Bulbul - Nightingale and Roses Giclee by Laurie Blum

Meherabad, India / Myrtle Beach, SC / April 2007I have painted the Red-Vented Bulbul because it is the Nightingale which Hafez immortalized in his ghazels. I had to paint the Roses first, symbolic of the Beloved, before I was able to paint the lover, the Bulbul.The Nightingale proclaims its love for the Rose in excerpts from my book: Language of the Birds-It Is All The Mirror of God, an original adaptation of Farid al-Din - Attarâ's Conference of the Birds.NIGHTINGALE - BULBUL speaks:"Comes the dawn to find me in my magical garden fair, Rather sleepy, for I serenade my Rose each night with care.Within my love's transcendent abode, thousands of flowers abide, But like a stone, my soul's devotion is adamant for my bride. Like Hafez, I am not comely; his beloved heaped on him her scorn.Mine regards me with disdain as well, and still, I rush against her thorns.Swooning with grief and heavy head, from my love's dispassion, I mourn. My vow to sacrifice each drop of blood, like rubies I have