The Gift: Poems by Hafiz the Great Sufi Master translated by Daniel Ladinsky, the 1999 softcover edition from Penguin Compass, is part of the collection at the Reading Room.

“More than any other Persian poet, it is perhaps Hafiz who accesses the mystical, healing dimensions of poetry. Because heis poems were often ecstatic love songs from God to his beloved world, many have called Hafiz the ‘Tongue of the Invisible.’

With this stunning collection of 250 of Hafiz’s most intimate poems, Daniel Ladinsky has succeeded brilliantly in capturing the essence of one of Islam’s greatest poetic and religious voices. Each line of The Gift imparts the wonderful qualities of this spiritual teacher: an audacious love that empowers lives, profound knowledge, wild generosity, and a sweet, playful genius unparalleled in world literature.”

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