Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Muslim / Sufi 12th Century	About Farid ud-Din Attar Timeline (1120? - 1220?)
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English version by Raficq Abdulla Original Language Persian/Farsi	The Nightingale
Commentary by Ivan M. Granger Themes   Birds   Flute   Garden   Heart   Lover and Beloved   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 >>	The nightingale raises his head, drugged with passion, Pouring the oil of earthly love in such a fashion That the other birds shaded with his song, grow mute. The leaping mysteries of his melodies are acute. 'I know the secrets of Love, I am their piper,' He sings, 'I seek a David with broken heart to decipher Their plaintive barbs, I inspire the yearning flute, The daemon of the plucked conversation of the lute. The roses are dissolved into fragrance by my song, Hearts are torn with its sobbing tone, broken along The fault lines of longing filled with desire's wrong. My music is like the sky's black ocean, I steal The listener's reason, the world becomes the seal Of dreams for chosen lovers, where only the rose Is certain. I cannot go further, I am lame, and expose My anchored soul to the divine Way. My love for the rose is sufficient, I shall stay In the vicinity of its petalled image, I need No more, it blooms for me the rose, my seed. The hoopoe replies: 'You love the rose without thought. Nightingale, your foolish song is caught By the rose's thorns, it is a passing thing. Velvet petal, perfume's repose bring You pleasure, yes, but sorrow too For the rose's beauty is shallow: few Escape winter's frost. To seek the Way Release yourself from this love that lasts a day. The bud nurtures its own demise as day nurtures night. Groom yourself, pluck the deadly rose from your sight.     -- from The Conference of the Birds: The Selected Sufi Poetry of Farid ud-Din Attar, Translated by Raficq Abdulla Amazon.com
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Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

Throughout the Middle East and India the nightingale is associated with lovers and with longing. The bird's song is plaintive, longing, yet beautifully entrancing. And it sings at twilight, the meeting time of secret lovers. Yet, like the Mediterranean tradition of Eros, the nightingale can symbolize both mundane romantic desire and also the sacred yearning of the soul for the Divine Beloved.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, in Attar's masterpiece The Conference of the Birds, each bird represents a soul or soul-quality that aspires to journey toward God (the Simurgh), yet they must overcome their weaknesses and limitations. Here, the nightingale, longing, is at first so attached to worldly beauty and love that it hesitates, saying, "I cannot go further, I am lame, and expose / My anchored soul to the divine Way. / My love for the rose is sufficient, I shall stay..." The purity of its longing, even for worldly experiences of beauty, has granted it a sort of limited mystical realization, and it is on the verge giving up its quest for anything more eternal.

But the hoopoe (the spiritual guide) chides the nightingale, saying that such worldly attraction "is a passing thing," that it brings "pleasure, yes, but sorrow too / For the rose's beauty is shallow... To seek the Way / Release yourself from this love that lasts a day." Attar (through the words of the hoopoe) is reminding us to not become attached to outer forms, to not fall in love with "shallow" experiences of beauty. Instead, one must seek the eternal source of beauty, not its shifting surface shimmerings.

Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2008 by Ivan M. Granger.
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