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.

[Meaning: Live fully - fill the cup; when you are young in the spring of life,
don't worry about the winter (old age) of life.
Live life fully because life is short - life is passing like a bird.]

Whether at Naishapur or Babylon,
Whether the Cup with sweet or bitter run,
The Wine of Life keeps oozing drop by drop,
The Leaves of Life keep falling one by one

[Meaning: Whether you live in a good place or a bad place,
Whether your life is sweet or bitter, life goes little by little, drop by drop
and the leaves of life keep falling.]

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
Without Wind, or Song, or Singer, and without End.

[Meaning: Make the best of life before you die and are buried with nothing.]

Alike for those who for TO-DAY prepare,
And those that after some TO-MORROW stare,
A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries
"Fools! your reward is neither Here nor There."

[Meaning: This life and the future life are not rewarding.]

Then to the lip of this poor earthen Urn
I learn'd, the Secret of my Life to Learn:
And Lip to Lip it murmur'd, "While you live
Drink! for, once dead, you never shall return."

[Meaning: Drink from the urn (pitcher); enjoy life while you can.]


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.

[Meaning: One thing is certain - life is short.]

Strange, is it not? that of the myriads who
Before us pass'd the door of Darkness through,
Not one returns to tell us of the Road,
Which to discover we must travel too.

[Meaning: The thousands who died before us cannot return
and tell us about death; we must all learn that on our own.]

The moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.

[Meaning: Time passes, and nothing good or clever that we do
can change the past, no matter how much we regret what we did.]