SELECTED POEMS<<< Translation, Introduction & Notes by Paul Smith Abu ‘Abd Allah Ja’far ibn Muhammad Rudaki (858-941) the ‘father of Persian Poetry’ and possibly the ruba’i, was born in the village of Rudak near Samarkand. First a wandering ‘dervish’ poet/minstrel he later served at the court of the Samanids of Bokhara. Nasr ibn Ahmad summoned him to his court and he prospered there amassing great wealth. He had 200 slaves in his retinue… and 400 camels carried his belongings when he travelled. In 937 he fell out of favour at court (and was blinded at this time as some commentators suggest) after the death of the prime-minister who had supported him. His life ended in abject poverty, forgotten by the world at that time, perhaps the reason why so much of his vast output of 1,300,000 couplets, only 75 rubai’s, ghazals, qasidas and qit’as survive (most are here translated, the most published). Rudaki’s poetry is about the passage of time, old age, death, fortune’s fickleness, importance of the matters of the heart, the need to be happy. Although he praised kings, nobles and heroes… his greatest love was knowledge and experience. The correct rhyme-structure has been kept in this modern translation, as well as the beauty and meaning of these beautiful poems. 138 pages in paperback. COMMENTS ON PAUL SMITH’S VERSION OF HAFIZ’S ‘DIVAN’. “It is not a joke... the English version of ALL the ghazals of Hafiz is a great feat and of paramount importance. I am astonished. If he comes to Iran I will kiss the fingertips that wrote such a masterpiece inspired by the Creator of all.” Dr. Mir Mohammad Taghavi (Dr. of Literature) Tehran. “Superb translations. 99% Hafiz 1% Paul Smith.” Ali Akbar Shapurzman, translator into Persian and knower of Hafiz’s Divan off by heart. “I was very impressed with the beauty of these books.” Dr. R.K. Barz. Faculty of Asian Studies, Australian National University. “Smith has probably put together the greatest collection of literary facts and history concerning Hafiz.” Daniel Ladinsky (Penguin Books author). Paul Smith is a poet, author and translator of over 80 books of Sufi poets from the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu and other languages including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, ‘Attar, Sana’i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Yunus Emre and many others, as well as poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, children’s books and screenplays.