Note 209 — Chapter XXXI
Reading edition
I am indebted to Mr. Edward Heron-Allen for the information that this is the original of the last verse but one in FitzGerald's first version of the Rubáiyát:
r 74. Ah Moon of my Delight, who knowest no wane, The Moon of Heaven is rising once again, How oft, hereafter rising, shall she look Through this same Garden after me—in vain.
The literal translation is:
[Persian] Since no one will guarantee thee a to-morrow, [Persian] Make thou happy now this lovesick heart; [Persian] Drink wine in the moonlight, O Moon, for the Moon [Persian] Shall seek us long and shall not find us.