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The Purity of Desire: 100 Poems Inspired by Rumi
The first full-length volume of Rumi’s cherished verse by bestselling poet Daniel Ladinsky
Renowned for his poignant renderings of Hafiz’s mystical texts, Daniel Ladinsky captures the beauty, intimacy, and musicality of another of Islam’s most beloved poets and spiritual thinkers. In collaboration here with Nancy Owen Barton, and with learned insight and a delicate touch, they explore the nuances of desire—that universal emotion—in verse inspired by Rumi’s love and admiration for his companion and spiritual teacher, Shams-e Tabriz. These poems thoughtfully capture the compelling wisdom of one of Islam’s most revered artistic and religious voices and one of the most widely read poets in the English language.
Renowned for his poignant renderings of Hafiz’s mystical texts, Daniel Ladinsky captures the beauty, intimacy, and musicality of another of Islam’s most beloved poets and spiritual thinkers. In collaboration here with Nancy Owen Barton, and with learned insight and a delicate touch, they explore the nuances of desire—that universal emotion—in verse inspired by Rumi’s love and admiration for his companion and spiritual teacher, Shams-e Tabriz. These poems thoughtfully capture the compelling wisdom of one of Islam’s most revered artistic and religious voices and one of the most widely read poets in the English language.
143 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 27, 2012
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About the author
Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi
1,170 books15.7k followersSufism inspired writings of Persian poet and mystic Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi; these writings express the longing of the soul for union with the divine.
Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī - also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī, Mevlânâ/Mawlānā (مولانا, "our master"), Mevlevî/Mawlawī (مولوی, "my master") and more popularly simply as Rumi - was a 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian and Sufi mystic who lived in Konya, a city of Ottoman Empire (Today's Turkey). His poems have been widely translated into many of the world's languages, and he has been described as the most popular poet and the best-selling poet in the United States.
His poetry has influenced Persian literature, but also Turkish, Ottoman Turkish, Azerbaijani, Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu, as well as the literature of some other Turkic, Iranian, and Indo-Aryan languages including Chagatai, Pashto, and Bengali.
Due to quarrels between different dynasties in Khorāṣān, opposition to the Khwarizmid Shahs who were considered devious by his father, Bahā ud-Dīn Wālad or fear of the impending Mongol cataclysm, his father decided to migrate westwards, eventually settling in the Anatolian city Konya, where he lived most of his life, composed one of the crowning glories of Persian literature, and profoundly affected the culture of the area.
When his father died, Rumi, aged 25, inherited his position as the head of an Islamic school. One of Baha' ud-Din's students, Sayyed Burhan ud-Din Muhaqqiq Termazi, continued to train Rumi in the Shariah as well as the Tariqa, especially that of Rumi's father. For nine years, Rumi practised Sufism as a disciple of Burhan ud-Din until the latter died in 1240 or 1241. Rumi's public life then began: he became an Islamic Jurist, issuing fatwas and giving sermons in the mosques of Konya. He also served as a Molvi (Islamic teacher) and taught his adherents in the madrassa. During this period, Rumi also travelled to Damascus and is said to have spent four years there.
It was his meeting with the dervish Shams-e Tabrizi on 15 November 1244 that completely changed his life. From an accomplished teacher and jurist, Rumi was transformed into an ascetic.
On the night of 5 December 1248, as Rumi and Shams were talking, Shams was called to the back door. He went out, never to be seen again. Rumi's love for, and his bereavement at the death of, Shams found their expression in an outpouring of lyric poems, Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi. He himself went out searching for Shams and journeyed again to Damascus.
Rumi found another companion in Salaḥ ud-Din-e Zarkub, a goldsmith. After Salah ud-Din's death, Rumi's scribe and favourite student, Hussam-e Chalabi, assumed the role of Rumi's companion. Hussam implored Rumi to write more. Rumi spent the next 12 years of his life in Anatolia dictating the six volumes of this masterwork, the Masnavi, to Hussam.
In December 1273, Rumi fell ill and died on the 17th of December in Konya.
Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī - also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī, Mevlânâ/Mawlānā (مولانا, "our master"), Mevlevî/Mawlawī (مولوی, "my master") and more popularly simply as Rumi - was a 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian and Sufi mystic who lived in Konya, a city of Ottoman Empire (Today's Turkey). His poems have been widely translated into many of the world's languages, and he has been described as the most popular poet and the best-selling poet in the United States.
His poetry has influenced Persian literature, but also Turkish, Ottoman Turkish, Azerbaijani, Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu, as well as the literature of some other Turkic, Iranian, and Indo-Aryan languages including Chagatai, Pashto, and Bengali.
Due to quarrels between different dynasties in Khorāṣān, opposition to the Khwarizmid Shahs who were considered devious by his father, Bahā ud-Dīn Wālad or fear of the impending Mongol cataclysm, his father decided to migrate westwards, eventually settling in the Anatolian city Konya, where he lived most of his life, composed one of the crowning glories of Persian literature, and profoundly affected the culture of the area.
When his father died, Rumi, aged 25, inherited his position as the head of an Islamic school. One of Baha' ud-Din's students, Sayyed Burhan ud-Din Muhaqqiq Termazi, continued to train Rumi in the Shariah as well as the Tariqa, especially that of Rumi's father. For nine years, Rumi practised Sufism as a disciple of Burhan ud-Din until the latter died in 1240 or 1241. Rumi's public life then began: he became an Islamic Jurist, issuing fatwas and giving sermons in the mosques of Konya. He also served as a Molvi (Islamic teacher) and taught his adherents in the madrassa. During this period, Rumi also travelled to Damascus and is said to have spent four years there.
It was his meeting with the dervish Shams-e Tabrizi on 15 November 1244 that completely changed his life. From an accomplished teacher and jurist, Rumi was transformed into an ascetic.
On the night of 5 December 1248, as Rumi and Shams were talking, Shams was called to the back door. He went out, never to be seen again. Rumi's love for, and his bereavement at the death of, Shams found their expression in an outpouring of lyric poems, Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi. He himself went out searching for Shams and journeyed again to Damascus.
Rumi found another companion in Salaḥ ud-Din-e Zarkub, a goldsmith. After Salah ud-Din's death, Rumi's scribe and favourite student, Hussam-e Chalabi, assumed the role of Rumi's companion. Hussam implored Rumi to write more. Rumi spent the next 12 years of his life in Anatolia dictating the six volumes of this masterwork, the Masnavi, to Hussam.
In December 1273, Rumi fell ill and died on the 17th of December in Konya.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
April 15, 2013
I love Rumi and The Purity of Desire, translated and edited by Daniel Ladinsky, is a beautiful collection of his love poems. Rumi is one of my favorite poets, an Islamic mystic who lived from 1207-1273, he continues to significantly impact and influence humanity today. When I read his work, I experience a deep rooted sense of recognition, a reflection of my inner most self. Perhaps, it's because "Love is the essence of Rumi, love became his very being, the impetus of all his poetry." I believe we are nothing if we are not love...
July 13, 2014
And the last 30 poems were read!
Have you ever felt indebted after reading a book? I feel so, just because I want to spread the word about the divinity of poetry.
This book is not just a collection of poems but it sums up our lives from birth to death, to the love for God, to the beauty of nature, words, emotions and everything beyond words.
This is a masterpiece and I'd love to read it all over again just to drown myself in an ocean of realizations!
Brilliant is less a word! :)
Have you ever felt indebted after reading a book? I feel so, just because I want to spread the word about the divinity of poetry.
This book is not just a collection of poems but it sums up our lives from birth to death, to the love for God, to the beauty of nature, words, emotions and everything beyond words.
This is a masterpiece and I'd love to read it all over again just to drown myself in an ocean of realizations!
Brilliant is less a word! :)
August 9, 2013
Read this now. Be prepared. It will make demands of you.
May 22, 2022
Had me thinking this was poetry by Rumi for at least a good 5 pages 🤧 it's just some dumb stunt to advertise the work of mr Ladinsky... u for real? Rumi ain't write none of this shit, byeeee next
August 4, 2014
The voice in Ladinsky's intro and in the poems he translated sounded, in many places, nearly identical, which frustrated me to no end. In one way, that is the beauty of translation--that you get two voices, rather than one, and that it's a collaborative art. Especially for much-translated authors like Rumi, why not play around with language in ways that make it new? On the other hand, this is the first collection of Rumi's poems that I've read, and I really wanted Rumi, not Ladinsky. The mixture of more archaic-sounding syntax ("strong, the young cub became," "They are like a lasting kiss, our sounds, when they / are tender.") and more modern slang ("sweetpies," "golly," "hoopla," "brace yourself, sweetheart," "party-hard," "want ads," "get off scot-free," "get your ass away from me," "booby trapped," "earthling," "yep," "funny-face," etc.) is jarring, and also leaves me with little sense that I'm reading a 13th-century poet. There are ways around this: a word like "rucksack" instead of "backpack," for example, wouldn't automatically put me in back-to-school mode. Like I said, though, this is Ladinsky's right as a translator... I might just need to look around at some other translations, too.
It does bear saying that I found some definite gems in the collection. "No Conflict With Anything I Do," "Our Sounds" ("How else would I want to speak to you except in / a way that unfolds your curves, rolls you out like a / heirloom tapestry across a rare sky?"), "Together Through the Years," "We Exchanged Rings," and "Lovers Touching" were the sort of poems that should perhaps be read daily. Some really beautiful lines.
It does bear saying that I found some definite gems in the collection. "No Conflict With Anything I Do," "Our Sounds" ("How else would I want to speak to you except in / a way that unfolds your curves, rolls you out like a / heirloom tapestry across a rare sky?"), "Together Through the Years," "We Exchanged Rings," and "Lovers Touching" were the sort of poems that should perhaps be read daily. Some really beautiful lines.
February 9, 2016
I absolutely adore Rumi and there are some truly fine poems within this collection. However, some leave me feeling rather cold. It is so very difficult to translate poetry into another language, while maintaining any inherent rhythm, rhyme, and so forth, yet still staying true to the meaning, heart, and soul of the message. This can be even more difficult with regard to the poetry of great mystics (especially if like most of us, the writer hasn't had mystical experiences of his/her own). Some of these read as if Ladinsky was trying to be "cute" or "cool" and the poems affected feel as if they are being forced to be something they are not. Translations, which is not how Ladinsky refers to them, but as something more akin to interpretations, can be very difficult for someone who doesn't speak the language of the author. I find many of Coleman Banks' translations to leave me feeling the same.The best within this book, and others by Ladinsky and Banks, leaves me wishing there was a Sufi translator out there, with a solid grasp of both languages (English and Persian/Farsi), who could truly bring to life for English speakers of today, the spiritual love language of Rumi.
June 30, 2015
Some of these poems were very heartwarming. And Rumi introduced Shams in a lot of his poems, I was intrigued to look up their relationships.
\\Apparently the term Lover back then didn't indicate the same meaning as it does nowadays, instead it had a more spiritual meaning to Rumi. Shams was Rumi's mentor and from all the articles I read they were not in a relationship, (but some say they were). He valued his existence in his life, but his love for his mentor was his way of loving his own inner self, and about finding himself. But then again, no one really knows for certain. It's was an interesting thing to search about.//
\\Apparently the term Lover back then didn't indicate the same meaning as it does nowadays, instead it had a more spiritual meaning to Rumi. Shams was Rumi's mentor and from all the articles I read they were not in a relationship, (but some say they were). He valued his existence in his life, but his love for his mentor was his way of loving his own inner self, and about finding himself. But then again, no one really knows for certain. It's was an interesting thing to search about.//
July 10, 2014
How's this for good medicine?
"Strange, how my powers increase the less I become.
Every step I take toward complete effacement, look
what takes place ... my radiance grows,
and more gather to receive it, as the dark side of the
earth turns to the morning light it craves.
Standing in a line, if someone butts in front of me --
my immediate response: I am so happy to see them.
One night, I found myself at a conference the stars
were having. Enjoying being nothing, I had zilch
to say."
(p. 85)
"Strange, how my powers increase the less I become.
Every step I take toward complete effacement, look
what takes place ... my radiance grows,
and more gather to receive it, as the dark side of the
earth turns to the morning light it craves.
Standing in a line, if someone butts in front of me --
my immediate response: I am so happy to see them.
One night, I found myself at a conference the stars
were having. Enjoying being nothing, I had zilch
to say."
(p. 85)
June 2, 2014
I bought this book for myself on Mother's Day. Of course, I am already in love with both Rumi & Ladinsky, but then I randomly opened to the poem "Try to Be the Least in Need," which struck me particularly. Once I read the book, that was still the poem to resonate the most with me.
Not likely to be my favorite Rumi collection, but there is some lovely freshness here.
Not likely to be my favorite Rumi collection, but there is some lovely freshness here.
September 22, 2014
this book was so beautiful and spiritual. This was my first reading of Rumi's poetry and I am so amazed at how beautifully this was translated. I am so happy I bought this book and cherished every word...so beautiful. I recommend this read to anyone spiritual or just looking for deep meaningful words on every page.
August 8, 2014
This is an outstanding collection, and the introduction truly prepares the reader for what awaits.
Rumi in all his glory: poems to delight, to kindle the spirit, to cause pause. I highly recommend, especially for the new Rumi reader.
Rumi in all his glory: poems to delight, to kindle the spirit, to cause pause. I highly recommend, especially for the new Rumi reader.
September 18, 2014
My first reading of Rumi's poetry as shared by Daniel Ladinsky was riveting, spell binding and transporting... Rumi, where have you been all my life? I am hooked, lined and sunk into you... I can't read more of you and more of what Ladinsky has made accessible via his transformative vision.
Read
January 15, 2014Rumi as interpreted by my friend from the old days, Danny Ladinsky.
May 15, 2014
my soul melted in its divine purity...
August 20, 2021
This was my first introduction to Rumi and I am pleasantly surprised. It was nothing like what I expected. Rumi is witty, funny and sometimes silly, yet in some moments he is profound.
It was surprising to notice how modern some of his thoughts were. He was alive in the 13th century, yet some of his themes still speak true to today. He proves how universal and timeless the needs of humanity have always been; the desire for love, happiness and meaning.
I assumed his work would be religious, and even though he speaks a lot about god, it was more spiritual. He explores the idea of god rather than preach about god, which made those pieces tolerable and actually quite interesting.
Not every piece captivated me since I found some tedious, yet the ones that did were very memorable. I enjoyed the book. It was a relaxing and entertaining read.
It was surprising to notice how modern some of his thoughts were. He was alive in the 13th century, yet some of his themes still speak true to today. He proves how universal and timeless the needs of humanity have always been; the desire for love, happiness and meaning.
I assumed his work would be religious, and even though he speaks a lot about god, it was more spiritual. He explores the idea of god rather than preach about god, which made those pieces tolerable and actually quite interesting.
Not every piece captivated me since I found some tedious, yet the ones that did were very memorable. I enjoyed the book. It was a relaxing and entertaining read.
December 18, 2024
It may be that anachronism sticks out more awkwardly in translations of ancient mystical poems like these; but if there is at least a little room in your own concept of the holy of holies to allow for sex, scatology and the freedom to appear giddily goofy about glorious mysteries, you will find something in what Daniel Ladinsky does here.
Favorites:
Our Sounds
Quiet Enough To Hear
Your Charms May Quadruple
I Would Give My Life For This
Favorites:
Our Sounds
Quiet Enough To Hear
Your Charms May Quadruple
I Would Give My Life For This
September 4, 2025
I read Ladinsky’s “Love Poems from God” several years ago and it’s still one of my favorite books I own. I just had the opportunity to pick up several other collections from him and decided to start with Rumi so I could read all of his Hafiz collections together. …there were a few great moments in here, but overall it’s not really my thing.
July 14, 2017
This was a beautiful mix of spirituality, sensuality, mindfulness, and, silliness! Very grateful for this appropriate birthday gift from my love :)
April 10, 2018
My favorite poet
October 6, 2020
Not quite what I expected, enjoyable but as it's my first book of Rumi I have no other translations to compare it to. I'm hoping others will be more to my taste.
January 6, 2021
If you're looking for Rumi, you won't find him here.
January 11, 2021
Given to me for Christmas from Ethan. A lovely collection. I was surprised by how much I laughed at certain poems. I’m already looking forward to rereading and browsing in the future.
February 5, 2023
Terrible translation. Very disappointing.
June 18, 2023
A strange interpretation of Rumi's poems...
September 22, 2016
The ideas here are good (obvs) but this translation weirds me out. It seemed like an almost clumsy mish mash of literal translation and modern interpretation. Parts feel smooth, but mostly it feels forced and clunky and is taking Rumi's words and extrapolating to a degree that no longer feels like Rumi.
December 20, 2016
Love the cover, the texture of the paper, layout; and the rumi poems of course. Hard not to fall in love with what his art. Beautiful book. The kind that I will read and reread again.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews