We come and go, but for the gain, where is it?

We come and go, but for the gain, where is it?

And spin life's woof, but for the warp, where is it?

And many a righteous man has burned to dust

In heaven's blue rondure, but their smoke, where is it?


Omar Khayyam

(Translated by Edward Henry Whinfield)

(Picture: Allegory of Prudence, Titian)