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| View All Poems by Farid ud-Din Attar | Next Poem >>

A slave's freedom

Farid ud-Din Attar, Farid ud-Din Attar poetry, Muslim / Sufi, Muslim / Sufi poetry,  poetry, [TRADITION SUB2] poetry,  poetry by Farid ud-Din Attar
(1120? - 1220?) Timeline

English version by
Afkham Darbandi and Dick Davis

Original Language
Persian/Farsi

Muslim / Sufi
12th Century

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

 


/ Photo by innerlogic /

Themes

  Bliss
  Death
  Freedom
  Snow
 


Recommended Books


The Conference of the Birds, Translated by Afkham Darbandi / Translated by Dick Davis
Conference of the Birds: A Seeker's Journey to God, Translated by Rustom Pestonji Masani
The Conference of the Birds: The Selected Sufi Poetry of Farid ud-Din Attar, Translated by Raficq Abdulla
The Drunken Universe: An Anthology of Persian Sufi Poetry, Translated by Peter Lamborn Wilson / Translated by Nasrollah Pourjavady
The Hand of Poetry: Five Mystic Poets of Persia, with Lectures by Inayat Khan, Translated by Coleman Barks

More >>

 

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Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2011 by Ivan M. Granger.
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