Sweet Lunacy : Divine Intoxication in Sufi Literature

"Divine Intoxication" is a common theme in Middle Eastern poetry.

The "wine" on which the seeker becomes "drunk" is nothing less than the nectar of love.

Such "inebriation," however, often produces unconventional behaviour, even hints of madness, marking the lover as one apparently lost to the ordinary world.

In this mood, Kahlil Gibran wrote: "Only an idiot and a genius break man-made laws and they are the nearest to the heart of God." And so, the poetry written by or about these "drunkards" is often saturated with perennial wisdom, with stark reflections of the truth (in vino veritas), and with a variety of prayerful longing that is found throughout all mystical traditions. SWEET LUNACY contains works by some of the most well-known mystical Sufi poets from the 11th through the 14th century, including Rumi, Attar, and Jami.

But the reader will also meet lesser-known authors here whose messages, both unique and fresh, are equally inspiring.

The poets in this collection are those who, for reasons which might not seem altogether reasonable to our everyday mind and logic, were willing and able to question this mystery called life and, unwilling to accept readymade answers.

Vraje Abramian, born in Iran and a native speaker of Farsi, has worked to keep his translations as close to the meaning and cultural flavour of the originals as possible.