It is an awkward time to seize the day, even in a way that demonstrates grace and decorum. Luckily we have the example of Charles Martin, whose career as a poet and translator has been to show that the classical engagement with poetry and experience has remained fresh . . . The pleasures of Martin enfold and are enfolded by an epicurean’s comprehension of life’s brevity and richness . . . The sonnet, the ballade, the chains of rhyme, these ways of plotting a narrative turn up repeatedly in the book, but at the heart, as the title itself promises, is the rubaiyat stanza of Omar Khayyam.

—Mark Jarman, THE HUDSON REVIEW, Autumn 2025