The Divan of Shams of Tabriz (Selections)

Introduction

After Shams had gone, Rumi in grief and longing signed his lyric poems with his friend's name, and so arose the Divan of Shams of Tabriz. It contains more than three thousand ghazals and nearly two thousand quatrains, many said to have poured from Rumi as he whirled in ecstasy and to have been written down on the spot by his disciples. The Beloved in these poems is both Shams and God; the poet now rejoices, now weeps, now falls silent, and through images of wine, moon, sun, garden and ocean expresses the soul's longing for union. This volume brings together its most moving poems.