Skip to main content
The Gift: Poems by Hafiz, the Great Sufi Master (Compass)

The Gift: Poems by Hafiz, the Great Sufi Master (Compass)

Current price: $22.00
Publication Date: August 1st, 1999
Publisher:
Penguin Books
ISBN:
9780140195811
Pages:
352
Usually Ships in 1 to 5 Days

Description

Chosen by author Elizabeth Gilbert as one of her ten favorite books, Daniel Ladinsky’s extraordinary renderings of 250 unforgettable lyrical poems by Hafiz, one of the greatest Sufi poets of all time

More than any other Persian poeteven RumiHafiz expanded the mystical, healing dimensions of poetry. Because his poems were often ecstatic love songs from God to his beloved world, many have called Hafiz the “Invisible Tongue.” Indeed, Daniel Ladinsky has said that his work with Hafiz is an attempt to do the impossible: to render Light into wordsto make the Luminous Resonance of God tangible to our finite senses.

I am
a hole in a flute
that the Christ's breath moves
through

listen to this
music!

With this stunning collection of Hafiz’s most intimate poems, Ladinsky has succeeded brilliantly in presenting the essence of one of Islam’s greatest poetic and religious voices. Each line of The Gift imparts the wonderful qualities of this master Sufi poet and spiritual teacher: encouragement, an audacious love that touches lives, profound knowledge, generosity, and a sweet, playful genius unparalleled in world literature.

About the Author

Daniel Ladinsky is an acclaimed poet and renderer of mystical poetry. His books include The Gift, The Subject Tonight Is Love, I Heard God Laughing, A Year with Hafiz, Love Poems from God, The Purity of Desire, and Darling, I Love You. For six years, he made his home in a spiritual community in western India, where he worked and lived with the intimate disciples and family of Avatar Meher Baba. He lives in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Praise for The Gift: Poems by Hafiz, the Great Sufi Master (Compass)

"These stirring poems, originally written by a 14th century Persian mystic, get me closer to the divine, and more immediately, than anything in the world.... Open to any page to be transported into magic." 
—Elizabeth Gilbert, Bustle

“There are universes inside Hafiz, a lineage of masters. Daniel Ladinsky follows the playfulness; the rascal moves well.” 
Coleman Barks

“With this stunning collection of Hafiz’s most intimate poems, Ladinsky has succeeded brilliantly in presenting the essence of one of Islam’s greatest poetic and religious voices. Each line of The Gift imparts the wonderful qualities of this master Sufi poet and spiritual teacher: encouragement, an audacious love that touches lives, profound knowledge, generosity, and a sweet, playful genius unparalleled in world literature.”
—RamDass.org