The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám · Chapter
LXII explained
The speaker rejects the comforts of life, driven by fear of an afterlife or hope for a divine reward, only to face the inevitable decay into dust.
What happens
The speaker rejects the comforts of life, driven by fear of an afterlife or hope for a divine reward, only to face the inevitable decay into dust.
Themes in this chapter
Mortality and Transience
The chapter emphasizes the inevitability of death and the crumbling into dust.
Skepticism and Doubt
The speaker questions the trustworthiness of after-reckoning and divine promises.
Key passages
“I must abjure the Balm of Life, I must, Scared by some After-reckoning ta’en on trust, Or lured with Hope of some Diviner Drink, To fill the Cup—when crumbled into Dust!”
I must renounce life's comforts, either frightened by a supposed afterlife judgment or enticed by a promise of heavenly drink, only to fill the cup when I am already reduced to dust.
The speaker rejects worldly and spiritual hopes in the face of mortality.