The Parliament of Birds

One dear to God addressed Malek Dinar:
'I've lost myself -- but tell me how you are.'
He said: 'I get my bread from God's own hands,
Then carry out the Evil One's commands.'

Your vaunted faith is wordy insolence;
The devil strikes, and you have no defence --
This world's grief clings to you, yet you decide
You're ready for our quest! God damn your pride!
I said 'Give up the world', and now I say
Stand firm to be admitted to the Way;
If you have given Him this earthly show
When will you spread your hands and let it go?
Your sloth has drowned you in a sea of greed;
You don't know why you wait or what you need --
Though earth and heaven weep you seek out sin;
Greed blunts your faith, passion corrupts within.
What is this world, this nest of greed and lust
But leavings of oppression, windswept dust?
Here tyranny intensified its reign,
Here cruelty struck and left an emptied plain.
God calls this world a nothing, but its snare
Has trapped you, and you struggle in despair --
When will you die to such unhappiness
And take the hand that leads you from distress?
Can one who's lost in nothing rightly claim
The attributes of man, much less the name?
The creature who abandons what he sought
For nothing's sake is nought and less than nought.
What is this world's work? -- idle lethargy,
That idleness a long captivity.
What is the world but a consuming pyre,
Where nation follows nation to the fire?
And when its flames turn night to blinding day,
The lion-hearted hero runs away --
To close your eyes and flee is courage here,
Or like some fluttering moth you'll draw too near
And in the blaze be burnt; to worship flame
Is drunken pride, the path to death and shame.
The fire surrounds you, and with every breath
The scorching flames reach out and threaten death;
But they are quenched when we achieve our goal,
And look -- there waits asylum for your soul.