Discovering romance

After my mum died 2+ years ago, closing down her home of 53 years was hard. She’d accumulated so many trinkets and treasures and in the last few years before she died, she’d really begun to hoard things like newspapers, magazines etc. so it was a massive job for us to sort through. We found that in amongst the pages of magazines and books (she was an avid reader) we would find some treasures – an old photo, a letter…. In the end, because we had  a purchaser for the house, we moved lots of her things to my sisters unit in an old mill.

Last week, my sister came round with a new little treasure she had found whilst sorting through some of the old books. It could so easily have been missed and thrown away but thankfully it wasn’t. This little book ‘The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam’ is inscribed – given by my dad to my mum when she would have been 19 years old – truly romantic! It bought me to tears when I read the poem as it clearly inspired my parents in their philosophy of life which they tried to instil into me and my sisters. Here’s a couple of exerts:

Awake! For Morning in the Bowl of Night

Has flung the stone that puts the Stars to Flight

And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught

The Sultans Turret in a Noose of Light.

Dreaming when Dawn’s Left Hand was in the Sky

I heard a Voice within the Tavern cry,

“Awake, my Little ones, and fill the Cup

Before Life’s Liquour in it’s Cup be Dry”

And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before the Tavern shouted:

“Open then the Door! You know how little while we have to stay,

And once departed, may return no more”……….

 

 

………………………..

Ah my beloved, fill the Cup that clears

Today of past Regrets and future Fears –

Tomorrow? Why Tomorrow I may be

Myself with Yesterday’s Sev’n Thousand Year………………….

…………………………

Ah make the most of what we yet may spend

Before we too into dust descend……

…………………………..

Then to the earthen bowl did I adjourn

My lip the secret Well of Life to learn;

And lip to lip it murmured – “While you live

Drink! – for once dead you never shall return………..

This is just a few short exerts but the philosophy in this poem written around the Twelfth Century still stands true today. We can learn a lot from our history….

• Enjoy the moment
• Recognise what is important in life – people, not riches…
• Live each day like it’s your last

It’s an amazing poem (worth reading the full version if you get the chance) and so romantic to think my dad gave this to my mum when she was only 19 years old. A very special treasure which has no monetary value but is now a cherished treasure, which was so nearly lost and thanks only to my sister and her continuing meticulous sorting and sifting, it wasn’t…. Thank goodness!