Vol. 4

I am in love with your face: if you do not know, then know. Despite rivals, chains, slander, and deceit, I will come to your lane; if the rival dies of envy, I will plant a kiss on your face.

A Rumi ghazal of spiritual counsel: separation from companions is not wise, self-centeredness is not wise, poverty when the heavenly table has arrived is not wise. The poem ends in dissolution: be silent, dissolve into the Real.

What do you want from my soul: you left, without you I died; I was faithful for a lifetime, alas you were faithless; how many nights without you: where were you? You took my heart and left: go, you are not lacking a lover.

O Camel Driver, Go Slowly: Saadi's great ghazal of the departing caravan, asking the driver to slow so the speaker can catch one last sight of the beloved being carried away.

She Has Dark Eyes, I Am Sacrificed: the dark-eyed beloved of Afghan and Persian lyric tradition, the speaker declaring complete surrender. Eyes as the weapon that undoes the speaker's resistance.

O my delicate idol: why are you angry? Do you want my life: I will give it; do you give me poison: I will take it; the sky was astonished at my former power, now I am helpless before you.

Lament, O my turbulent heart: my companion has fled tonight; others make drunken laughter, I make drunken weeping; since she is no longer beside me, my house is dark; the step of death draws near.