And that inverted Bowl they call the sky,
Whereunder crawling coop'd we live and die,
Lift not your hands to It for help—for It
Impotently rolls as you or I.
FitzGerald, Stanza LXXII, 4th ed.
This is a composite quatrain, according to Heron-Allen, 107, and the "inspiration comes from the first two lines of Bodleian/Ouseley 134 and especially the last two lines of 41:
این چرخ چو طاسیست نگون افتاده
در وی همه زیرکان زبون افتاده
in charkh cho taasist negun oftaade
dar vey hame zirakaan zabun oftaade
This heavenly vault is like a bowl fallen upside down,
Under which all the wise have fallen helpless.
Heron-Allen, 107
نیکی و بدی که در نهاد بشرست
شادی و غمی که در قضا و قدرست
با چرخ مکن حواله کاندر ره عقل
چرخ از تو هزار بار بیچاره ترست
niki o badi ke dar nehaad-e basharast
shaadi o ghami ke dar qazaa o qadarast
baa charkh makon havaale kandar rah-e ‘aql
charkh az to hazaar baar bichaaretarast
The good and evil in the mold of man
The joy and grief in fate and fortune's plan
Leave not to the wheel of fortune, for in reason
A thousand times more helpless than in man.
Saidi, quatrain 71, modified by Aminrazavi, 81
The good and evil with man's nature blent,
The weal and woe that Heaven's decrees have sent,—
Impute them not to motions of the skies,—
Skies than thyself ten times more impotent.
Whinfield, quatrain 96
This is a straightforward observation by the speaker -- we display both good and bad and suffer fortune and misfortune. These are not to be seen as matters for interpretation where heavens, skies, stars or the cosmos inform us of their import -- you cannot bank on these powerless powers. Our wisdom is sufficient as the speaker asserts with a warning not to forsake it:
هان تا سر رشتهٔ خرد گم نکنی
haan taa sar reshte-ye kherad gom nakoni
Behold and don't lose the trail of wisdom
For the price of wisdom is to reel to every side.
Aminrazavi, 188
(see my Quatrain 34 for the complete quatrain)
FitzGerald is in no mood in this section of his poem to entertain the notion of "bad" in humans. His speaker(s) rage at a divine scheme to blame mortal for shortcomings which they cannot avoid. More of this in the stanza following ...