The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: Quatrain LVI

This is another quatrain that seems difficult to interpret with a religious or a spiritual meaning.


First Edition:  Quatrain LVI

And this I know:  whether the one True Light,
Kindle to Love, or Wrath consume me quite,
    One glimpse of It within the Tavern caught
Better than in the Temple lost outright.



Second Edition:  Quatrain LXXXIII



And this I know:  whether the one True Light,
Kindle to Love, or Wrath-consume me quite,
    One flash of It within the Tavern caught
Better than in the Temple lost outright.



Fifth Edition:  LXXVII

And this I know: whether the one True Light,
Kindle to Love, or Wrath-consume me quite,
    One flash of It within the Tavern caught
Better than in the Temple lost outright.


Only one word change appears among the various editions.  "Glimpse" in the third line of the first edition is changed to "flash"  in the second and fifth editions.  The significance of the change may be that since it's a Light that the poet is speaking of, a "flash"  would be more accurate a description than a "glimpse."   The other change is an addition of a dash  between "Wrath" and "consume"  in the second and succeeding editions.  It's effect is to produce a pause after "Wrath" and and link it more closely to "Kindle to Love, or Wrath."  Now it seems as that the True Light could result in Love or Wrath, regardless of its ultimate effect.

The poet suggests that he could get a brief look at the Divinity, regardless of  whether it happens in a Temple or a Tavern--the spiritual world or the profane world.   However, it would be preferable to die from getting a glimpse of it in a Tavern than spending all one's time fruitlessly in a Temple.