Publisher's Synopsis
The love poems by the great thirteenth-century Persian poet, Jelaluddin Rumi, founder of the Whirling Dervishes of Sufism, are both mystical and a mystery. Are they addressed to his mentor, the wandering Shams of Tabriz (who converted him to a life of joy when he was thirty-eight), or to God, or to a lover? Reflecting the complexities and paradoxes of love and devotion - separation, cruelty, and break-up - they are poems of great power and emotional intensity, of exuberant passion and overflowing imagination. Though seemingly addressed to a lover, in their imagery they encompass the universe and are metaphors of love in its physical form, reinforced by amazing rhythms, which echo the dance of the whirling dervishes. Lassa?d Metoui, the renowned Arabic calligrapher, has beautifully captured the atmosphere and movement of the poems in this collection.
