"Three Butterflies"

What can I say about ‘Aṭṭār? Would that the well of my words were deep enough!

A truly marvelous poem, so simple as to be recited by a child, so weighty in meaning as to drown an intelligent adult, and yet so beautifully winged as to carry the listener aloft into a world of infinite meaning and experience that is at the same time not separate from our own mundane. Beautifully sung by Salar Aghili.

The words in Persian are (if you didn't want to read the beautiful nastaliq font in the video):

جملگی در حکم سه پروانه‌ایم

در جهان عاشقان افسانه‌ایم

اولی خود را به شمع نزدیک کرد

گفت حال من یافتم معنئ عشق

دومی نزدیک شعله بال زد

گفت حال من سوختم در سوز عشق

سومی خود  داخل آتش فکند

آری آری این بود معنئ عشق

In transliteration,
Jomlegi dar hokm-e seh parvaneh ’im
Dar jahan-e asheqan afsaneh ’im


Avvali khod ra beh sham‘ nazdeek kard
Goft: Haal-e man yaaftam ma'naa-ye eshq


Dovvomi nazdeek-e sho‘leh baal zad
Goft: Haal-e man sookhtam dar sooz-e eshq


Sevvomi khod daakhel-e aatesh fekand
Aareh aareh een bovad ma‘naa-ye eshq

All of us are in reality three butterflies

in the world of the lovers, we're a fable

The first came near the candle

and said: "I've discovered the meaning of love!"

The second fluttered its wing near the flame

and said: "I've been burned by the fire of love!"

The third threw himself into the fire

Yes! This is the meaning of love!

< UPDATE >
As the Ṣūfī Lāhījī wrote in his Mafātiḥ al-i‘jāz, a commentary on the Gulshan-i Rāz of Maḥmūd Shabistarī, "As long as one has not tasted honey, its relish is unknown; the mere mention of the word 'honey' never makes the mouth sweet" (p. 155, Lewisohn).

(h/t AN) A good friend just pointed out to me that this metaphor refers specifically to an intellectual Ṣūfī concept of three levels of certainty of knowledge: ‘ilm al-yaqīn or the “Lore of Certainty”, ‘ayn al-yaqīn or the “Eye of Certainty”, and highest of all, the ḥaqq al-yaqīn or the “Truth of Certainty”. In his book Beyond Faith and Infidelity: The Sufi Poetry and Teachings of Maḥmūd Shabistarī, Leonard Lewisohn cites this passage by Martin Lings:

The lowest degree, that of the Lore of Certainty, belongs to one whose knowledge of fire comes merely from hearing it described, like those who received from Moses no more than “tidings” of the Burning Bush. The second degree, that of the Eye of Certainty, belongs to one whose knowledge of fire comes from seeing the light of its flames, like those who were shown a firebrand. The highest degree, that of the Truth of Certainty, belongs to one whose knowledge of fire comes from being burnt in it. (p. 25, Lewisohn)

Essentially, verbal testimony is trumped by direct perception, which in turn is trumped by something deeper, even more fully experiential and, quite likely, self-validating.
< /UPDATE >