The Tale of Simorgh

When you begin the Valley of the Quest Misfortunes will deprive you of all rest,
When once your hands are empty, then your heart Must purify itself and move apart
From everything that is – when this is done,
The Lord’s light blazes brighter than the sun,
Your heart is bathed in splendour and the quest Expands a thousand fold within your breast.

Love’s valley is the next, and here desire
Will plunge the pilgrim into seas of fire,
UnEl his very being is enflamed
And those whom fire rejects turn back ashamed. The lover is a man who flares and bums,
Whose face is fevered, who in frenzy yearns,
If you could penetrate their passing show
And see the world’s wild atoms, you would know That reason’s eyes will never glimpse one spark Of shining love to miEgate the dark.
Love leads whoever starts along our Way; The noblest bow to love and must obey

The next broad valley which the traveler sees Brings insight into hidden mysteries;
Each pilgrim’s progress is commensurate With his specific qualiEes and state
Our insight comes to us by different signs;
One prays in mosques and one in idols’ shrines
But when Truth’s sunlight clears the upper air,
Each pilgrim sees that he is welcomed there.
His essence will shine forth; the world that seemed

Next comes the Valley of Detachment;
here All claims, all lust for meaning disappear. The seven planets seem a fading spark,
The seven seas a pool, and heaven’s arc
Is more like dust and death than paradise; The seven burning hells freeze cold as ice. More wonderful than this, a Eny ant
Is here far stronger than an elephant;
And, while a raven feeds, a caravan
Of countless souls will perish to a man.
If thousands were to die here, they would be One drop of dew absorbed within the sea;

Next comes the Valley of pure Unity,
place of lonely, long austerity,
And all who enter on this waste have found Their various necks by one Eght collar bound – If you see many here or but a few,
They’re one, however they appear to you.
The many here are merged in one; one form Involves the mulEfarious, thick swarm
(This is the oneness of diversity,
Not oneness locked in singularity);
Unit and number here have passed away; Forget for-ever and CreaEon’s day –
That day is gone; eternity is gone;
Let them depart into oblivion.

Next comes the Valley of Bewilderment,
A place of pain and gnawing discontent –
In ice you fry, in fire you freeze – the Way
Is lost, with indecisive steps you stray –
The Unity you knew has gone; your soul
Is sca7ered and knows nothing of the Whole. If someone asks: “What is your present state; Is drunkenness or sober sense your fate,
And do you flourish now or fade away?”
The pilgrim will confess: “I cannot say;
I have no certain knowledge any more;
I doubt my doubt, doubt itself is unsure;
I love, but who is it for whom I sigh?
Not Moslem, yet not heathen; who am I?
My heart is empty, yet with love is full;
My own love is to me incredible.”

Next comes that valley words cannot express, The Vale of Poverty and Nothingness:
When sunlight penetrates the atmosphere
A hundred thousand shadows disappear,
The two worlds are those pa7erns, and in vain Men tell themselves what passes will remain. Whoever sinks within this sea is blest
And in self-loss obtains eternal rest;
Are lost when they approach this painful place, And other men leave not a single trace;
That twigs and incense offered to a flame
Both turn to powdered ash and look the same But though they seem to share a common state, Their inward essences are separate,
And evil souls sunk in this mighty sea Retain unchanged their base idenEty;
But if a pure soul sinks the waves surround His fading form, in beauty he is drowned He is not, yet he is; what could this mean? It is a state the mind has never seen.