Omar Khayyam Poems

Book excerpt: The poems attributed to Omar Khayyam have a universal and timeless philosophical theme: life is a meaningful journey even if brief and uncertain. They inspire an unconstrained free-thinking mindset and a wise realization that guides thinking persons: it is impossible to see the absolute truth, as the universe has its own reality that remains largely hidden, and that one must think and act accordingly. This book presents a selection of Khayyam's poems in their original Persian language along with their English translations in a faithful and modern version. By relying only on the original Persian version of Khayyam's poems, and using the author's own body of literary and linguistic knowledge, this book presents a modern translation of Omar Khayyam's poems since Edward Fitzgerald's Rubaiyat in 1859.