COVE

To my dearly missed peer,

In the past few weeks I have reflected fondly on our time at university together. Your letters bring me great joy, and I am so happy you have been able to chase your dreams and travel India as you once wished to. The painter you wrote me about, Katchadourian, actually illustrated an edition of Omar Khayyám's Rubáiyát, which I have been teaching to the students in my class. His artwork is very intricate and vivid on the page and I understand why his work stirs something within you. I am sending you one of these illustrated copies, as you mentioned a fear of boredom during your long journey back to the states. As you love art, you know language is quite dear to me, so the copy I have sent you also has some of my personal annotations. 

Alongside Fitzgerald's famous translation, many others have interpreted Khayyám's words over the years. This particular volume is from 1946, and as it is not a first edition I felt less shameful in editing directly on the page. You may note many of my little scribbles underneath words, I apologize for the chaos. What I truly wished to share with you however, are the yellow slips of paper I have stuck between certain pages. My students conducted a project where they found other translations of their favorite stanzas, and I printed out some of the best selections to send you. Other academics such as Harold Lamb and John Leslie Garner have interpreted the stanzas, and I find it fascinating which sections they find agreeable in Fitzgerald's translation, and what they've chosen to change. For example, in Stanza 68, the original translation articulates "We are no other than a moving row/ Of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go/ Round with the Sun-illuminated Lantern held,/ In Midnight by the Master of the Show". Alternatively, Lamb selects "This Wheel of Heaven by which we are amazed/ A Chinese lantern like to it we know--/ The Sun the candle, the universe the shade,/  And we lie its unheeding shadow forms". Omar Khayyám writes consistently about our earthly journey and what the afterlife may hold, and as I taught my students I found that it led to a fair amount of self reflection on my part as well. Your letters sounded like you may be feeling adrift after this journey, which was another inspiration for this gift. May your wine never empty my friend, as your joy for life is one of my favorite things about you. 

So I am hoping this beautiful book is an agreeable gift, and I can't wait to have you over for tea so we can discuss this and your journeys when you get home. I know it is a fairly hefty gift to add to your luggage, but hopefully the gilded pages and vibrant artwork inside make it worth the extra pounds. I know we are far from the girls of our college days, but I will forever hold you in the soft parts of my heart. 

Safe Travels,

Louella