The Essential Rumi

this is my favorite of favorites!!!!!!!!!!!! it's just the deep passionate reality of emotions....i read this a few times a year actually :)

I have a shelf dedicated to Rumi but this book has been read cover to cover many times over. A great book to try if not familiar with sufi poets.

This is the poetry Bible. If you enjoy reading the Bible and you enjoy reading poetry, Rumi takes it to a whole new level, sufi mystic, whirling dervish, secrets of life unveiled. Colleman Barks has to be credited also, poetry is difficult to translate in to english, he does an amazing job of keeping it poetic while translating to english the deeper meanings of the sufi mysitic and their teachings.

If one believes in the possibility of being a Sufi without being a Muslim, Rumi opens up new broad horizons of love in more transcendental meaning of it. Some shorter poems are extremely touching, and there is a sort of laconic beauty in them, attracting by its simplicity.

For the wisdom of the universe that is available to those who are open to its magic... my favorite poet of all time...

So elegant and easy and haunting. And I don't even like poetry! Rumi connects by being simple. My favorite Rumi poem goes:
"The madmen have seen
the moon in the window;
they are running to the roof
with ladders"

This is a phenomenal, eternally true poetic classic. This translation is a meditative reflection on life, love and relationships. There is something for everyone.
"Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened. Don't open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground."

As if Rumi weren't already great enough, the excellent Fitzgerald-style translator came from my high school. Otoh, since it's in Chattanooga, Tennessee, you really should spare yourself from ever hearing him read aloud...

An amazing book that got me through some difficult times in my life. There is everything in this collection of poetry - sex, death, love, religion...it's delicious. Rumi touches my heart like a lover.

Coleman Barks is a very informative Rumi scholar. Rumi is a wonderful way into the world of Sufism and Islam