Classic and Contemporary Poetry
BIRD CONVERSATIONS, SELECTION, by FARID OD-DIN MOHAMMAD EBN EBRAHIM ATTAR First Line: The bird-soul was ashamed Last Line: "as shadows in the sun. Farewell!" Alternate Author Name(s): Attar, Ferideddin; Attar, Farid-uddin Subject(s): Birds; Sufism | ||||||||
The bird-soul was ashamed; Their body was quite annihilated; They had cleaned themselves from the dust, And were by the light ensouled. What was, and was not, -- the Past, -- Was wiped out from their breast. The sun from near-by beamed Clearest light into their soul; The resplendence of the Simorg beamed As one back from all three. They knew not, amazed, if they Were either this or that. They saw themselves all as Simorg, Themselves in the eternal Simorg. When to the Simorg up they looked, They beheld him among themselves; And when they looked on each other, They saw themselves in the Simorg. A single look grouped the two parties, The Simorg emerged, the Simorg vanished, This in that, and that in this, As the world has never heard. So remained they, sunk in wonder, Thoughtless in deepest thinking, And quite unconscious of themselves. Speechless prayed they to the Highest To open this secret, And to unlock Thou and We. There came an answer without tongue. -- "The Highest is a sun-mirror; Who comes to Him sees himself therein, Sees body and soul, and soul and body: When you came to the Simorg, Three therein appeared to you, And, had fifty of you come, So had you seen yourselves as many. Him has none of us yet seen. Ants see not the Pleiades. Can the gnat grasp with his teeth The body of the elephant? What you see is He not; What you hear is He not. The valleys which you traverse, The actions which you perform, They lie under our treatment And among our properties. You as three birds are amazed, Impatient, heartless, confused: Far over you am I raised, Since I am in act Simorg. Ye blot out my highest being, That ye may find yourselves on my throne; Forever ye blot out yourselves, As shadows in the sun. Farewell!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CONFERENCE OF THE BIRDS, SELS. by FARID OD-DIN MOHAMMAD EBN EBRAHIM ATTAR BLACKENED FACE IS BETTER THAN A BLACKENED HEART by BAHU A'WAN FRIEND FOR ONE BREATH AND AN ENEMY FOR A HUNDRED THOUSAND by BAHU A'WAN GARDEN HAS BLOOMED, BAHU, SHAMING THE NARCISSUS AND RUE by BAHU A'WAN LOVER'S HEART IS LIKE MELTED WAX, RUSHING TOWARD ITS BEL by BAHU A'WAN TRUE LOVER IS ONE WHO ACCEPTS DEATH FOR THE BELOVED by BAHU A'WAN ARABIAN STALLIONS CANNOT BE HIDDEN BENEATH THREADBARE SADDL by BAHU A'WAN ARISE AND SHINE BRIGHT, MOON! THE STARS ARE ENGAGED IN YOUR by BAHU A'WAN ARISE AND SHINE BRIGHT, MOON! THE STARS RE ENGAGED IN DIVIN by BAHU A'WAN THE WELCOME by FARID OD-DIN MOHAMMAD EBN EBRAHIM ATTAR A BALLAD OF ATHLONE; OR, HOW THEY BROKE DOWN THE BRIDGE by AUBREY THOMAS DE VERE |
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