Short Poetry Collection 170

The centerpiece of this collection is one of the great masterpieces of Sufi literature. Farid ud-Din Attar's "Parliament of the Birds" is an allegory of extraordinary power: the birds of the world, dissatisfied with their lack of leadership, undertake a perilous journey to seek the divine Simorgh. But the path demands they surrender everything they are, their pride, their possessions, their very sense of self. Each bird offers excuses, and Attar answers each with a tale that strips away another layer of ego. Only those who complete the journey discover what awaits them, and what the name Simorgh truly means. Edward Fitzgerald, who first brought Omar Khayyam to English readers, provides the translation that made this 12th-century Persian masterpiece accessible to the West. Thirty-four poems in total, but this is the one that endures.