Carpe Diem #1302 past regrets and future fears

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Another day has gone and here I am again, after a bad day of sleep, because I am on the nightshift, to create a new episode in our wonder Haiku Kai were we are a loving family of haiku poets. That love makes me proud. Five years ago I started CDHK and here we are still alive and kicking better than ever.

This month it's all about "The Rubaiyat" by Omar Khayyam, a 12th century Persian poet and scholar. It's his legacy we are using this month. Through his quatrains we get a glimpse of the time he lived in. And even today his work still renown and loved as we can see this month.

Omar Khayyam (image found on Pinterest)

Today I have another beautiful quatrain for you to work with. In this quatrain one of the themes of "The Rubaiyat" returns again, wine and drinking it. In one of the earlier episodes I shared already a few quatrains in which this theme is mentioned.

Let me give you the quatrain for today:

Ah! my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears
TO-DAY of past Regrets and future Fears –
To-morrow? – Why, To-morrow I may be
Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n Thousand Years.

© Omar Khayyam (Tr. FitzGerald)

Background:

“The Cup that clears” = a glass of wine; the meaning is not unlike drinking to drown one’s sorrows over past regrets and future fears. The end of the verse seems to mean something like “tomorrow, the ‘me’ of today will just be another part of history”. According to some, in Omar Khayyam’s day, “yesterday’s 7000 years” was reckoned to be the number of years of human history that had elapsed since the creation of Adam and Eve, though FitzGerald, in his first edition, thought it signified 1000 years for each of the 7 planets.

Planets

Any reference to tomorrows and yesterdays almost inevitably recalls that famous speech from Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 5) beginning:

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death.

As I read this quatrain I immediately became in touch with it. The scene described in  "the Cup that clears TO-DAY of past Regrets and future Fears" is recognizable. I think we all can relate to that scene. There was a time I drank to much to forget my sorrows, my problems ..., but there is always a way out. I "survived" that time through the (unconditional) love of my family and friends. There even came a day that I decided to never drink again. Of course a great goal to strive for, but a nice cold beer now and than I can really appreciate.

tears
splash into wine
dreams

© Chèvrefeuille (experimental haiku)

A short episode maybe, but in it is a whole story to relate to, and I even think it's one of the quatrains that for sure can inspire you in a great way.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 16th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, a new weekend-meditation, later on. Have fun!