YOUNG MAN KNEELING WITH A CUP OF WINE
Isfahan, early-17th century
Slacker Gallery, New York
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"How long will I worry over what I possess?
whether I should live my life gaily (1)?
Fill forever a cup with wine, O song!
for I know not whether I will exhale the breath I have just taken."
Omar Khayyam, The Rubaiyat (quatrain 366)
(1) Freeing oneself from the worries of this world to deliver oneself completely to the contemplation of the Divine, “emptying” the cup of His love.
Wine, according to Khayyam, has the dual advantage of detaching us from worldly matters by destroying chagrin, and of carrying us towards heavenly things – i.e. Divinity, to which we may return at any moment.
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