OLD OMAR'S PHILOSOPHY. 41 



He also believed that the sun is master; that 

 nature is one and indivisible ; that time is fleet- 

 ing and the hours should be spent in revelry or 

 in doing something worthy, not in dreaming of 

 and preparing for a future that will never 

 come to be. 



"Come, fill the cup, and in the fire of spring 

 Your winter garment of repentance fling : 



The bird of time has but a little way 

 To flutter and the bird is on the wing." 



This eve I sit beneath the stars and listen 

 for an hour to my band of serenaders, the katy- 

 dids listen and ponder o'er the doctrine of 

 the indestructibility of matter as set forth by 

 old Omar in the single line: 

 "With earth's first clay they did the last man knead.'* 



The moon in time doth rise and shed the 

 glamour of its beams on all living things about, 

 myself included. Again do I pick up the little 

 volume and there see: 



"Yon rising moon that looks for us again 

 How oft hereafter will she wax and wane ; 



How oft hereafter rising look for us 

 Through this same garden and for one in vain!" 



Leaving the moon and the katydids to solve 

 the question which old Omar asks, I seek the 

 shelter of my tent, and on my canvas cot lie 

 down to pleasant dreams. 



