{"id":8155,"date":"2022-10-28T10:51:46","date_gmt":"2022-10-28T17:51:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=8155"},"modified":"2022-10-28T11:05:11","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T18:05:11","slug":"farid-ud-din-attar-the-peacocks-excuse-conference-of-the-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2022\/10\/28\/farid-ud-din-attar-the-peacocks-excuse-conference-of-the-birds\/","title":{"rendered":"Farid ud-Din Attar – The peacock’s excuse (Conference of the Birds)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The peacock\u2019s excuse
\nby Farid ud-Din Attar<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

English version by Afkham Darbandi and Dick Davis<\/font><\/p>\n

Next came the peacock, splendidly arrayed
\nIn many-coloured pomp; this he displayed
\nAs if he were some proud, self-conscious bride
\nTurning with haughty looks from side to side.
\n\u2018The Painter of the world created me,\u2019
\nHe shrieked, \u2018but this celestial wealth you see
\nShould not excite your hearts to jealousy.
\nI was a dweller once in paradise;
\nThere the insinuating snake\u2019s advice
\nDeceived me \u2014 I became his friend, disgrace
\nWas swift and I was banished from that place.
\nMy dearest hope is that some blessed day
\nA guide will come to indicate the way
\nBack to my paradise. The king you praise
\nIs too unknown a goal; my inward gaze
\nIs fixed for ever on that lovely land \u2014
\nThere is the goal which I can understand.
\nHow could I seek the Simorgh out when I
\nRemember paradise?\u2019 And in reply
\nThe hoopoe said: \u2018These thoughts have made you stray
\nFurther and further from the proper Way;
\nYou think your monarch\u2019s palace of more worth
\nThan Him who fashioned it and all the earth.
\nThe home we seek is in eternity;
\nThe Truth we seek is like a shoreless sea,
\nOf which your paradise is but a drop.
\nThis ocean can be yours; why should you stop
\nBeguiled by dreams of evanescent dew?
\nThe secrets of the sun are yours, but you
\nContent yourself with motes trapped in its beams.
\nTurn to what truly lives, reject what seems \u2014
\nWhich matters more, the body or the soul?
\nBe whole: desire and journey to the Whole.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> \u2014 from The Conference of the Birds<\/a>, Translated by Afkham Darbandi \/ Translated by Dick Davis<\/font><\/p>\n


\/ Image by Avinash Kumar<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

We have some delightful bird activity here at our new place in Eugene, Oregon. An elderly neighbor feeds the pigeons so, in the mornings, it is not uncommon to hear an explosion of feathered movement followed by the sight of thirty or more pigeons bursting from the nearby yard, flying in concert over our backyard, out and around the neighborhood, before circling back to settle into our neighbor\u2019s yard again. Crows, one-by-one or in small groups of half a dozen also come by in search of food and community with their curiosity and friendly squabbling. Blue jays regularly hop around in the bushes, marking their presence with a sharp edged cry. I often hear more than see the occasional hummingbird, the deep buzzing wingbeats above a tree I happen to be standing beneath accompanied by the tik-tik-tik of their faint call. Yesterday, we had strange and delightful dance of finches in one of our bushes; dozens of the birds were flitting about between branches, pausing for a bare instant, before flying out and back in again to find new branches, reconfiguring themselves again and again. The bush was alive with their movement.<\/p>\n

Appropriately, I have been rereading Attar\u2019s Conference of the Birds. This is one of my favorite collections of poetry and I periodically return to enjoy it anew. <\/p>\n

In The Conference of the Birds is a collection of poems that form a larger narrative about a group of birds who decide to go on a journey to find their king, the legendary Simurgh. This forms a rich spiritual allegory when we understand that the birds represent human souls and their leader, the hoopoe, is their sheikh or spiritual master. The elusive Simurgh is, of course, God. Through the poems and stores in The Conference of the Birds, the birds confront their fears while journeying through seven valleys before they ultimately find the Simurgh and complete their quest. The thirty birds who ultimately complete the quest discover that they themselves are already one with the Simurgh, playing on a pun in Persian (si and murgh can translate as 30 birds) while giving us an esoteric teaching on the presence of the Divine within us collectively.<\/p>\n

I have read several English translations and, while several are good, I have yet to come across a version in English that I feel truly soars.<\/p>\n

The version by Darbandi and Davis, excerpted here, in my opinion gives us the best poetic rendering, though I find it frustrating too. It manages to keep up a decent, if somewhat forced rhyming structure, while covering the full collection of poems that makes up The Conference of the Birds. Translating Attar\u2019s poetry as a long series of rhyming couplets can feel to modern readers like a run-on sentence, however. It is difficult to keep the attention from wandering while reading this version cover to cover. <\/p>\n

Edward FitzGerald, who famously rendered the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam into English, also did a translation of Attar\u2019s masterpiece. FitzGerald had a rare gift for working with rhyme in English and that shows in his translation of The Conference of the Birds, but his poetic construction, which worked beautifully for the short four line quatrains of the Rubayat, can become exhausting and feel overwrought for longer pieces. He also only translated sections and those so loosely, that at times it feels as if important elements are missing.<\/p>\n

I have a nice little version of Conference of the Birds by Raficq Abdulla. It contains selected passages accompanied by traditional Persian paintings of birds. At times this translation works beautifully, at others it feels awkward. This version of The Conference of the Birds, while a pleasant sampler, does not give us the overarching narrative.<\/p>\n

The version I am currently reading is a new translation by Sholeh Wolp\u00e9. The poetry is rendered in modern English without attempting to rhyme. On some level I miss the rhyme but appreciate the choice \u2014 few modern poets can rhyme well in English. The rendering of this version does not feel especially \u201cpoetic\u201d but it has a life to it and it\u2019s very readable. What I especially like about this version is the format. In the beginning, where the birds are offering up excuses for not going on their journey, Wolp\u00e9 gives us clear distinctions that allows each passage to stand on its own while fitting well in the larger narrative: The bird offers its excuse, the hoopoe answers, and then we get prose anecdote that illustrates the deeper wisdom of the hoopoe\u2019s guidance. It works well with Attar\u2019s structure.<\/p>\n

So which version do I like best and hope to read again in the future? I have to say all of them. I find myself reading a passage in one and thinking, That\u2019s good, but I feel like there\u2019s something more. So I then turn to one of the other versions, comparing them, weighing them, trying to construct my vision of the Simurgh by combining them all.<\/p>\n

A few notes about the peacock\u2019s excuse\u2026<\/p>\n

With each bird we are invited to ask ourselves what qualities they represent in the human soul. The peacock is proud of its beauty, which displays a special attention from God during Creation. But the peacock is haunted by a terrible burden. It had dwelled in the Garden of Paradise but was seduced by the serpent, who coaxed the peacock to sneak it into paradise. As a result of this betrayal, the peacock was expelled from paradise. Now all the peacock longs for is a return to the Garden. <\/p>\n

And this is the peacock\u2019s excuse for not wanting to make the spiritual journey to find the Simurgh. The Simurgh (God) is a vague unknown goal. His love is for paradise, which he remembers as real. That is all he longs for. It may sound odd to separate paradise and God in this way, but that suggests the spiritual blindness of the peacock. Rather than recognizing that it is only the presence of God that imbues everything, including paradise, with beauty and meaning, the peacock seeks a lost memory that is more surface and feeling than real depth. This is a sort of spiritual nostalgia, a turning backward to a half-remembered perfect past, rather than looking forward toward the Source that makes every land a paradise. <\/p>\n

As the hoopoe says in response:<\/p>\n

You think your monarch\u2019s palace of more worth
\nThan Him who fashioned it and all the earth.<\/i><\/p>\n

I love the lines that follow:<\/p>\n

The home we seek is in eternity;
\nThe Truth we seek is like a shoreless sea,
\nOf which your paradise is but a drop.<\/i><\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Farid ud-Din Attar<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Poetry for the Spirit: Poems of Universal Wisdom and Beauty<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Drunken Universe: An Anthology of Persian Sufi Poetry<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nMusic of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nPerfume of the Desert: Inspirations from Sufi Wisdom<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Conference of the Birds<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
More Books >><\/a><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\"Farid<\/a>\n<\/td>\n\nFarid ud-Din Attar<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Iran\/Persia (1120? \u2013 1220?) Timeline<\/a>
\nMuslim \/ Sufi<\/a><\/a>
\n<\/a><\/a><\/em>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

Farid ud-Din Attar was born in Nishapur, in what is today north-east Iran. There is disagreement over the exact dates of his birth and death but several sources confirm that he lived about 100 years. He is traditionally said to have been killed by Mongol invaders. His tomb can be seen today in Nishapur.<\/p>\n

As a younger man, Attar went on pilgrimage to Mecca and traveled extensively, seeking wisdom in Egypt, Damascus, India, and other areas, before finally returning to his home city of Nishapur.<\/p>\n

The name Attar means herbalist or healer, which was his profession. (The profession can also carry implications of alchemy.) It is said that he saw as many as 500 patients a day in his shop, prescribing herbal remedies which he prepared himself, and he wrote his poetry while attending to his patients.<\/p>\n

About thirty works by Attar survive, but his masterpiece is the Mantic at-Tayr (The Conference of the Birds). In this collection, he describes a group of birds (individual human souls) under the leadership of a hoopoe (spiritual master) who determine to search for their king, the legendary Simurgh bird (God). The birds must confront their own individual limitations and fears while journeying through seven valleys before they ultimately find the Simurgh and complete their quest. The 30 birds who ultimately complete the quest discover that they themselves are already one with the Simurgh they sought, playing on a pun in Persian (si and murgh can translate as 30 birds) while giving us an esoteric teaching on the presence of the Divine within us collectively.<\/p>\n

Attar\u2019s poetry inspired Rumi and many other Sufi poets. It is said that Rumi actually met Attar when Attar was an old man and Rumi was a boy, though some scholars dispute this possibility.<\/p>\n

Farid ud-Din Attar was apparently tried at one point for heresy and exiled from Nishapur, but he eventually returned to his home city and that is where he died.<\/p>\n

A traditional story is told about Attar\u2019s death. He was taken prisoner by a Mongol during the invasion of Nishapur. Someone soon came and tried to ransom Attar with a thousand pieces of silver. Attar advised the Mongol not to sell him for that price. The Mongol, thinking to gain an even greater sum of money, refused the silver. Later, another person came, this time offering only a sack of straw to free Attar. Attar then told the Mongol to sell him for that was all he was worth. Outraged at being made to look like a fool, the Mongol cut off Attar\u2019s head.<\/p>\n

Whether or not this is literally true isn\u2019t the point. This story is used to teach the mystical insight that the personal self isn\u2019t of much real worth. What is valuable is the Beloved\u2019s presence within us \u2014 and that presence isn\u2019t threatened by the death of the body.<\/p>\n

More poetry by Farid ud-Din Attar<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The peacock\u2019s excuse by Farid ud-Din Attar English version by Afkham Darbandi and Dick Davis Next came the peacock, splendidly arrayed In many-coloured pomp; this he displayed As if he were some proud, self-conscious bride Turning with haughty looks from side to side. \u2018The Painter of the world created me,\u2019 He shrieked, \u2018but this celestial […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[44,349,348,2499,193,350,2498,91,2500,1110,19],"class_list":["post-8155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-attar","tag-conference-of-the-birds","tag-farid-ud-din-attar","tag-hoopoe","tag-muslim-poetry","tag-parliament-of-the-birds","tag-peacock","tag-persian-poetry","tag-simorgh","tag-simurgh","tag-sufi-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8155"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8157,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8155\/revisions\/8157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}