Dedication
TO
A. T. K.
THIS LITTLE BOOK OF EASTERN WISDOM
IS LOVINGLY INSCRIBED
Preface
I desire to thank Mr. R. A. Nicholson for his kind and generous permission to use selections from his Dīvāni Shamsi Tabrīz, and also his publishers, the Cambridge Press. I am deeply indebted to Mr. E. H. Whinfield for allowing me to use quotations from his rendering of the Masnavi (Trübner’s Oriental Series). I also cordially thank Mr. John Hastie for giving me permission to quote a few passages from the late Rev. Professor Hastie’s “Festival of Spring” (James Maclehose and Sons, Glasgow). The poems quoted from this volume are entitled: “Thy Rose,” “I saw the Winter weaving,” “Love sounds the Music of the Spheres,” “The Souls Love-moved,” and “The Beloved All in All.” All the other translations from the lyrical poetry of Jalálu’d-Dín Rúmí are by Mr. R. A. Nicholson. To these gentlemen, and to those I have left unnamed, I tender my warmest thanks for their help, sympathy, and interest in my attempt to “popularise the wisest of the Persian Súfís.”
F. HADLAND DAVIS.
LONDON,
January 22, 1907.