A line from Iran
A small living planet you can hold.
The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
عمر خیام
Persian mathematician, astronomer and poet · 1048–1131
Born in Nishapur, Iran
Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, quatrain LI, first edition
Tr. Edward FitzGerald, 1859 · Public domain · Source (opens the digitised edition in a new tab)