The Purity of Desire

Renowned for his poignant renderings of Hafiz's mystical texts, Daniel Ladinsky here captures the beauty, intimacy, and musicality of Jalaluddin Rumi, one of the world's most revered and widely read poets. Rumi was born in 1207 on the eastern edge of the Persian Empire. Fleeing from the invasion of the Mongol armies of Genghis Khan, Rumi and his family settled in Turkey, where his father was a scholar and mystic. Later, Rumi succeeded his father in leading a dervish college (a divinity school). His life was transformed in 1244, when he met Shams-e Tabriz, a wandering dervish. Shams became Rumi's beloved companion and doorway to God. For Rumi, who believed that the soul comes alive in the presence of a real teacher, love was the inspiration for all his poetry.

In collaboration with Nancy Owen Barton, and with learned insight and a delicate touch, Ladinsky explores in these one hundred poems the nuances of desire and captures the compelling wisdom of one of Islam's most revered artistic and religious voices.