Alphabet of History, An

<p><SPAN name="OMAR" id="OMAR"></SPAN></p> <ins class="caption">OMAR</ins> <div class="figright"> <ANTIMG src="images/i_019.jpg" height-obs="640" width-obs="234" alt="Omar writing his Rubaiyat." /></div> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Old Omar, in a Tent he had to live,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Yet gave to Verse such Time as he could give;<br/></span> <span class="i2">Whereat the Critics rose and Hurled at Him:<br/></span> <span class="i0">"The Stuff you write is only Tentative."<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Yet Khayyam never worried over that&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i0">He kept his Troubles underneath his Hat<br/></span> <span class="i2">Except such Times as when he worked them up<br/></span> <span class="i0">Into an Apt and Pleasing Rubaiyat.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Fitzgerald, the Translator, took his Pen<br/></span> <span class="i0">And made a flowing Version; yes, and then<br/></span> <span class="i2">To show that he could keep it up a While,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Translated all the Rubaiyat again.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Now, is there any Home that Don't reveal<br/></span> <span class="i0">O. Khayyam's volume resting by "Lucille,"<br/></span> <span class="i2">Bound in Limp Leather, with each Edge uncut,<br/></span> <span class="i0">To show the Literary Sense we feel?<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">And is there any town from York to Butte<br/></span> <span class="i0">Wherein some Maiden fair don't Elocute<br/></span> <span class="i2">Through Khayyam's easy-speaking poetry,<br/></span> <span class="i0">With Musical Accomp'niment to suit?<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Aye, verily! And where the Parodist<br/></span> <span class="i0">Who does not seek through all upon his List<br/></span> <span class="i2">And come back at the last to Khayyam's work<br/></span> <span class="i0">Each time to find New Chances he has missed?<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">A Good Cigar, a ready Fountain Pen<br/></span> <span class="i0">Or a Typewriter one can use, and then<br/></span> <span class="i2">A book of Omar whence to draw the Thought&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Oh, Parodies one will turn out again!<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Some black initial letters here and there,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Perchance he also had E. Hubbard Hair&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i2">But anyhow old Khayyam set a Task<br/></span> <span class="i0">To fill all his Successors with despair!<br/></span> <br/></div> </div> <div style="clear: both;"></div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />