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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


ON READING THE 'RUBAIYAT' OF OMAR KHAYYAM IN A KENTISH ROSE GARDEN by MATHILDE BLIND

First Line: BESIDE A DIAL IN THE LEAFY CLOSE
Last Line: THOSE RUBY-TINTED HIEROGLYPHS OF LIGHT.
Subject(s): FLOWERS; OMAR KHAYYAM (1048-1122); ROSES;

BESIDE a Dial in the leafy close,
Where every bush was burning with the Rose,
With million roses falling flake by flake
Upon the lawn in fading summer snows:

I read the Persian Poet's rhyme of old,
Each thought a ruby in a ring of gold --
Old thoughts so young, that, after all these years,
They're writ on every rose-leaf yet unrolled.

You may not know the secret tongue aright
The Sunbeams on their rosy tablets write;
Only a poet may perchance translate
Those ruby-tinted hieroglyphs of light.






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