The cry of the soul in love with God has never been more eloquently expressed than by the great Persian Sufi master Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-1273). Readers have thrilled to his ecstatic songs of divine union for more than eight hundred years. Now, here is a collection of the best of Rumi's poetry in an edition small enough to carry with you wherever you go.

MawlanaJalal al-Din Rumi's poem, the Mathnawi, is one of the best known and most influential works of Muslim mysticism. Its author was born in 1207 at Balkh in Central Asia but, as a child accompanied his father and family to settle in Qonya in Anatolia. After he had followed his father as a preacher, Rumi's mystical bent became more pronounced, particularly after the beginnning of his relationship with the dervish Shams al-Dn of Tabriz which led to non-conformist behaviour and an outpouring of lyric poetry. Rumi had his own circle of followers, the origin of the Mevlevi sufi order, whose whirling dance is said to be inspired by their Shaikh's own ecstasies.

Cambridge University professor Reynold Nicholson once remarked that the 13th-century Persian poet Rumi is the "greatest mystical poet of any age." In Rumi's vision, love is the very matrix of existence; love is what moves life. His poetry expresses the deepest and the most inclusive layers of love, and thus connects us to an immense source of joy, compassion, creativity, and mystery. This book is a new anthology and an original translation of Rumi's poetry. It is divided into three parts. Part I contains two essays, one on Rumi's life ("A Messenger from the Sun") and the other on his poetic vision and thought ("The Path of Love in the Ocean of Life"), which together help the reader better situate his poetry. Part II presents 144+1 quatrains (Rubaiyat) of Rumi categorized into 12 thematic chapters: On the Pain and Joy of Longing; The Search; Who Am I?; The Beloved's Face; Die to Yourself; The Art of Living; Night Secrets; Water of Life; Fire of Love; Unity and Union; Peaceful Mind; and Rumi on His Life, Poetry and Death. These poems have been selected and translated from the authentic Persian editions of Rumi's Divan-e Shams. For readers interested in the cadence and rhythm of the poems in the original language the Persian reading (in English script) is also given under each translated poem. Part III is a selection of 12 wisdom stories from Rumi's own life (taken from a 14th-century biographical work on Rumi). A glossary of symbolic terms in Rumi's poetry, and references to the original sources of the translated poems are also given at the end of the book. This anthology brings fresh insight into the work and mind of a master poet who mapped the path of spiritual quest and union, and painted in words the art of loving.

This is the best known work of Mevlana Rumi consisting of 24,660 couplets in seven books. Rumi himself defined his work as a work of destruction, destruction of the worldly for the sake of embracing the Divine. He warns the reader in advance to be prepared to let go of everything: Every venture one's life may replete Mathnavi's purpose is the Great Defeat. Set afire, burning with cleansing heat, On the anvil, egos ply and beat. This book, if you open, read, entreat Your life, a mendicant's, in the street. I died as a mineral and became a plant, I died as plant and rose to animal, I died as animal and I was Man. Why should I fear? When was I less by dying? Yet once more I shall die as Man, to soar With angels bless'd; but even from angelhood I must pass on: all except God doth perish. When I have sacrificed my angel-soul, I shall become what no mind e'er conceived. Oh, let me not exist! for Non-existence Proclaims in organ tones, To Him we shall return.

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Hesperides Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Begun in 1262 AD, Masnavi-ye Ma 'navi, or 'spiritual couplets', is thought to be the longest single-authored 'mystical' poem ever written. As the spiritual masterpiece of the Persian Sufi tradition, it teaches how to progress to the ultimate goal of the Sufi path - union with God. Jalaloddin Rumi was a poet and a mystic, but he was first a teacher; in these verses he draws the reader into the complexities of human love and separation and explains the path to divine love through the elimination of self-regard and worldly desires. Drawing on diverse sources from bawdy tales and fables to stories of the prophet Mohammed, these verses are brief in expression yet copious in meaning.

Love is the meaning of our existence, the raw material of transformation, the glorious way of access to Divine intimacy. This teaching infuses the lyric verse of Rumi (1207-1273), the greatest of the Sufi poets. The poems in this collection, taken from among the master's many volumes of work, focus on one of his greatest themes: how love grows and matures for those on the spiritual path. Kabir Helminski and Ahmad Rezwani have crafted a translation that remains faithful to the original Persian while giving eloquent expression to the joy of Rumi's astonishing encounter with the Divine.