Wings of the Birds of Divine Intellect
From Rumi’s Masnavi (مثنوی معنوی), Book 1, section 84 of 171: Description of the wings of the birds that are Divine Intelligences (صفت اجنحه‌‌ی طیور عقول الهی). Below, each of its 24 couplets is given in Persian, followed by R. A. Nicholson’s English translation.
Description of the wings of the birds that are Divine Intelligences. صفت اجنحه‌‌ی طیور عقول الهی
قصه‌‌ی طوطی جان زین سان بود
کو کسی کو محرم مرغان بود
Such-like is the tale of the parrot which is the soul: where is that one who is the confidant of (the spiritual) birds?
کو یکی مرغی ضعیفی بی‌‌گناه
و اندرون او سلیمان با سپاه
Where is a bird, weak and innocent, and within him Solomon with (all) his host?
چون بنالد زار بی‌‌شکر و گله
افتد اندر هفت گردون غلغله
When he moans bitterly, without thanksgiving or complaint, a noise of tumult falls on (arises in) the Seven Spheres (of Heaven).
هر دمش صد نامه صد پیک از خدا
یا ربی زو شصت لبیک از خدا
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”).
زلت او به ز طاعت نزد حق
پیش کفرش جمله ایمانها خلق
In the sight of God his backsliding is better than obedience; beside his infidelity all faiths are tattered (worthless).
هر دمی او را یکی معراج خاص
بر سر تاجش نهد صد تاج خاص
Every moment he hath an ascension (to God) peculiar to himself: He (God) lays upon his crown a hundred peculiar crowns.
صورتش بر خاک و جان بر لامکان
لامکانی فوق وهم سالکان
His form is on earth and his spirit in “no-place,” a “no-place” beyond the imagination of travellers (on the mystic Way):
لامکانی نه که در فهم آیدت
هر دمی در وی خیالی زایدت
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;
بل مکان و لامکان در حکم او
همچو در حکم بهشتی چارجو
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.
شرح این کوته کن و رخ زین بتاب
دم مزن و الله اعلم بالصواب
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.
باز می‌‌گردیم ما ای دوستان
سوی مرغ و تاجر و هندوستان
We return, O friends, to the bird and the merchant and India.
مرد بازرگان پذیرفت این پیام
کاو رساند سوی جنس از وی سلام
The merchant accepted this message (and promised) that he would convey the greeting from her (the parrot) to her congeners.
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