When those thirty birds looked, they saw at once: these thirty birds were, beyond doubt, that Simurgh.
چون نگه کردند آن سی مرغ زود / بیشک این سی مرغ آن سیمرغ بود
Çün negeh kerdend ân sî murg zûd / Bî-şek în sî murg ân Sîmurg bûd
Attar, Mantiq al-Tayr, the section "The thirty birds before the Simurgh", the story of the letter of Joseph's brothers.
The birds set out to seek the Simurgh.
The road is long; most fall.
In the end thirty birds remain.
When they look, what they see is themselves.
In Persian, si murgh means thirty birds.
The seeker and the sought
meet in the same word.
If the treasure is not outside,
must one stop seeking?
No.
Without walking the road
one does not reach that face.