When the Cloud Weeps Over the Grass

This quatrain by Omar Khayyam says:

“A cloud came and wept again over the grass,
Without wine the color of roses, life cannot be lived.
This grass we gaze upon today in delight,
Whose dust, tomorrow, will it gaze upon?”

ابر آمد و باز بر سر سبزه گریست

بی بادهٔ گل‌رنگ نمی‌باید زیست

این سبزه که امروز تماشاگه ماست

تا سبزهٔ خاک ما تماشاگه کیست!

In these hauntingly beautiful lines, Khayyam weaves together nature, time, and mortality.
The image of the cloud weeping over the spring grass is both tender and tragic, it’s the sky mourning life’s brief beauty.

He tells us, “Without wine, life is not worth living.”
But his wine is more than drink, it is awareness, joy, and the courage to celebrate life even as it fades.

Then, in the final couplet, he delivers a truth that lingers long after the words fade:
The green fields we admire today will one day grow from our own dust.
Just as we gaze upon the earth now, someday, the earth will gaze upon us.

Khayyam turns the cycle of life and death into a mirror, reminding us how fleeting yet sacred this moment is.
The grass will live again, the clouds will cry again, but we will be gone.
So while we are here, let us live, love, and truly see the beauty that we so briefly belong to.