Here's your Daily Poem from the Poetry Chaikhana --
 | [74] Ah, Moon of my Delight who know'st no wane By Omar Khayyam
(11th Century) English version by Edward FitzGerald Ah, Moon of my Delight who know'st no wane,
The Moon of Heav'n is rising once again:
How oft hereafter rising shall she look
Through this same Garden after me -- in vain! 
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Hi Omss -
Omar Khayyam was best known in his time as a mathematician and astronomer. His theorems are still studied by mathematicians today. His poetry really only became widely read when Edward FitzGerald collected several quatrains (rubaiyat) attributed to Khayyam and translated them into English as the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.
The common view in the West of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam is that it is a collection of sensual love poems. Although some scholars debate this question, many people assert that Omar Khayyam was a Sufi, as well as a poet and mathematician, and that his Rubaiyat can only be truly understood using the language of mystical metaphor.
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I went for an early evening walk last night. The moon is growing full, hovering just above the treetops...
In this quatrain, Khayyam speaks of the moon that does not wane--
Ah, Moon of my Delight who know'st no wane
The state of mystical realization reveals itself as a shining light, as a luminescence permeating the still field of the mind. There is a sense of light from an undefined "above," silence, a fullness of vitality, and deep rest. This is the light of enlightenment.
Sacred poets throughout the world often use the metaphor of the full moon in the night sky to describe this. The full moon is the soft light that illumines the land below when all is at rest.
And Khayyam's moon is a moon of "Delight" -- the supreme contentment and bliss that permeates us in that eternal moment of awakening.
Khayyam also has the enigmatic line suggesting that this moon can't find him--
How oft hereafter rising shall she look
Through this same Garden after me -- in vain!
This is a playful reference to how the sense that the individual self -- the little self or the ego -- disappears in the light of illumination. The moon rises, it shines, but there is no "you" to be found within that light.
Spend a quiet moment in the moonlight tonight. See if you're still there when you're done. :-)
Ivan
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Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2010 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.
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