Wednesday, November 26, 2008



Loghman of Sarrakhs cried: "Dear God, behold Your faithful servant, poor, bewildered, old-- An old slave is permitted to go free; I've spent my life in patient loyalty, I'm bent with grief, my black hair's turned to snow; Grant manumission, Lord, and let me go." A voice replied: "When you have gained release from mind and thought, your slavery will cease; You will be free when these two disappear." He said: "Lord, it is You whom I revere; What are the mind and all its ways to me?" And left them there and then -- in ecstasy He danced and clapped his hands and boldly cried: "Who am I now? The slave I was has died; What's freedom, servitude, and where are they? Both happiness and grief have fled away; I neither own nor lack all qualities; My blindness looks on secret mysteries -- I know not whether You are I, I You; I lose myself in You, there is no two."

-- from The Conference of the Birds, Translated by Afkham Darbandi / Translated by Dick Davis
Amazon.com Farid ud-Din Attar

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