A song based on the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
pop
love
acoustic
folk
country
classic
california
heart
melody
traditional
australia
sydney
comedy
finger picking
london
atheist
philosophical
satire
tyler
natural
cornelius
charles
religion
agnostic
mendocino
relaxed
satirical
Story behind the song
I have set some of the best-known lines from the wonderful ''Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam'' to music.. to update the classic work for a new audience.
I used the Fitzgerald translation as a source. I hope I have done justice to both Fitzgerald and Khayyam.
Dedicated to Adam (Asmui bin Imamuddin 02/05/1979 - 11/07/2012) and to all his friends.
Lyrics
Dreaming – just as dawn lit up the sky – I heard a cry
“Wake up and fill the cup before the precious wine of life has all run dry
The bird of time has but a little way to fly
And see the bird is on the wing”
When I was young I studied with the wise men and the saints
But all I ever learned was that I come like water and like wind I go
Into this universe – why not knowing
And out of it - like wind across the wasteland blowing
Ah love, if you and I could understand this world entire
Would we not shatter it to bits and build it back much closer to our hearts desire?
What use is worrying how time slips by beneath our feet?
Or what is past or what’s to come – if today is sweet!
The moving finger writes and having written it moves on
There’s nothing you can do to bring it back and all your tears can’t change a word
It’s no use crying to the sky under which we live and die
The sky rolls on - as impotent as you or I
Oh come with old Khayyam and leave the wise to talk
One thing is certain – a flower blooms then dies - the rest is lies
A loaf of bread beneath the trees, a flask of wine, a book of verse
And you beside me singing – and this wilderness is paradise enough
Some people talk about a paradise that’s still to come
I’ll choose today over the music of a distant drum!
And if the wine you drink, the lip you press, end up as nothing
Then while you still live, drink! for once dead you never shall return
And when you pass among the guests star-scattered on the grass
And reach the spot where I made one – turn down an empty glass!