Penny Dreadfuls, 1900 · page 35 of 142
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, and the Salaman and Absal of Jami — page 35: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a page of running poetic text from what appears to be a Victorian edition of *The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám*. The page displays four quatrains (XXXII–XXXV) in English translation, featuring the work's characteristic philosophical meditation on mortality, divine mystery, and the pursuit of life's pleasures. The verses employ ornate, decorative typography with capitalized words for emphasis, discussing themes of inaccessible knowledge ("the Door," "the Veil"), cosmic indifference, and the famous exhortation to "Drink!"—the poem's recurring counsel to enjoy earthly life before death.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Se + ae OMAR KHAYYAM. XXXII, _ There was the Door to which I found no Key ; There was the Veil through which I might not see: Some little talk awhile of Mz and Tuer There was—and then no more of THxxr and Mz. XXXITI. Earth could not answer; nor the Seas that mourn In flowing Purple, of their Lord forlorn ; XXXIV. Then of the Tour 1n ME who works behind The Veil, I lifted up my hands to find _A Lamp amid the Darkness; and I heard, As from Without—“ Toe Msg wiruin THEE BLIND !” XXXV. Then to the Lip of this poor earthern Urn I lean’d, the Secret of my Life to learn : And Lip to Lip it: murmur’d—* While you live, me em. » Nor rolling Heaven, with all his Signs reveal’d And hidden by the sleeve of Night and Morn. IGloo “‘ Drink !—for, once dead, you never shall return.” } He (C(O)