Persian Poets

Table Of Contents

Foreword

OMAR
The Ruba’iyat

SANAI
The Blind Men and the Elephant
From TheWalled Garden of Truth
The Wild Rose of Praise
EnergeticWork
Earthworm Guidance
The Puzzle
The Time Needed

ATTAR
Listening to the Reed Flute
Street-Sweeper
Looking for Your Own Face
From Bird Parliament

RUMI
Who SaysWords with My Mouth?
A Community of the Spirit
The Reed Flute’s Song
Sanai
A Just-Finishing Candle
Only Breath
Quatrains (‘Today, like every other . . .’)
The Shape of My Tongue
Quatrains (‘The Friend comes . . .’)
Tending Two Shops
Constant Conversation
Bonfire at Midnight
Quatrains (‘When I am with you . . .’)
Someone Digging in the Ground
Who Makes These Changes?
Chickpea to Cook
The Mouse and the Camel
Quatrains (‘A craftsman pulled . . .’)
New Moon, Hilal
The Bird of My Heart
Die Now
So Drunk am I
Aiming at Brotherhood
The Assembly is Like a Lamp
Talking in the Night
Talking through the Door
The Parrot of Bagdad
Remembered Music
The True Sufi
Reality and Appearance
The Unseen Power
Quatrains (‘Time bringeth . . .’)
He Comes

SAADI
Compassion
Beneficence
Guardians
Jesus and the Sinner
I Heard of a Man
A Certain Man
They Put a Crow in the Cage
I Asked a Scholar
From The Bostan: The Story of the Dervish and a Fox
—In Connection with Humility
—A Story in this Connection
—An Account of a Pious Person’s Humility

HAFEZ
Wine
The Ocean of Love
A Persian Song
The Lesson of the Flowers
Lawful Wine
Swimming
Strife
The Beloved
Revelation
Wild Deer
The Bird of Gardens
Sleep on Thine Eyes
Where is My Ruined Life?
The Nightingale
Return
My Friend Has Fled
Oh,Weep No More
The Breath of Dawn
Absence
The Jewel
The Dream
Forget Not
The Vale of Silence
The Garden
The Gifts
The Days of Spring
Tidings of Union
Ghazal 10
Ghazal 27
Ghazal 29
Ghazal 35
Ghazal 36
Ghazal 49
Ode 44
Ode 105
Ode 147
Ode 173
Ode 487

JAMI
Morning Air
From Salámán and Absál: Preliminary Invocation
The Simple Arab
The Birth of Salámán
Absál Tempts Salámán
The Lovers Flee
The Burning of Absál

Biographies of Poets
Acknowledgements