A man who lived by selling water found
He'd very little left; he looked around
And saw another water-seller there-
"Have you got any water you could spare?"
He asked. "No fool, I certainly have not,"
The other snapped; "make do with what you've got!"
"O give me some," the man began to plead;
"I'm sick of what I have; it's yours I need."
When Adam's heart grew tired of all he knew,
He yearned for wheat, a substance strange and new-
And naked suffered love's relentless pain;
He disappeared in love's intensity-
The old and new were gone and so was he;
He was annihilated, lost, made naught-
Nothingness swallowed all his hands had sought.
To turn from what we are, to yearn and die
Is not for us to choose or to deny.'
Reference~ The Conference of the Birds, Farid Ud-Din Attar
He'd very little left; he looked around
And saw another water-seller there-
"Have you got any water you could spare?"
He asked. "No fool, I certainly have not,"
The other snapped; "make do with what you've got!"
"O give me some," the man began to plead;
"I'm sick of what I have; it's yours I need."
When Adam's heart grew tired of all he knew,
He yearned for wheat, a substance strange and new-
And naked suffered love's relentless pain;
He disappeared in love's intensity-
The old and new were gone and so was he;
He was annihilated, lost, made naught-
Nothingness swallowed all his hands had sought.
To turn from what we are, to yearn and die
Is not for us to choose or to deny.'
Reference~ The Conference of the Birds, Farid Ud-Din Attar
