Mystical Poems of Rumi

"My verse resembles the bread of Egypt--night passes over it, and you cannot eat it any more."That line above, featured in the book's description, I would have tried to enhance, broke more open, played with those words in hopes of creating part of a great song, mined more gold out of the angel, and perhaps made the line truly literal, more giving as it should be, closer to the truth; in short have a greater ability to feed the common palate. Attempting something like this with my brush:My verse resembles a rare bread in Egypt,nights can pass, but still it is fresh.Birds could come and tear it apart, andcarry my remains into the sky.Wonderful, pieces will then fall all overearth,and the living sprouts will take root inany heart that holds me close.O the little, insignificant drama and bucking heads of some scholars with the artist. Rumi, what should any say to you, my dear -- and those who bring your name to us -- but thanks.Daniel Ladinskybest selling Penguin author of poetry

Following intensive research, the purchase of this book has been a part of the process of building a library of Islamic literature, that relates particularly to seeking the path of excellence in spirituality, purification of the heart, ascetism, and an appreciation and understanding of the experiences of those who have followed this very path previously. The goal, God willing, in turn is to be inspired and motivated to seek success in a journey of personal development. Hence, this book is a piece of the puzzle of the big picture.The approach to research has also been to identify and select books that include contributions made by great personalities in Islam, with preference for books written by the personalities themselves, where possible.I have been very pleased with this book. It has been a good purchase. I hold AJ Arberry in a very high regard. Thank you for making this great publication available in English.

I can't say I'm too happy with this book for several reasons. In the begining of the book, somewhere before poems, there is a publisher comment saying something in the line that this is one of the few books that made justice to what Rumi was saying, and others are new age type of renderings, and then he went naming some of those "new age" authors. That is in my oppinion very low thing to do.Translation itself is quite intelectual and it seems to me that the translator made something simple into something complex just for the sake of having that intelectual tone. Translator is also using words which are not used much today. I personally am not native speaker but I have enough experience with english to determine which words are not used much, so this can make the reading a bit difficult as well.Other then that, the book is satisfactory. I am still searching for some good translation of Rumi's poems.

This is one of the first English translations of Rumi's amazing mystical poems - in some senses it is a continuation or extension of that published by Arberry's predecessor & mentor, R.A. Nicholson. It is similarly literally accurate (as far as I have gathered from several comparative reviews by Persian-speaking critics - which I am not).It also has much of the same drawback of being perhaps too literal or sometimes archaic in language - to the point of obscuring the feeling for modern readers - which is a shame since Rumi's message is so profound and inspiring.That said, I find it useful for clarifying what the original poem is saying, especially in a side-by-side comparison with other translations, which are perhaps more readable but sometimes less accurate.Perhaps not the best intro Rumi reader, but a great resource for real Rumi afficionados.One plus about this edition - it contains all 200 of Arberry's translations of ghazals from Rumi's Diwan - and in a more readable format than some other editions (some of which are either the first or second volume).

This is my second book on Rumi, after doing some (eye opining) on-line research I decided to spend some quiet "winter" nights in anther time and another place via Jalal al Din Rumi the Persian poet.

Love this book! It has deep poems, I wish there were someone to explain it. But lovely!

all-around great. thanks.

The master of ecstatic love, a great way too end the day. Always a joy to contemplate this great minds poetry.

lovely book