Omar Answered 



"When you and I behind the veil are past, 

 Oh! but the long, long while the world shall last; 

 Which of our coming and departure heeds, 

 As the Seven Seas shall heed a pebble cast." 



"Ah, my beloved, fill the cup that clears 

 Today of past regrets and future fears"; 

 This is the only wisdom man can know - 

 "I come like water, and like wind I go." 



But tell me, Omar, hast thou said the whole? 

 If such the bubbles that fill Saki's bowl, 

 How great is Saki, whose least whisper calls 

 Forth from the swirling mists a human soul! 



Omar, one word of thine is but a breath, 

 A single cadence in thy perfect song, 

 And, as its measures softly flow along, 

 A million syllables pass on to death. 



Shall this one word withdraw' itself in scorn 

 Because 'tis not thy first nor last nor all - 

 Because 'tis not the sole breath thou hast drawn, 

 Nor yet the sweetest word thy lips let fall? 



I do rejoice that when "of me and thee" 

 Men talk no longer, yet not less but more 

 The Eternal Saki still that bowl shall fill, 

 And ever stronger, fairer bubbles pour; 



A humble note in the Eternal Song, 

 The Perfect Singer hath made place for me, 

 And not one atom in Earth's wondrous throng 

 But shall be needful to Infinity. 



April, 1896 



c 837 



