Summary

The twenty-fifth quatrain maintains the somewhat gloomy philosophical pall from the preceding verses. It refers to the “those for who TO-DAY prepare, / And those that after some TO-MORROW stare,” as equally helpless (25). Omar Khayyam uses the figure of the muezzin, or the person performing the public call to prayer from the minaret of a mosque, in a coy and symbolic way, suggesting that both the pious who long toward some distant afterlife and those with earthly ambitions are both deluded in thinking they have control over their affairs.

This leads to discussion of “Saints and Sages” in the twenty-sixth quatrain, who are described as equally doomed to oblivion and death, despite their pronouncements and assertions of wisdom (26). The twenty-seventh quatrain returns to first person narration, with the narrator describing his youthful days of sitting with so-called wise men and immersing himself in philosophical...