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 n 



