These are very philosophic poems ... from a very religious man who has a connection to God that is surreal. He is saying that we are all in one, we are one with nature, the wind, the sun, the everything in the world. Some are given the ability to see what can't be seen or what can't be smelled or felt ... but they know without actually knowing. It is a gift beyond what others know or will ever know. When a human realizes his connection and abiding to nature it makes them want to honor it because that was your beginning and will be your end. From the moment we are born until we die, our spirit and nature are formed from our existence of this world and the ideals our world teaches us. Some get it and sadly ... some don't. This man got it and he wanted us to know his thoughts and ideas. The rest of the book is poetry with stories of the Sufi poet Rumi and Shams.

Persian collection.

Introduction : Sohhet --A note on the translations -- Love dogs -- Majnun with Layla's dog -- Ten quatrains -- Spring -- The source of joy -- The one thing your must do -- Stories of Shams and Rumi -- Which way does the night go? -- Any chance meeting -- Where are all the others? / Sultan Velad -- Flag-lions -- Personal intelligence -- A zero-circle -- The sign of being dried-up -- Be suspicious of yourself -- The waterwheel -- A trace -- What hurts the soul? -- The guest-house -- Is this a stage set? -- Solomon's crooked crown -- Stories of Rumi and Shams -- The reed flute's song -- The animal soul -- The womb -- A song of being empty -- Needle and thread -- The water you want -- The reasonable father -- Hypothesis and human being -- Polishing the mirror -- A star without a name -- Talking through the door -- Burnt kabob -- Stories of Mevlana -- Twenty-five quatrains -- Dear soul -- A small green island -- Sheba's throne -- Say I am you -- Some short poems found in Shams' Maqalat (Discourses) composed, probably, by both Rumi and Shams -- How a Sheikh is with a community -- Creator of absence and presence -- What Jesus runs away from -- Omar and the old poet -- Husam -- Road dust -- The pick-axe -- Root, river, fire, sea -- What are words anyway? -- A salve made with dirt -- A story they know -- Talking in the night -- Leave childhood -- Harvest -- Joseph -- Keep moving -- Sham's way of talking -- A king dressed as a servant -- Listening -- When a Sheikh weeps -- Inhale autumn, long for spring -- The oil of the nut -- These poems are elusive -- A green-winged longing -- A light within his light -- The inward dance -- Eyes -- Divan, Mathnawi, and Discourses references.

Aiso Library Poetry month selection