دم

The Sufi sense layers on top: each breath is borrowed, each one a small gift, and when you stop breathing the loan ends. Some Sufi orders practice breath-counted ذکر (zekr, remembrance), making دم the basic unit of spiritual time. The English "carpe diem" gets translated into Persian using exactly this word. Iranians who quote Khayyâm at a dinner table are making a small philosophical move: drink, eat, talk, because the world is breath and breath ends.