Eight centuries unheeded by the West!
Now loved within our hearts; whose daily strait
Is still to war with wavering unrest,
To ask in vain, for aye importunate,
The ceaseless " WHY " ? whereof we ever wait
The answering " BECAUSE , " which ringing true
Would solve the mystery of Life and Fate.
Omar! the peace you sought we find in you.

The fabled Paradise wherein the blest
Lie lotus-eating, lulled in languorous state,
Measured by later reasonable test
Seems but at best a doubtful opiate.
Life is but labour, always to create
New aims to strive for, and new things to do.
Could Heaven itself the stress of life abate?
Omar! the peace you sought we find in you.

Incurious, we cease the hopeless quest,
For nobler he who thus can subjugate
His reckless will, than he with fears opprest,
Who cries amid his doubts, " Allah is great! "
" Each his own heaven or hell! " why hesitate?
To-day is ours, to-morrow keeps the clue
To the great secret, still inviolate.
Omar! the peace you sought we find in you.

Shall Fate or we cry to Life's game, " check-mate " !
Nay, wise men draw it, fools defeat pursue;
Unconquered, though unconquering, as we wait.
Omar! the peace you sought we find in you.