Penny Dreadfuls, 1900 · page 46 of 142
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, and the Salaman and Absal of Jami — page 46: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Analysis This is a text page from a Victorian edition of *Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám* (the title visible at the top). It presents quatrains LXXVI through LXXIX of the poem in English translation. The verses concern philosophical and spiritual matters: the speaker's attachment to earthly life despite derision, a preference for divine experience in earthly taverns over formal temples, complaints about creation's inherent suffering and divine injustice, and resentment at being held accountable for debts incurred without consent. The page features decorative floral borders typical of Victorian book design.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
He Life ss sess me ® 20 RUBALYAT OF —— ee ee A ” LT LXXVI. The Vine had struck a fibre: which about If clings my Being—let the Dervish flout; Of my Base metal may be filed a Key, That shall unlock the Door he howls without. LXXVII. And this I know: whether the one True Light Kindle to Love, or Wrath-consume me quite, One Flash of It within the Tavern caught Better than in the Temple lost outright. ii>.6.4'8 NRE What! out of senseless Nothing to provoke A conscious Something to resent the yoke Of unpermitted Pleasure, under pain Of Everlasting Penalties, if broke! LXXIX. | | | | | | | | What ! from his helpless Creature be repaid — Pure Gold for what he lent him drogs- allay’d— | Sue for a Debt we never did contract, | : And cannot answer—Oh the sorry trade ! ae Zz Cee = (C(O) MIGDoOo KS_com