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 (12071273), the greatest of the Sufi poets. The poems in this collection, taken from among the masters 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 Rumis astonishing encounter with the Divine.Here are more of the thrilling verses of the 13th-century Sufi saint in an heirloom-worthy gift edition. Helminski and Rezwani's translations stand out not only for their unsurpassed poetic beauty, but for their faithfulness to the Persian originals - a rare thing among English versions of Rumi - and for the theme around which they are focused: the ripening, or spiritual maturing, of the soul as it grows in love toward God and others. Now in paper. 204 pp.