Overview
Medium: Poem (Rubaiyat , based on extant example)
Written: May 2025
Inspiration: Based upon poems of Omar Khayyam (Persia, 1048-1131)
First Performed: Midrealm Crown Tourney, Spring 2025 (May 24, 2025)
At dawn, when dews bedeck the tulip's face,
And violets their heavy heads abase,
We long to see this rose stand in full bloom,
Shimmering with virtue, care, and grace.
Midrealm’s shining jewel, she of Dragon heart,
Skilled with the bow, and painted silken art.
This desert flower, rose of lotus blue
Approach now, though she recently depart.
Our countess who have just left dragon throne,
Desire to serve again to us has shown,
Now Kilian her love will bear his blade,
Fight once again to make this throne their home.
Anon, anon, the Sovereign’s call of yore,
A half-year’s rule, as winter give way to war,
And then, and then came Spring, and Rose does stand,
To bear the burden of the crown once more.
Notes
This poem was written for the Crown Tourney Praise Poetry Project in the spring of 2025. It was written for the consort Countess Jalida al-Hasanah.
Care was taken to follow the same rhyme scheme as the original ballad (ABABB CDCD, with the last line repeated at the end of every stanza). Several lines of the poem, including the repeated line, were taken directly form the original ballad, modified slightly to fit the theme and setting but keeping the same imagery.
Research & Resources
This piece is based on the poems of Persian poet Omar Khayyam, who wrote in the rubaiyat style, a four-line verse form in which the first, second, and fourth lines typically rhyme.
A few of my stanzas are completely original, and a few took from elements of period works that invoked suitable imagery.
The source may be found HERE.
Example Rubauyats by Rhayyam
84.
Indeed, indeed, Repentance oft before
I swore — but was I sober when I swore?
And then, and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hand
My thread-bare Penitence apieces tore.
210.
At dawn, when dews bedeck the tulip's face,
And violets their heavy heads abase,
I love to see the roses' folded buds,
With petals closed against the wind's disgrace.
298.
With maids stately as cypresses, and fair
As roses newly plucked, your wine-cups share,
Or e'er Death's blasts shall rend your robe of flesh
Like yonder rose-leaves, lying scattered there!
Angist Arts 