You have to burn, like Farid taught us about the moths,
Only the one that joins the flame,
Will taste loves inferno,
Whilst the others flutter around it lame,
Trepid, reluctant to immerse themselves,
Reluctant to throw.
Only the one that dives after it’s circumambulating spin,
Will burn with love, will know within,
So dance not around in trivial pursuit,
But immerse yourself whole,
Settle loves affair in restitute.
W.E.
The references to the moths above are from Farid Uddin Attar’s classic poem about the three moths found in Conference of the birds.
Here is a translation of the meaning:
Moths gathered in a fluttering throng one night
To learn the truth about the candle light,
And they decided one of them should go
To gather news of the elusive glow.
One flew till in the distance he discerned
A palace window where a candle burned-
And went no nearer: back again he flew
To tell the others what he thought he knew.
The mentor of the moths dismissed his claim,
Remarking: “He knows nothing of the flame.”
A moth more eager than the one before
Set out and passed beyond the palace door.
He hovered in the aura of the fire,
A trembling blur of timorous desire,
Then headed back to say how far he’d been,
And how much he had undergone and seen.
The mentor said: “You do not bear the signs
Of one who’s fathomed how the candle shines.”
Another moth flew out — his dizzy flight
Turned to an ardent wooing of the light;
He dipped and soared, and in his frenzied trance
Both self and fire were mingled by his dance –
The flame engulfed his wing-tips, body, head,
His being glowed a fierce translucent red;
And when the mentor saw that sudden blaze,
The moth’s form lost within the glowing rays,
He said: “He knows, he knows the truth we seek,
That hidden truth of which we cannot speak.”
To go beyond all knowledge is to find
That comprehension which eludes the mind,
And you can never gain the longed-for goal
Until you first outsoar both flesh and soul;
But should one part remain, a single hair
Will drag you back and plunge you in despair –
No creature’s self can be admitted here,
Where all identity must disappear.
Translated by Afkham Darbandi / Translated by Dick D
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