Alike for those who for TO-DAY prepare,

And those that after a TO-MORROW stare,

   A Muezzín from the Tower of Darkness cries

“Fools! your Reward is neither Here nor There!”

Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss’d

Of the Two Worlds so learnedly, are thrust

   Like foolish Prophets forth; their Words to Scorn

Are scatter’d, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust.

Oh, come with old Khayyám, and leave the Wise

To talk; one thing is certain, that Life flies;

   One thing is certain, and the Rest is Lies;

The Flower that once has blown for ever dies.

Myself when young did eagerly frequent

Doctor and Saint, and heard great Argument

   About it and about: but evermore

Came out by the same Door as in I went.

With them the Seed of Wisdom did I sow,

And with my own hand labour’d it to grow:

   And this was all the Harvest that I reap’d

“I came like Water, and like Wind I go.”

Into this Universe, and why not knowing,

Nor whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing:

   And out of it, as Wind along the Waste,