Omar Khayyam Poems

“Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat remains a source of inspiration for generations to come. In his lucid translation or perhaps rendition of the Rubaiyat, Siamak Akhavan has provided a balance between accuracy and eloquence for the modern reader.”


—Mehdi Aminrazavi, Professor, University of Mary Washington





“Akhavan’s translations of Khayyam’s poems emanate light, verve, and compassion. His quatrains paint vivid and intense images in the mind’s eye, capturing the joy and complexity of a brilliant thinker—one who embraced life in his eleventh-century Persian culture, which denied him freedom to voice his inner thoughts for fear of persecution. Unlike the Victorian and hedonistic style of Fitzgerald’s Rubaiyat, Akhavan’s translations flow gracefully and are eloquently simplistic, enticing the poetry lover to languor in the richness of Omar’s world.”


—Virginia Bria, Instructor, Sonoma State University








“These rhymed quatrains, more faithful to the original Persian, offer a necessary and long-overdue corrective to the well-known renderings of Edward Fitzgerald. They can be read in the spirit of Omar Khayyam’s original writing, simultaneously for wisdom and for pleasure.”


—Roger Sedarat, Professor, Queens College MFA Program in Literary Translation