By Omar Khayyam

From this globe of black clay to Saturn’s uttermost orbit

I have solved all the puzzles of the Universe.

Unravelled the difficult knots by various devices,

Every fetter has been unloosed except the fetter of death.

By Omar Khayyam, translated by Peter Avery and John Heath-Stubbs, from The Ruba`iyat of Omar Khayyam (Penguin Books, 1984)