"A carpet is poetry itself," an Iranian carpet merchant declares to author Brian Murphy. "You just have to learn to read them." So begins a journey. It follows Persian carpets from the remote villages of Afghanistan and Iran where they are woven--often by young girls--and on to the bazaars where they are traded, to the Sufis and mystic poets who find grace and magic in their timeless designs, and, finally and unexpectedly, to a carpet showroom in New York. Told in artful prose, this book chronicles how carpets embody humanity's endless striving for unattainable perfection. Here are stories of the weavers and their dreams, the "mules" who move the carpets from place to place, the tradesmen who sell them in the bazaars, and the refugee compelled to trade a carpet he believes contains the soul of his grandmother--because his family must eat. --From publisher description.

Persian collection.

pt. 1: Acts of creation. The Tehran bazaar ; Florence of the East ; The sandstorm ; Girls at a loom ; Tomb of the saint -- pt. 2: Migrations. Alchemy of happiness ; The root of wild madder ; Tongue of the hidden ; Nomad songs -- pt. 3: The market. A hint of saffron ; Jesus price ; Picasso's birds ; East Fifty-Seventh.