The Subject Tonight Is Love: Sixty Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz (Paperback)

by Hafiz (Author), Daniel Ladinsky (Translator) "My work with Hafiz began on an early morning walk in the countryside of India, on a beautiful tree-lined road that leads to a place..." (more)
Key Phrases: dear pilgrim

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
To Persians, the fourteenth-century poems of Hafiz are not classical literature from a remote past, but cherished love, wisdom, and humor from a dear and intimate friend. Perhaps, more than any other Persian poet, it is Hafiz who most fully accesses the mystical, healing dimensions of poetry. Daniel Ladinsky has made it his life's work to create modern, inspired translations of the world's most profound spiritual poetry. Through Ladinsky's translations, Hafiz's voice comes alive across the centuries singing his message of love.

About the Author
Daniel Ladinsky is the translator of The Gift and Love Poems from God. For six years he lived with the family of Meher Baba in a spiritual community in western India.

Product Details

• Paperback: 88 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (January 28, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140196234
• ISBN-13: 978-0140196238
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #30,047 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #5 in	Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Middle Eastern
  #6 in	Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Middle Eastern > Persian
  #7 in	Books > Religion & Spirituality > Islam > Sufism

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Few Lovers Have Kissed Me Like This!, November 25, 2004

By	C. Wolterding - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It is rare to find a book of poetry-or any book- that lifts the spirits and touches the heart as deeply as this one. Daniel Ladinsky's translations of the Sufi poet Hafiz are a unique blend of contempoary images and Persisan motifs that evoke scenes that readers will recognize in their own lives. Hafiz, Iran's most treasured poet, is known for an uncanny ability to speak directly to the reader's concerns.His poems have the ability to console the heart throbbing with longing or aching after a few hard knocks.I would especially recommend it for those bouts of Seasonal Affective Disorder that afflict many of us this time of year. I carried this book around with me on the subway during an especially cold winter in New York City and it seemed to transmit a warm, tingly feeling, like a glass of good wine, that warded off the intrusion of depressing thoughts.
One poem in particuar was helpful which said;
Don't surrender your loneliness
So quickly
Let it cut more deep. Let it ferment and season you
As few human
Or even divine ingredients can
Something missing in my heart tonight
Has made my eyes so soft,
My voice
So tender,
My need of God
Absolutely
Clear.

Only a wise old master like Hafiz could give advice like that, in a few choise words that are the equilavent in confort to hours of professional counseling or several trips to the spa. His poetry gives us an appreciation of the wonderful gifts of the soul that we all possess, but rarely take the trouble to access. This book would be a wonderful gift for anyone and especially for youself!.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Divine Hafiz, August 4, 2007

By	Persiangirl - See all my reviews

A lifelong fan (dare I say devoted?) to Hafiz and his many works, this book is a must have. Nothing compares to reading Hafiz in Persian, but this book comes very, very close. Hafiz is enlightening, spiritual, refreshing, and above all, very full of wisdom. His works are truly magical, especially considering after all these years, people are still compelled to his work and mystified by his writings. Classic.

33 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Skip Ladinsky - read Hafiz, February 26, 2006

By	S Hussein "SJHussein" (ACT, Australia) - See all my reviews

Once again, Ladinsky claims to be presenting English speaking readers with the work of the great Persian poet Hafiz, and once again, he hasn't felt the need to actually learn Persian or actually base these works on any previous translation of any poem by Hafiz. These are the poems that Ladinsky imagines Hafiz might have written had he been a twentieth century baby boomer Californian disciple of Meher Baba, instead of a 14th century Persian Sufi Muslim. Ladinsky believes (or claims to believe) that Hafiz told him these poems. If so, the afterlife hasn't done anything for the great poet's literary talent.