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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 9, Issue 4 (July 2, 1934.)

“Khyyara” and “I Am.”

“Khyyara” and “I Am.”

“Ah, take the cash in hand
And waive the rest;
Oh, the brave music of a
Distant drum!…
Omar Khayyam.

Old Omar's observations prove that he knew his Persian catechism when he penned this panacea for life's fitful fevers; for “Khyyam” and “I Am” battle the breakers in the same boat; the heart-aches and head-aches of yesterday are the head-aches and heartaches of to-day and the age-old aid to health, wealth and snappiness of getting the grippers on the gold-dust that flies in the eyes while keeping the ear a'cock for the music of the distant drum, is still the pick of the pharmacopoeia. But 'tis vain to meditate on the music of the distant drum at the expense of the cash in hand, or to allow the clash of the cash to drown the insistent “dum” of the distant drum.

But old Omar's oblative obsecrations on “thrum-dobs” and drum throbs are only an oblique allusion to, first, the gifts of the gods which are left each morn with the milk on the mat, and, second, the felicitations of Fortune which always await us round the corner of to-morrow and to-morrow.