Muntakhab al-tawarikh 28.1

28.1

I, who have made my dwelling in a corner like the Simurgh I have made my nest beyond the axis of earthly sphere. Why do I bear the shame of every bird in this ill-omened land? I have gone like the ‘Anqa and have made my resting place in the mountains.
Until the bird of my ambition swoops down upon the harvest of the lower world, I have made the harvest field of the sky full of grain like stars.
Why does the moon display the halo harvest when it does not chew a single grain to any one, whereas I with one single grain of manliness have bound many a sheaf?
By the light of the knowledge of God I have made the newly wedded virgin bride of reality to shine in the chamber of wisdom with the brilliance of the day.
The course of the heavenly bodies in the columns of the almanac of the Creation, I have proved one by one by comparison with the astronomical tables of intellect.
In the bridle of four rings, that is the trappings of the four elements, great is the training which I have given the unruly steed of my passions.
I have made the parrot of my soul, whose cage is the form of this uncouth body which is like a midden, every moment to rival the nightingale of the verdant garden.
The parrot has left for the garden; the kite of lust which is following it, circling round and round my nature, I have detained within the midden of the body.
In many an art for which the scientists had no taste I have made as great progress, hundred-fold as they are, as a man who follows but one art.