By Omar Khayyam

While my dust was being tempered in the mould

The dust of much trouble was raised;

I cannot be better than I am -

I am as I was poured from the crucible.

By Omar Khayyam, translated by Peter Avery and John Heath-Stubbs, from The Ruba`iyat of Omar Khayyam (Penguin Books, 1984)