Five Quatrains from the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

Song Cycle by James Hotchkiss Rogers (1857 - 1940)

1.   [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread -- and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness --
[Oh]1, Wilderness were Paradise enow!

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  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Un libro di poesie posato sotto un ramo", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

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1 Lehmann : "Ah"

Researcher for this page: Barbara Miller

2.   [sung text not yet checked]

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For some we loved, the loveliest and the best 
That from his Vintage rolling Time hath prest,
Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before, 
And one by one crept silently to rest.

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

3.   [sung text not yet checked]

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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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4.   [sung text not yet checked]

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So when [the]1 Angel of the darker Drink
At last shall find you by the river-brink,
And, offering his Cup, invite your Soul
Forth to your Lips to quaff -- you shall not shrink.

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1 Houseley, Lehmann: "that"

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

5.   [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Yet Ah, that Spring should vanish with the Rose!
That Youth’s sweet-scented manuscript should close!
The Nightingale that in the branches sang, 
Ah whence, and whither flown again, who knows!

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Total word count: 159