Rumi's Spiritual Verses is the greatest mystical poem in Islamic culture and of all time. Rumi tells of our human separation from reality, love and truth. He shows how love ? neither erotic nor sentimental but divine, by which the universe is held together ? enlightens ignorance and dissolves suffering. The first book of the Masnavi is the key to the whole work: it takes off from simple, amusing tales into realms unimaginable, but wholly familiar to the human heart.