می خور که به زیر گِل بسی خواهی خفت
بی مونس و بی حریف و بی همدم و جفت
زنهار به کس مگو تو این زار نهفت
هر لاله که پژمرد نخواهد بشکفت
Dashti, quatrain 17, p. 247
mey khor ke be zir-e gel basi khaahi khoft
bi munes o bi harif o bi hamdam o joft
zenhaar be kas magu to in raaz-e nehoft
har laale ke pazhmord nakhaahad beshkoft
Drink wine! long must you sleep within the tomb,
Without a friend, or wife to cheer your gloom;
Hear what I say, and tell it not again,
"Never again can withered tulips bloom."
Whinfield, quatrain 107
Ah, drink! Beneath the earth you shall be lain,
Without friend, mate or spouse you shall remain—
This hidden mystery to none explain:
The tulip withered won't its bloom regain!
Saidi, quatrain 88
Oh, threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise!
One thing at least is certain—This Life flies;
One thing is certain and the rest is Lies;
The Flower that once has blown for ever dies.
FitzGerald, stanza LXIII, 4th ed.
(FG had italicized "This" in line 2)
Translation & Discussion of the quatrain: 1. Drink wine, because you will sleep beneath the ground for a long time. 2. Without companion, without mate, without wife and partner -- these, I suppose, are synonomous (some translations shorten the list), yet the list is more intimate as it continues: hamdam -- "sharing the same breath or language" and joft, someone "yoked" (joft and yoked are cognate). munes is more general, "associate" likely nails it; harif, a friend, someone of the same generation even. 3. Careful! Don't tell anyone this hidden secret--two purposes are served by this admonition: the first is for recipients of this secret to take the advice and use it, and secondly, with irony, many if told this, would not see its meaning. Why waste words on those who cling only to prevalent teaching? 4. The flower that has withered will not bloom.
Returning to FitzGerald: in the first edition, Stanza XXVI, FitzGerald had written the first two lines as: Oh, Come with old Khayyám, and leave the Wise/To talk; one thing is certain, that Life flies.
According to Heron-Allen, the Ouseley MS 35, which reads exactly the same as our Dashti quatrain, provided two source-quatrains used by FitzGerald. The last two lines of the Ouseley 35 (= Dashti's last two lines) inspired Stanza LXIII above (Heron-Allen, 97).
The Ouseley 35 (= Dashti's first two lines) inspired Stanza XXIV, 4th ed. (Heron-Allen, 41) below:
Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend,
Before we too into the Dust descend;
Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie,
Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and—sans End!