When the End Remains the Same

No. 475

They say the highest Paradise by name,
Where purest wine and nymphs are set aflame;
If we choose wine and love, what cause for dread,
Since at the last, the end is just the same. ^*

Philosophical Reflection

This quatrain reveals one of Khayyam’s most daring confrontations with religious promises and human longing. The opening lines present what “they say”, a Paradise imagined as a realm of perfected pleasures, “purest wine” and celestial companions. Khayyam frames this as a report, almost as hearsay: a claim repeated endlessly but never confirmed. The tone is measured rather than mocking, yet it carries a quiet skepticism about speculative rewards placed beyond the reach of life.

The poem turns on the line, “If we choose wine and love, what cause for dread?” Here, Khayyam introduces his central question: why fear choosing earthly joys when the promised joys of the hereafter take the same form? The quatrain suggests symmetry rather than rebellion. What people seek in paradise, companionship, pleasure, delight are the very things available to them now. The poet challenges the logic of postponement: why defer what is already at hand for a future no one has witnessed?

The final line collapses the distinction between earthly life and its imagined sequel: “the end is just the same.” Whether one lives ascetically or joyfully, the end of bodily life remains identical. The insight is not nihilistic but liberating. Khayyam’s philosophy, as expressed here, is grounded in the recognition that fear-driven restraint gains nothing. If all paths lead to the same end, then the value of life must rest in how it is lived, not in speculative promises about what comes after.

The quatrain talks naturally about Meaning & Doubt, where questions of belief, reward, and certainty take centre stage. It also resonates with themes from Doubts Concerning the Bases of Knowledge, where Khayyam interrogates the trustworthiness of inherited doctrines. Echoes of Necessity of Contradiction in the World, Determinism, and Immortality emerge as well, since the poem meditates on the relationship between mortal fate and imagined immortality. In all, the verse invites readers to reconsider whether deferring joy for the sake of the unknown is wisdom, or simply fear in disguise.

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Footnote

* Source: Trabkhaneh, Homaei, no. 475, translated by Kam Austine for the book Philosophy in Verse

Related Khayyam’s Treatises:

Doubts Concerning the Bases of Knowledge
Necessity of Contradiction in the World, Determinism, and Immortality
On the World and the Duty

Internal Themes: #Meaning #Doubt #Belief #Mortality

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Published as part of the Philosophy in Verse Series — under “Meaning & Doubt.”