Rubaiyat of Austin P.

Color Illustrated. The definitive edition. An epic embrace of the human condition, as an extension of Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat into modern times. The Rubàiyàt stuck a chord in me which was already resonating to Omar's frequency, so, I wrote my own. Somehow, inexplicably, the verses came to me as I lived through all the experiences described therein, for I dared not write of any philosophies which had not been tried and proven. My quatrains, like Omar's, aim into the heart of life's dilemmas, offering simple common sense solutions. In this hectic, complicated world of ours we often forget that it is the simple things in life that are still the most enjoyable and inexpensive-for, everyone dies, but not everyone lives. The spirit of Omar's Persia-fume has reached me, across the centuries, as he had hoped it might, and has overtaken me unawares, inspiring me to live and write, in that order.Examples:- The Poetic Form -The verses beat the same, in measured chime.Lines one-two set the stage, one-two-four rhyme.Verse three's the pivot around which thought turns;Line four delivers the sting, just in time.- Whens -Life is a web, of whos, whys, whats, and hows,Stretched in time between eternal boughs.Gossamer threads hold the beads that glisten,Each minute a sequence of instant nows.- Distant Promise -To future columns, we stretch our present row,By a lifeline of tenuously spun vow.Oh, how soon the weighted web begins to fail;The only real time under our feet is now.- Pity the Poor Sultan -Where the river runs, far from Sultan's throne,We live by the stream-side, just us alone.Here we've the perfect equilibrium:Poor but rich, home yet free, great but unknown.