 first edition, Murray (probably): "its"

Researcher for this page: Barbara Miller

7.   [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
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.

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8.   [sung text not yet checked]

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Listen again. One Evening at the Close
Of Ramazán, ere the better Moon arose,
In that old Potter's Shop I stood alone
With the clay Population round in Rows.

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9.   [sung text not yet checked]

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And, strange to tell, among that Earthen Lot
Some could articulate, while others not:
And suddenly one more impatient cried --
"Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?"

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10.   [sung text not yet checked]

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None answer'd this; but after Silence spake
[A]1 Vessel of a more ungainly Make:
"They sneer at me for leaning all awry;
"What! did the Hand then of the Potter shake!"

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1 second edition: "Some"

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

11.   [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Said one -- "Folks of a surly [Tapster]1 tell,
"And daub his Visage with the Smoke of Hell;
"They talk of some [strict Testing]2 of us --- Pish!
"He's a Good Fellow, and 'twill all be well."

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1 second edition: "Master"
2 second edition: "sharp trial"

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 321