Born Jalal ad-Din Mohammed Balkhi in Persia early in the thirteenth century, the poet known as Rumi expressed the deepest feelings of the heart through his poetry. This volume consists of new translations edited by Deepak Chopra to evoke the rich mood and music of Rumi's love poems.

Exalted yearning, ravishing ecstasy, and consuming desire emerge from these poems as powerfully today as they did on their creation more than 700 years ago. These poems reflect the deepest longings of the human heart as it searches for the divine. They celebrate love. Each poetic whisper is urgent, expressing the desire that penetrates human relationships and inspires intimacy with the self, silently nurturing an affinity for the Beloved.

In this volume, the translator and editor have sought to capture in English the dreams, wishes, hopes, desires, and feelings of a Persian poet who continues to amaze, bewilder, confound, and teach, one thousand years after he walked on this earth.