01
Epic Poetry — c. 977–1010 CE

Shahnameh
Book of Kings

شاهنامهٔ فردوسی
Hakim Abu’l-Qasim Ferdowsi Tusi — c. 940–1020 CE

The Shahnameh is the longest epic poem written by a single poet — 60,000 couplets composed over thirty years by Ferdowsi of Tus. It narrates the mythological and legendary history of the Persian Empire from the creation of the world to the Arab conquest of Iran in the 7th century.

Ferdowsi wrote in a deliberately pure Farsi, consciously avoiding Arabic loanwords, making the Shahnameh the greatest monument of the Persian language. His most celebrated stories include the tragedy of Rostam and Sohrab, the fall of Zahhak, and the reign of Kay Khosrow.

"I have toiled much in these thirty years
And with this Dari tongue, revived the Persian tongue."
بسی رنج بردم در این سال سی
عجم زنده کردم بدین پارسی
Ferdowsi — Shahnameh, Epilogue
Featured Translation
The Fall of Zahhak Thus was the doom of Zahhak fulfilled by Fereydun, the legendary hero of Iran.
With his army at his side, Fereydun rose against the tyrant, crossed the roaring Arvand, and advanced upon the stronghold.
He struck Zahhak down, bound him in cowhide, and bore him to the heights of Mount Damavand — there to endure the reckoning of his deeds.
Original Couplet The capital of Zahhak was — That he was un-Persian and impure.
فرجامِ ضحاک چنین بود که سرانجامِ ضحاک به دستِ فریدون رقم خورد، قهرمانِ افسانه‌ایِ ایران.
فریدون با سپاهِ خویش بر ضدِ بیداد برخاست، از خروشِ اروند گذشت و به دژِ ستم رسید.
ضحاک را درهم شکست؛ به چرمِ گاو فروبست و به فرازِ کوهِ دماوند برد — تا کیفرِ کردارِ خویش ببیند.
بیتِ اصلی سرمایهٔ آن ز ضحاک بود که ناپارسا بود و ناپاک بود
Books in This Series
Shahnameh Vol. 1
The Creation
شاهنامه — جلدِ یک

Shahnameh — Vol. 1

The Creation & Early Kings
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Shahnameh Vol. 2
Rostam & Sohrab
رستم و سهراب

Shahnameh — Vol. 2

Rostam & Sohrab
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Shahnameh Vol. 3
The Fall of Zahhak
فرجامِ ضحاک

Shahnameh — Vol. 3

The Fall of Zahhak
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02
Lyric Poetry — c. 1315–1390 CE

Divan-e Hafez

دیوانِ حافظ شیرازی
Khwāja Shams-ud-Dīn Muḥammad Ḥāfeẓ-e Shīrāzī — c. 1315–1390 CE

Hafez of Shiraz is considered the supreme master of the Persian ghazal — the fourteen-line lyric poem combining mystical longing, wine, the beloved, and the divine into a single seamless voice. His Divan contains some 500 ghazals that Iranians have memorised, recited, and consulted as oracles for six centuries.

The extraordinary density of his verse — every word carrying multiple simultaneous meanings — makes Hafez one of the most challenging and rewarding poets to translate. Our bilingual edition preserves the literal meaning line by line while honouring the musicality of the original.

"Last night at dawn, they freed me from grief,
And in that darkness gave me the water of life."
دوش وقتِ سحر از غصّه نجاتم دادند
وندر آن ظلمتِ شب آبِ حیاتم دادند
Hafez — Divan, Ghazal 1
Featured Translation
Ghazal 1 — Opening Verses Last night at dawn, they freed me from grief, And in that darkness gave me the water of life.
The night was laden with grace — the wine was poured, And with that joy, they set my heart aflame.
With the reflection of the wine-bearer's face, They painted my imagination with a hundred colours.
That joy and ecstasy they gave me last night — God grant it never fades from memory.
غزلِ اوّل دوش وقتِ سحر از غصّه نجاتم دادند وندر آن ظلمتِ شب آبِ حیاتم دادند
بیخود از شعشعهٔ پرتوِ ذاتم کردند باده از جامِ تجلّی صفاتم دادند
چه مبارک سحری بود و چه فرخنده شبی آن شبِ قدر که این تازه‌براتم دادند
بعد از این روی من و آینهٔ وصفِ جمال که در آن‌جا خبرِ از جلوهٔ ذاتم دادند
Books in This Series
Divan-e Hafez
Vol. 1 — Ghazals 1–50
دیوانِ حافظ — جلدِ یک

Divan-e Hafez — Vol. 1

Ghazals 1–50
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Divan-e Hafez
Vol. 2 — Ghazals 51–100
دیوانِ حافظ — جلدِ دو

Divan-e Hafez — Vol. 2

Ghazals 51–100
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03
Mystical Poetry — 1207–1273 CE

Divan-e Shams

دیوانِ شمس — مولانا جلال‌الدین رومی
Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi (Rumi) — 1207–1273 CE

The Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi is Rumi's lyrical masterwork — over 40,000 verses of ecstatic poetry inspired by his transformative friendship with the wandering mystic Shams of Tabriz. It stands alongside the Masnavi as the pinnacle of Persian mystical literature.

Unlike the more narrative Masnavi, the Divan is pure song — spontaneous outpourings of divine love, longing, and the annihilation of the self in the face of the Beloved. Our bilingual edition translates each ghazal and rubai line by line, preserving the imagery and passion of the original.

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I'll meet you there."
بیرون ز وَهمِ نیک و بد، صحرایی است
آنجا که نه این‌ست و نه آن‌ست، جایی است
Rumi — Divan-e Shams, Ghazal 158
Featured Translation
The Reed's Lament — Masnavi, Book I Listen to the reed, how it tells a tale of separations, Singing of the time when it was one with the reed-bed.
Ever since I was cut from the reed-bed, men and women have wept at my lament.
I seek a breast torn open by separation to speak of the pain of longing.
Everyone who remained far from his origin seeks again the time when he was one.
نی‌نامه — مثنوی، دفترِ اوّل بشنو این نی چون شکایت می‌کند از جدایی‌ها حکایت می‌کند
کز نیستان تا مرا ببریده‌اند در نفیرم مرد و زن نالیده‌اند
سینه خواهم شَرحه شَرحه از فراق تا بگویم شرحِ دردِ اشتیاق
هر کسی کو دور ماند از اصلِ خویش باز جوید روزگارِ وصلِ خویش
Books in This Series
Divan-e Shams
Selected Ghazals
دیوانِ شمس — غزلیّات

Divan-e Shams — Vol. 1

Selected Ghazals
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Masnavi
Book One
مثنوی — دفترِ اوّل

Masnavi — Book One

The Reed's Lament
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04
Philosophical Quatrains — 1048–1131 CE

Rubaiyat of
Khayyam

رباعیاتِ عمر خیّام
Ghiyāth ad-Dīn Abu'l-Fatḥ ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm Khayyam — 1048–1131 CE

Omar Khayyam was first and foremost a mathematician and astronomer — his reform of the Persian calendar was more accurate than the Gregorian calendar adopted five centuries later. His rubaiyat (quatrains) were largely unknown outside Iran until FitzGerald's 1859 paraphrase made them world-famous.

Our bilingual edition returns to the original Persian, translating each rubai literally and faithfully — restoring the philosophical depth and cultural specificity that FitzGerald's Victorian adaptation transformed into something beautiful but substantially different from Khayyam's own voice.

"A loaf of bread, a flask of wine, a book of verse —
And thou beside me singing in the wilderness."
یک قُرصِ نان و یک سبو می درویشانه
با یار خوشی در بنِ گلزاری یا دشتی
Khayyam — Rubaiyat, No. 11
Featured Translation
Rubai I Awake! For Morning in the Bowl of Night Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight.
Rubai II Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring Your Winter-garment of Repentance fling.
Rubai III The Moving Finger writes, and having writ, Moves on — nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.
رباعیِ اوّل بیدار شو که صبح دمید از افق وز کاسهٔ شب سنگِ ستاره‌شکن انداخت
رباعیِ دوم بیا که قلعهٔ عمر است این بهارِ خوش جامه‌ی توبه بیفکن به آتشِ خرمش
رباعیِ سوم انگشتِ قضا می‌نویسد و می‌گذرد نه تقوا نه خردت آن را باز می‌گرداند نه اشکِ تو یک واژه از آن می‌شوید نه دعا نه ندامت خطی از آن می‌زداید
Books in This Series
Rubaiyat Vol. 1
Quatrains 1–75
رباعیات — جلدِ یک

Rubaiyat — Vol. 1

Quatrains 1–75
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Rubaiyat Vol. 2
Quatrains 76–158
رباعیات — جلدِ دو

Rubaiyat — Vol. 2

Quatrains 76–158
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05
Sufi Epic — c. 1145–1221 CE

Attar of
Nishapur

فریدالدین عطّارِ نیشابوری
Farid ud-Din Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Attar — c. 1145–1221 CE

Attar was the poet who, by his own account, set Rumi ablaze — Rumi once said that Attar had traversed the seven cities of Love while he himself was still at the first alley. His greatest work, the Manteq al-Tayr (Conference of the Birds), is a Sufi allegory of the soul's journey toward God.

In the poem, thirty birds set out to find the mythical Simorgh (the divine bird-king). After crossing seven valleys — Quest, Love, Knowledge, Detachment, Unity, Amazement, and Annihilation — only thirty birds remain, only to discover that they themselves are the Simorgh (si morgh = thirty birds).

"You have been told that you are dust —
But you are also the mirror of the King of all beauty."
گفته‌اندت که خاکی — لیک بدان
که آیینهٔ شاهِ حسنی تو همان
Attar — Manteq al-Tayr (Conference of the Birds)
Featured Translation
The Conference of the Birds — Opening The birds assembled all, from everywhere, And said: "We need a king — who will lead us there?"
The hoopoe spoke — the wisest of them all: "I know the way. I have the Simorgh's call."
"Across seven valleys we must go — Quest, Love, Knowledge, and Detachment's flow, Then Unity, Bewilderment, and last — Annihilation, where the self is past."
منطق‌الطیر — آغاز مرغانِ جهان جمله فراهم آمدند در پیِ پادشاه از هر سو دمیدند
هُدهُد برخاست، داناترین همه: «من راه دانم؛ بانگِ سیمرغ شنیده‌ام»
«از هفت وادی باید گذشت: طلب، عشق، معرفت، استغنا، توحید، حیرت — و آنگاه: فنا، که در آن «خود» نماند»
Books in This Series
Conference
of the Birds
منطق‌الطیر

Conference of the Birds

Manteq al-Tayr — Complete
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Ilahi-Nama
Book of God
الهی‌نامه

Ilahi-Nama

Book of God
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06
Lyric Poetry — c. 1210–1291 CE

Saadi
of Shiraz

شیخ مصلح‌الدین سعدیِ شیرازی
c. 1210 — 1291 CE — Shiraz, Fars Province, Iran

Saadi of Shiraz is one of the four great pillars of classical Persian literature. His couplet about human brotherhood is inscribed at the entrance of the United Nations. For eight centuries, his ghazals have been read alongside those of Hafez as the supreme expression of lyric wisdom in Persian — and scholars confirm that Hafez learned the art of the ghazal directly from Saadi.

Unlike Hafez who rarely left Shiraz, Saadi spent forty years travelling the Islamic world before returning home to write. His ghazals carry this worldliness — warm, witty, and deeply humane. Our two-volume bilingual edition presents all 673 ghazals line by line — Farsi original with faithful English translation.

"The rose has blossomed — come, let us not be heedless of spring;
a week at most, and the rose-season will be gone."
گل بشکفت بیا، از بهار غافل مباش
یک هفته بیش نیست، فصلِ گل می‌گذرد
Saadi — Divan, Ghazals
Featured Translation
Opening — Saadi's Ghazals I have no patience to remain — nor strength enough to go; I am the candle: burning where I stand.
Every night I lay my face upon the dust of separation — and every dawn I rise again, no closer to the door.
Saadi on Human Brotherhood The children of Adam are limbs of one body, created from one essence. When fate brings pain to one limb, the other limbs cannot remain at rest.
آغاز — غزلیاتِ سعدی نه صبرم هست که بمانم، نه تاب آنکه بروم شمعم — می‌سوزم آنجا که هستم
هر شب رویم را بر خاکِ فراق می‌گذارم و هر سحر برمی‌خیزم — نه قدمی به درت نزدیک‌تر
سعدی دربارهٔ همبستگیِ انسانی بنی آدم اعضای یک پیکرند که در آفرینش ز یک گوهرند چو عضوی به درد آورد روزگار دگر عضوها را نمانَد قرار
Books in This Series
Ghazals of Saadi
Vol. 1
غزلیاتِ سعدی — جلدِ یک

The Ghazals of Saadi — Vol. 1

Ghazals 1–328 — Bilingual
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Ghazals of Saadi
Vol. 2
غزلیاتِ سعدی — جلدِ دو

The Ghazals of Saadi — Vol. 2

Ghazals 329–673 — Bilingual
Buy on Amazon
07
Prose Poetry — 1937 CE

Boof Koor
The Blind Owl

بوفِ کور — صادق هدایت
Sadegh Hedayat — 17 February 1903–9 April 1951

Boof Koor (The Blind Owl) is the most celebrated work of Iranian prose fiction and one of the masterpieces of 20th-century world literature. First published in Bombay in 1937 in a private edition of 50 copies, it is a hallucinatory, surrealist prose poem exploring obsession, isolation, and the disintegration of identity.

Hedayat wrote in a literary modern Farsi deliberately stripped of arabicisms — making Boof Koor a linguistic as well as literary landmark. Its dreamlike two-part structure, recurring motifs of the ethereal woman and the old man, and its merging of waking and dreaming have made it one of the most analysed texts in Persian literature.

"In life there are wounds which, like leprosy,
slowly gnaw at the soul in solitude."
در زندگی زخم‌هایی هست که مثلِ خوره
روح را در انزوا آرام آرام می‌خورد
Hedayat — Boof Koor (The Blind Owl), Opening
Featured Translation
Opening — Boof Koor In life there are wounds which, like leprosy, slowly gnaw at the soul in solitude and in silence.
It is not possible to convey the agony of these wounds to anyone, for people are accustomed to count as real only those sorrows which are visible and which find utterance.
For the rest — those wounds of the soul that are invisible — there is no name, no speech, no language.
آغاز — بوفِ کور در زندگی زخم‌هایی هست که مثلِ خوره، روح را در انزوا آرام آرام می‌خورد و می‌تراشد.
این دردها را به کسی نمی‌شود اظهار کرد، چون عموماً عادت دارند که این‌گونه دردهای باورنکردنی را جزوِ دردهای نادر و غیرعادی بشمارند.
و اگر کسی بگوید یا بنویسد، مردم آن را حملِ بر جنون می‌کنند.
Books in This Series
Boof Koor
The Blind Owl
بوفِ کور

Boof Koor — The Blind Owl

Bilingual Edition
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Three Drops
of Blood
سه قطره خون

Three Drops of Blood

Short Stories — Hedayat
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