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1
1568-1592

  • In respect of the sweetnesses which thy cruelty hath, and in respect of thy beauty, no one gets to the bottom of thee.
  • I complain, and (yet) I fear lest he believe me and from kindness make that cruelty less.
  • I am exceedingly enamoured of his violence and his gentleness: ’tis marvelous (that) I (am) in love with both these contraries. 1570
  • By God, if (I escape) from this thorn (of sorrow) and enter the garden (of joy), because of this I shall begin to moan like the nightingale.
  • This is a wondrous nightingale that opens his mouth to eat thorns and roses together.
  • What nightingale is this? (Nay), ’tis a fiery monster: because of (his) love all unsweet things are sweetness to him.
  • He is a lover of the Universal, and he himself is the Universal: he is in love with himself and seeking his own love.”’”
  • Description of the wings of the birds that are Divine Intelligences.
  • Such-like is the tale of the parrot which is the soul: where is that one who is the confidant of (the spiritual) birds? 1575
  • Where is a bird, weak and innocent, and within him Solomon with (all) his host?
  • When he moans bitterly, without thanksgiving or complaint, a noise of tumult falls on (arises in) the Seven Spheres (of Heaven).
  • At every moment (there come) to him from God a hundred missives, a hundred couriers: from him one (cry of) “O my Lord!” and from God a hundred (cries of) “Labbayka” (“Here am I”).
  • In the sight of God his backsliding is better than obedience; beside his infidelity all faiths are tattered (worthless).
  • Every moment he hath an ascension (to God) peculiar to himself: He (God) lays upon his crown a hundred peculiar crowns. 1580
  • His form is on earth and his spirit in “no-place,” a “no-place” beyond the imagination of travellers (on the mystic Way):
  • Not such a “no-place” that it should come into thy understanding (or that) a fancy about it should be born in thee every moment;
  • Nay, place and “no-place” are in his control, just as the four (Paradisal) rivers are in the control of one who dwells in Paradise.
  • Cut short the explanation of this and avert thy face from it: do not breathe a word (more)—and God knows best what is right.
  • We return, O friends, to the bird and the merchant and India. 1585
  • The merchant accepted this message (and promised) that he would convey the greeting from her (the parrot) to her congeners.
  • How the merchant saw the parrots of India in the plain and delivered the parrot's message.
  • When he reached the farthest bounds of India, he saw a number of parrots in the plain.
  • He halted his beast; then he gave voice, delivered the greeting and (discharged) the trust.
  • One of those parrots trembled exceedingly, fell, and died, and its breath stopped.
  • The merchant repented of having told the news, and said, “I have gone about to destroy the creature. 1590
  • This one, surely, is kin to that little parrot (of mine): they must have been two bodies and one spirit.
  • Why did I do this? Why did I give the message? I have consumed the poor creature by this raw (foolish) speech.”