be ever kind

I saw a wise sage!  he did not heed

For caste or creed, for faith or worldly greed;

And free from truth and quest, from path and goal,

He sat at ease, from earth and heaven freed.

 

 

Some strung the pearls of thought by searching deep,

And told some tales about Him,–sold them cheap;

But none has caught a clue to secret realms,

They cast a horoscope and fall in sleep.

Dedicate yourself to the wise when you find

Forget fasting and praying, you need not mind

But listen to truth from what Umar Khayyæm says,

Drink wine, steal if you should but be ever kind. 

 

 

 

 ~ Omar Khayyam

(1048 - 1131)

from The Great‘UMAR KHAYYAM

 

He known for his agnostic and skeptic poetry 

 also lived in complicated times of cultural unrest

in which freedom of expression was repressed and 

access to education was limited.