Customer Reviews

Rumi Birdsong: Fifty-Three Short Poems

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Birdsong contains 53 short poems that are reworkings of the translation by A. J. Arberry, a major scholar of Sufism.

Not all of the poems have any direct relationship to birds, rather the birdsong of the title refers to a common metaphor in mystic traditions e.g. The Conference of the Birds, a major Sufi work.

Barks, as usual, provides excellent translations; he truly makes the poetry of Rumi accessible to the average reader (as compared to some scholarly translations that are precise but no longer poetry or that require technical vocabulary).

His selection of poems is also excellent; they are poems that encourage meditative thought. An example: "Stars burn clear / all night till dawn. / Do that yourself, and a spring / will rise in the dark with water / your deepest thirst is for. "

Rumi is brilliant in his acuteness. Birdsong only makes me want to learn and read more about this impressionable thinker. His words truly hold the essence of life. Recommneded to all who adore poetry.

I have had my copy of Rumi for some time. I have just recently picked it up again. While I had several old favorites, my dog-eared pages marking them, I found some new ones that now captivate.

The elegant simplicity--spare verse, carefully crafted structure--of these poems is mesmerizing. Enigmatic and ecstatic they will lift your spirit.

Although any work this short is going to have shortcomings, this is an excellent introduction to the precision, wisdom and wit of Rumi. A great gift and a great read.

Persian period of that time is complex and formal. Mowlana is a master of poetry as well as a master of Sufi. His depth, artistry, and complexity is missing. I also find it a little deceptive to call oneself a "translator" when one does not read or speak the language from which he is supposedly translating.