Poems of Rumi

Written by Jelaluddin Rumi

Narrated by Coleman Barks and Robert Bly

We are delighted to offer this excerpt from The Poems of Rumi as read by Coleman Barks, leading scholar and translator of Rumi poetry, and Robert Bly, poet, author, and leader of the men's movement. Jalaluddin Rumi is a beloved as a spiritual master and one of the greatest poets of all time.
"The dictionaries have no entry for the sort of love we have. If you can define a road, it’s not the lover’s road. The high branches of love shoot up into the air that exists before eternity and the roots grow down into the earth after eternity. This tree doesn’t stand around isolated on the earth. We have pulled the sober watcher from his throne. We’ve moved the said rules for animal and instinctual life. The kind of love that we know of is too great for this sober watcher, and for this simple instinctual life. Now, if you believe that your need can be met and you’re wanting, satisfied from the outside, you are really a tiger or a cougar. You pray any longer to wooden idols, then why do you keep praying to your desire? If you become the one you long for, what will you do with your longing?..."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Better Listen
• Release date: Jun 28, 2012
• ISBN: 9781615440382

Reviews for Poems of Rumi

[Cosmin Gauran · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The translation may be ok, but the reading is very choppy, no inflections, almost like Latin dictums. Music plays in the background quite loudly and not necessarily related to the text - if the intention was to make it more period appropriate it failed: sounds more like Bollywood music than Persian.

[randal6martin-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great poetic work. Background music was a little distracting though.

[elfpath · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Rumi lived a hundred years before Hafiz did. His beautiful ecstatic poems are widely known today, and not just by his Dervish followers. He came from a long line of spiritual men and sufi's in Persia. Not only did he follow in his father's footsteps, he grew bigger, and with his intricate imagery and beautiful words won the hearts of generations.He speaks about the amazing experience of going beyond our physical and earthly constraints and going up into that larger universal awareness that can drive a man mad - but also of taking that larger awareness and going back to living a normal life, enjoying the small things.

[ruric_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Plenty of fabulous poetry by Rumi translated by Coleman Banks - each major section having a short introduction which places the verses in context.

[pbhagyam_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Marvelous book - it will stay in my library! I added comments and tiny illustrations off in the margins to compliment my favorite poems in the book. I can not believe I lived so many years before discovering Rumi! His writing promotes a grounded, peacefulness and appreciation for life.

[Dan Kirk · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Amazing I’ve been listening to this
for years, the older I get the more I understand….