Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Muslim / Sufi

12th Century

About Farid ud-Din Attar

Timeline (1120? - 1220?)

Farid ud-Din Attar, Farid ud-Din Attar poetry, Muslim / Sufi, Muslim / Sufi poetry, poetry, [TRADITION SUB2] poetry, poetry

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English version by
Coleman Barks

Original Language
Persian/Farsi

Looking for your own face

Themes

Death

Lover and Beloved

Water

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

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Your face is neither infinite nor ephemeral.
You can never see your own face,
only a reflection, not the face itself.

So you sigh in front of mirrors
and cloud the surface.

It's better to keep your breath cold.
Hold it, like a diver does in the ocean.
One slight movement, the mirror-image goes.

Don't be dead or asleep or awake.
Don't be anything.

What you most want,
what you travel around wishing to find,
lose yourself as lovers lose themselves,
and you'll be that.

-- from The Hand of Poetry: Five Mystic Poets of Persia, with Lectures by Inayat Khan, Translated by Coleman Barks

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Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

About Farid ud-Din Attar

Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World