Poems

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One of the greatest poes of Persia's golden age, Jalal al-Din, commonly known as Rumi (1207–73) is, with the exception of Omar Khayyam, the most celebrated of all Persian writers. A scholar and theologian of great subtlety, Rumi is known in the West as a celebrant of Sufism, the mystical branch of Islam which cultivates above all things union with God, the Beloved. This spiritual doctrine he expounded in lyric verse of startling beauty, earthy humour and human sympathy, qualities which still speal to readers in our own time, Muslim or non-Muslim. By drawing on versions from different translators, ranging from the free to the near-literal, this selection from the huge corpus of Rumi's work reveals an engaging, brilliant and passionate poet with a seemingly limitless fund of vivid metaphor and homely fable.