Li.*

Whose secret Presence, through Creation's veins Running Quicksilver-like eludes your pains; Taking all shapes from Mah to Mahi; and They change and perish all--but He remains;

In this quatrain FitzGerald has made a masterly conversion of C. 72.

That Moon which is by nature skilled in metamorphosis Is sometimes animal and sometimes vegetable, Do not imagine that it will become non-existent--away with thought! It is always possessed of its essence though its qualities cease to be.

Ref.: C. 72, L. 179, B. 176, S.P. 73, B. ii. 31, T. 51.--W. 75, N. 73, V. 175.

C. 40 may also be cited.

Place wine in my hand for my heart is aglow, And this fleet-footed existence is like quicksilver. Arise! for the wakefulness of good fortune turns to slumber; Know thou that the fire of youth is (fugitive) like water.

Ref.: C. 40, L. 63, B. 60, S.P. 54, T. 45.--W. 57, N. 54, V. 62.

«From Mah to Mahi»--i.e., from Moon to Fish is a common Oriental metaphor for universality. See FitzGerald's note on this subject, and the Terminal Essay to my former volume, p. 309.