“These stunning translations of Master Rumi, at once gustatory and spiritual, cut the gloom of our existential doings. Imperative now, as ever, to know this beauty and love.”
—Anne Waldman

WATER

Rumi
Translated from the Persian by Haleh Liza Gafori

Water expands on Gold, Haleh Liza Gafori’s inspired and widely praised translation of the lyric poetry of the Persian mystic Rumi. As in Gold, Gafori renders with fluid grace and moving immediacy these indisputable masterworks of world literature, drawing on the deep well of Rumi’s work to bring out the worldly wit and wisdom that accompany his otherworldly summons. Behold the divine within and without, he tells us.

An eco-poet before his time, Rumi celebrates the immensity and wonder of the natural world while warning us of the havoc that greed and the pursuit of power wreak upon us and our world. His flights of dazzling imagery open up heart-stopping glimpses of the divine, challenging readers to wake from oblivion, and above all, to surrender to the transformative power of Love. Gafori is an acclaimed vocalist and musician as well as a gifted linguist and poet, and in her translations Rumi’s poetry sings and beckons as nowhere else.

“Haleh Liza Gafori’s pitch-perfect translation of Rumi updates and amplifies his mindful, muscular soul. My sense of his poetry, shaped by prior translators, has been rebooted—or entirely booted—by her prismatic lyricism. Music, wit, and empathy color her lens. What a sweeping, invigorating read.”
—Terrance Hayes

“Water is immediate and timeless. These poems imprint on the heart. To read these verses is to enter mystery and paradox, to be burnished by the sacred fire and broken open by the holiest dance.”
—Suleika Jaouad

BUY THE BOOK

For three days only, Water is available at 25% off along with Haleh Liza Gafori’s previous book of Rumi translations:

GOLD
Rumi

BUY THE BOOK

Read two poems from Water

TO BROOD is to wander through a grove
where one sheep strays
and a hundred wolves follow.

Why did I make brooding my vocation
when awe was an option?

Thought spinner,
mull the wine of wonder.

—

EVEN SPRING rains
can’t draw green stalks
out of a stone.

A hard, sharp stone,
you broke hearts for years—
a barren life.

Be soil.
For once, try.
Color after color springs from soil.

Photo credit: Beowulf Sheehan

Events for Water with Haleh Liza Gafori

Tuesday, April 22, 6:30pm ET
New York Public Library, Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library
with Maya C. Popa
FREE EVENT
Register here

Thursday, April 24, 7pm ET
Reads & Co., 234 Bridge St., Phoenixville, PA
FREE EVENT
Register here

Friday, April 25, in the evening
and Saturday, April 26, in the afternoon
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Recitations and songs with musicians Shahzad Ismaily
and Warren Trae Crudup
TICKETED EVENT
Get tickets for the Friday event here
Get tickets for the Saturday event here

Sunday, April 27
Sarah Lawrence Poetry Festival
Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY
FREE EVENT
More info here

Sunday, May 4, 8pm ET
Joe’s Pub, Public Theater NYC
with musician Shahzad Ismaily and friends
TICKETED EVENT
Get tickets here

Monday, May 5, 8pm
Blacksmith House Poetry Series
Cambridge Center for Adult Education, Cambridge, MA
with Fanny Howe
FREE EVENT
More info here

Tuesday, May 6, 6pm ET
Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, MA
FREE EVENT
RSVP here

Thursday, May 8, 7pm ET
Riffraff Bookstore, Providence, RI
FREE EVENT
More info here

Friday, May 9, 7pm
Montague Retreat Center, Northampton, MA
with musical guests James Bird and Loudingirra Özdemi
TICKETED EVENT
Get tickets here

Thursday, May 15
Pittsburgh Jazz Poetry Festival
City of Asylum Bookstore, Pittsburgh, PA
More information to come

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