The Conference of the Birds or Speech of the Birds (Persian: منطق الطیر, Manṭiq-uṭ-Ṭayr, also known as مقامات الطیور Maqāmāt-uṭ-Ṭuyūr; 1177) is a Persian poem by Sufi poet Farid ud-Din Attar, commonly known as Attar of Nishapur. The title is taken directly from the Qur’an, 27:16, where Sulayman (Solomon) and Dāwūd (David) are said to have been taught the language, or speech, of the birds (manṭiq al-ṭayr).
Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Folio from an illustrated manuscript dated c.1600. Paintings by Habiballah of Sava (active ca. 1590–1610), in ink, opaque watercolor, gold, and silver on paper, dimensions 25,4 x 11,4 cm.
She is the Madonna of the disaffected. She is the pawn of the protest movement. She is the unhappy analysand. She is the singer who would not train her voice, the rebel who drives the jaguar too fast, the Rima who hides with the birds and the deer.
Joan Didion on Joan Baez, in Slouching Towards Bethlehem (via etruscansblueinsleep)
She is the Madonna of the disaffected. She is the pawn of the protest movement. She is the unhappy analysand. She is the singer who would not train her voice, the rebel who drives the jaguar too fast, the Rima who hides with the birds and the deer.
Joan Didion on Joan Baez, in Slouching Towards Bethlehem (via etruscansblueinsleep)
“If the concept of God has any validity or any use, it can only be to make us larger, freer, and more loving. If God cannot do this, then it is time we got rid of Him.”
In our archival issue, read the full essay “Letter from a Region in My Mind,” by James Baldwin.
And what can I tell you my brother; my killer
what can I possibly say?
I guess that I miss you, I guess I forgive you
I’m glad you stood in my way
Leonard Cohen Famous Blue Raincoat (via etruscansblueinsleep)
Abdel Kader Haidara, the librarian who saved Timbuktu´s ancient cultural treasures from al-qaeda





