You need patience for this quest

by Farid ud-Din Attar

English version by Sholeh Wolpé
Original Language Persian/Farsi

You need patience for this quest.
Not everyone is a patient seeker.
Not until the quest appears inside you
will you know the scent of longing in your blood.

But if your quest moves to the outside of you,
even if it is toward the Divine,
it will remain immature and unripe.

If you're not a seeker,
you might as well be a corpse,
a lifeless shadow on the wall,
a soulless puppet or a beast.

If you happen to find a treasure, then you must
persist even more in your quest;
stay on the Path.
But if you are cheered by that treasure
it will become an obstacle and ruin your progress.

Whatever keeps you from the Path is an idol
and will convert you into an idol worshipper.

If your head is light and your heart is hot,
if you are drunk and senseless with the wine
of longing, how can you ever be satisfied
with just one sip of anything?
Go find the source where the wine flows
and never runs out.

-- from The Conferences of the Birds, by Attar / Translated by Sholeh Wolpé

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Recommended Books: Farid ud-Din Attar

Poetry for the Spirit: Poems of Universal Wisdom and Beauty The Drunken Universe: An Anthology of Persian Sufi Poetry Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems Perfume of the Desert: Inspirations from Sufi Wisdom The Conferences of the Birds
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You need patience