The Mesnevi

The Mesnevi
By Jalal ad-Din Rumi (trans. James W. Redhouse)

The Mesnevi (Masnavi) is Jalal ad-Din Rumi's six-volume masterwork of Sufi poetry, a sprawling collection of parables, stories, and mystical teaching often called "the Quran in Persian" for its central place in Islamic spiritual literature. Composed in the 13th century, it explores the soul's longing for union with God through allegory, humor, and lyrical intensity.

This edition is James W. Redhouse's 19th-century English translation of Book I, one of the earliest attempts to render Rumi's poetry for English readers, preserving the rhythmic and narrative character of the original.

A public-domain work, offered as a free digital edition by Nile Book Store.

Excerpt

From reed-flute hear what tale it tells;
What plaint it makes of absence' ills:

“From jungle-bed since me they tore,
Men's, women's, eyes have wept right sore.
My breast I tear and rend in twain,
To give, through sighs, vent to my pain.
Who's from his home snatched far away,
Longs to return some future day.
I sob and sigh in each retreat,
Be't joy or grief for which men meet.
They fancy they can read my heart;
Grief's secrets I to none impart.
My throes and moans form but one chain,
Men's eyes and ears catch not their train.
Though soul and body be as one,
Sight of his soul hath no man won.