The Rubaiyat Book
About a jewel encrusted book of Persian Poetry by Omar Khayyam lost at sea when the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank on this day.
https://www.regencyantiquebooks.com/blog/omar-khayyam-rubaiyat-titanic/
Bright white in the night In the light of the moonIt sunk after midnight Took off before Noon Launched in SouthamptonOn April the tenthAn enormous sea vesselIn breadth, width and length The ‘bright white in the night’Was the iceberg it hitJust before midnight The ships deck moonlit The ice hit the side Of it’s five starboard cabinsIt could tolerate four Of these fierce fatal stabbings But five was the tipping pointWhich unbalanced the scales The ships spirit level Warned this big ship will fail The sea water entered At such speed through the sides That the Captain and crew And even the orchestra died More women and childrenSurvived on that day Whilst more men were victims Fifteen hundred floated away The weight of the water Unbalanced the ship The hull rose so high And the centre part ripped The top of the ship Descended so fast It crashed into the water With a splash and a blast Some passengers scrambled To escape rising waters Not enough lifeboats For those in poor quarters The unsinkable ship Now sinking faster What a Titanic Unthinkable, gigantic disaster One point five million pounds Of gigantic proportions With two thousand passengersWithout safety precautions Twenty lifeboats Took forty eight spaces Fewer life savers Made for prettier places The ship boasted facilities Like none other at sea The ultimate vessel For absolute luxury State rooms and loungesPromenade decks Smoking rooms, reading roomsThe most luxurious of wrecks Built by Harland and Wolf From a shipyard in Belfast Thomas Andrew’s the architect Was on board and did not last There were animals on board Dogs, chickens and cats But only three dogs survived I never knew that The Titanic ship Was one amongst three The Britannic her sister Also sank at sea A rarely told fact That not many know Discovered by prolific explorer The famed Jacque Cousteau The greatest of stories That I’ve ever heard The loss of a book Of rare spoken word A poetry book by Omar KhayaamA book of verse bound in Jewell’sBy an astronomical man One thousand poems All lost at sea That’s the part of this tale Which resonated with me The Rubaiyat Book Auctioned for two thousand pounds Encrusted in jewels But never re-found Within all of that loss Far out at sea I learned about Omar Khayaam And his lost poetry At Twenty Three : FortyOn April FourteenAn Iceberg collided With a Titanic machine Three Hours later On April FifteenThe vessel descendedAnd so did his dreams