Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

I have begun reading through “The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever” and one of the early essays really caught my eye — The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Specifically, one of the quatrains really made me stop and think. Although you can read it for yourself, I have reproduced it here:

To all of us the thought of heaven is dear—
Why not be sure of it and make it here?
No doubt there is a heaven yonder too,
But ’tis so far away—and you are near.

Now, from what I understand, Omar Khayyám like both women and wine a great deal and there is a good chance that the translation of this quatrain by Richard Le Gallienne is really showing his love of chasing women — specifically the “and you are near”. However, I interpret this quatrain thusly: we all like the idea of heaven, but what if it doesn’t exist? Is it not better to try and make the best of the life we have — to “make [heaven] here”? At the very least, our Earthly life is here and now while heaven “[is] so far away” So, I interpret this as an urging to live our lives to the fullest here on Earth — a very happy message.

What is your interpretation?

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