All That Rhymes

In Arabic, rubai means four lines.  The poetry of Omar Khayyam, Eleventh Century Persian scientist and poet, rhymed the first, second and fourth lines of his quatrains.  That rhyme scheme became the established rubai form when Edward Fitzgerald translated The Rubiayat of Omar Khayyam into English in 1859.  Now, another scientist and Poet Laureate of the International Society of Poets offers over three hundred rubai quatrains in the challenging Omar Khayyam style.

Mr. Cox's verses were written over a fifty-year period and many have been published in magazines, newspapers, poetry anthologies, chapbooks and his books, The Essence of Jim and As The Mood Prescribes.

Rubai contains Mr. Cox's complete collection of rubai quatrains and the verses explore the realms of passion, humor, logic, philosophy and personal disquietudes.

Since the verses are four lines, the book is excellent on coffee tables, night stands and office waiting rooms.

The following quatrains are examples of rubais from the book, Rubai: 

Philosophy: 

'Tis Time

'Tis time, indeed, that you appraise

the misspent hours within Life's maze.

There are never enough tomorrows

to amend lost yesterdays.

 Humor:

Drivers

What sport to watch them as they drive,

and ponder how they will contrive,

to hide their bared psychotic ways,

if they manage to survive.

Passion:

The Slave

You are my love…my joy…my pain.

Your smile’s applause.  Your scowl can maim.

My very essence is your slave

should it escape my soul would wane.

Rubai was published by Authorhouse in March 2009. It contains over three hundred rubai quatrains and rubiayats in 161 pages. It is available in soft cover and e-book format through Authorhouse, Amazon, Kindle and local bookstores. To place your order use Rubai, by James E. Cox, ISBN: 978-1-4389-8.

A sample of twelve of the poems can by purchased from Kindle for 99 cents as Rubai Gems.