"The bird-soul was ashamed; Their body was quite annihilated; They had cleaned themselves from the dust, And were by the light ensouled. What was, and was not,—the Past,— Was wiped out from their breast. The sun from near-by beamed Clearest light into their soul; The resplendence of the Simorg beamed As one back from all three. They knew not, amazed, if they Were either this or that. They saw themselves all as Simorg, Themselves in the eternal Simorg. When to the Simorg up they looked, They beheld him among themselves; And when they looked on each other They saw themselves in the Simorg. A single look grouped the two parties, The Simorg emerged, the Simorg vanished, This in that, and that in this, As the world has never heard. So remained they, sunk in wonder, Thoughtless in deepest thinking, And quite unconscious of themselves. Speechless prayed they to the Highest To open this secret, And to unlock _Thou_ and _We_. There came an answer without tongue.— 'The Highest is a sun-mirror; Who comes to Him sees himself therein, Sees body and soul, and soul and body; When you came to the Simorg, Three therein appeared to you, And, had fifty of you come, So had you seen yourselves as many. Him has none of us yet seen. Ants see not the Pleiades. Can the gnat grasp with his teeth The body of the elephant? What you see is He not; What you hear is He not. The valleys which you traverse, The actions which you perform, They lie under our treatment And among our properties You as three birds are amazed, Impatient, heartless, confused: Far over you am I raised, Since I am in act Simorg. Ye blot out my highest being, That ye may find yourselves on my throne; For ever ye blot out yourselves, As shadows in the sun. Farewell!'" FOOTNOTES: [Footnote D: or Jámi.] The Charm of Womankind SOME OPINIONS OF MEN ON "THE ETERNAL FEMININE" _With a Frontispiece in Colours from a Painting by_ W. A. BREAKSPEARE. * * * * * FITZGERALD CENTENARY EDITION. Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám AND Salámán and Absál WITH LIFE OF EDWARD FITZGERALD and an ESSAY ON PERSIAN POETRY _Frontispiece in Colour specially designed by_ T. W. MORLEY. Pott 8vo. Cloth elegant 2s. 6d. net each; also in Latest Styles of Leather Binding. * * * * * Tales from Shakespeare BY CHARLES AND MARY LAMB. A NEW EDITION. _Edited, with an Introduction and Notes, by_ GEORGE SAMPSON. ILLUSTRATED BY J. A. WALKER. Cloth elegant, 2s. net. * * * * * PEACOCK, MANSFIELD & Co., Ltd., LONDON Transcriber's Note: Several errors in the original book have been corrected for this eBook.