The Green Sea of Heaven is a groundbreaking work of translation of one of the greatest poets of world literature. Háfiz (fourteenth century) was the unrivalled master of the Persian ghazal, a lyric form roughly equivalent to the English sonnet in length, intensity, and complexity. The fifty ghazals from Háfiz's Díwán (collected works), are a fine sampling of his poetic genius, expressing his passion for the Divine Beloved and his scandalous (to the Muslim clergy of the day) exaltation of music and wine as vehicles of transcendence and religious ecstasy. This is a bilingual edition with the Persian text facing each ghazal translation into English.
Endorsements This is a groundbreaking work, one that places the ghazal of Háfiz into a contemporary English poetic idiom ... After too long a wait, we encounter Háfiz, come alive in an English style that is at once natural and intricate. This is a remarkable achievement.
—Michael Sells, author of Mystical Languages of Unsaying and Approaching the Qur'án
These are truly remarkable and moving translations: the first English versions of Háfiz to read as poetry while still capturing the unique qualities of concision, multivalent meaning and spiritual depth which have for centuries made his Persian ghazals the acknowledged masterpiece and exemplar of poetic art throughout the Eastern Islamic world.
—Professor James Morris, Islamic Thought and Literature, Oberlin College.