Thursday, August 7, 2008

Sufi Poetry

My love for all things "Sufi" now extends to Sufi Poetry. Here is a piece that I absolutely loved. It takes our image of death - going from leading a vibrant life into a confined coffin - and turns it upside down. Beautiful.

In the dead of night, a Sufi began to weep.
He said, "This world is like a closed coffin, in which
We are shut and in which, through our ignorance,
We spend our lives in folly and desolation.
When Death comes to open the lid of the coffin,
Each one who has wings will fly off to Eternity,
But those without will remain locked in the coffin.
So, my friends, before the lid of this coffin is taken off,
Do all you can to become a bird of the Way to God;
Do all you can to develop your wings and your feathers."

Farid ud Din Attar, translation by Andrew Harvey and Eryk Hanut - 'Perfume of the Desert'

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