Mantiq al-tair - Epílogo

"0 Attar! you have scattered on the world the contents of the vessel of the musk of secrets.

The horizons of the world are full of your perfumes and lovers are disturbed because of you.

Your verses are your seal;

and they are known as Mantiq Uttair and Makamat ut-Tiyur.

These conferences and talks and discourses of the birds are the stages of the war of bewilderment; or, one may say, they are the Diwan of Intoxication.

Enter into this diwan with love. When the horse of your love gallops and you desire something, act in conformity with Your desire

Love is the remedy for all ills, and it is the remedy of the soul in the two worlds.

0 you, who have set out on the path of inner development, do not read my book only as a poetical work, or a book of magic,

but read it with understanding; and for this a man must be hungry for something, dissatisfied with himself and this world.

He who has not smelt the perfume of my discourse has not found the way of lovers.

But he who will read it with care will become active, and will be worthy to enter the Way of which I speak.

Those of the outer world will be like drowned men as regards my discourse; but men of the inner world will understand its secrets.

My book is the ornament of its time; it is at once a gift for distinguished men and a boon for the common.

If a man as cold as ice reads this book he will shoot forth as fire out of the veil which hides the mystery from him.

My writings have an astonishing peculiarity - they give more profit according to the manner in which they are read.

If you ponder over them often they will benefit you more each time. The veil of this 'wife of the harem' will be drawn aside for you only gradually in the place of honor and grace.

I have scattered pearls from the ocean of contemplation; I am thereby acquitted, and this, my book, is the proof.

But if I praise myself too much, you may not approve; though he who is impartial will recognize my merit, for the light of my full moon is not hidden.

If I am not remembered for myself I shall be remembered until the resurrection by the pearls of poetry that I have scattered on the heads of men.

The cupolas of heaven will dissolve before this poem shall perish.

Reader! If you experience some well-being through having read this poem with attention, remember the writer in your prayers.

have strewn here and there roses from the garden. Remember me well, 0 my friends!

Each teacher reveals his ideas in his own special war, and then he disappears.

Like my predecessors I have revealed the bird of my soul to these who are asleep.

Perhaps the sleep which fills your life has deprived you of this discourse;

but, having met it, your soul will be awakened by the secret which it reveals.

And now my brain is smoked like a niche where stands a lamp.

I have said to myself: '0 you who talk so much, instead of so much talking beat your head and search the secrets.

What is the use of all these narrations to men corrupted with egoism?

What can come out of hearts taken up with vanity and self-pride?'

If you wish the ocean of your soul to remain in a state of salutary movement you must die to all your old life, and then keep silence."

Mantiq al-tair aka"Conferência dos Pássaros" é um poema espiritual de Farid ud-Din cAttar (1145-1221).