Then spake one of the clear-seeing birds,
"The way extends from moon to moon":
"We have," came answer, "seven seas
Of light and fire yet to conquer;
And when at length we've gone through these,
We next are taken in by a huge fish,
That swallows up at single draught
Both fore-time and the future."
* * * * * * * *
Of so many thousands,
Fewest came to the sought-for goal.
The whole world of birds undertook the journey,
But in the end there came to goal but three:
These, without pinions, wingless,
In spirit broken, and at heart most sick.
They saw the Supreme Majesty
Exalted above reason.
Behold, they say, the sun in sight
Of majesty like this is but a mote,—
How, then, shall we attain to it?
Alas, alas, our journey's all in vain!
We have ascended to the heights of being,
Have soared up to the whole,
But have not found that which we sought.
Half dead, they sunk engulfed in naught,
And there they long time lay.
Then came a heaven's messenger
All of a sudden before them.
He spoke "Good folk, and whence are ye,
And wherefore have ye hither come?
What hap has fallen you in the world,
And what is your condition?"
They said: "Hither have we come
To have great Simorg for our king;
Lost pilgrims here we are
Of his court and way.
Already long time have we travelled it,
And from thousands are we now but three.
In the hope we've come
To look upon him, face to face.
If what we've suffered pleases him,
Then may he deign to us one single look."
The angel said, "Ye troubled souls,
Yes, his heart in mercy pities you,
And hastes herewith to your relief."
* * * * * * * *
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,
The sun from near by beamed
Clearest light into their soul;
The resplendence of the Simorg beamed
Was wiped out from their breast.
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.
Then 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!"
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Notes from Wikiquote
"Miscellaneous", p. 216, no. 766 | "Simorg" = the wise fowl, king of birds, whom no eye has seen, living on the summit of Mount Kaf | "And were by the light ensouled" = Literally, "They had a new soul, and were of another nature." — See Tholuck's Blüthensammlung, p. 285; Von Hammer's Redekünste, p. 153 | "This passage is, in our judgment, the most elevated of any to be found in the mystic literature of the East. The veil of the Sufi temple is lifted, and gleam after gleam glistens upon the mortal eye, from which again the Eternal One withdraws and is concealed in the deeps of the canopy of cloud." — Von Hammer, p. 153