“For more than fifty years Robert Bly has been exploring the poetry of other languages, cultures, ages, in order to reach past the inherited conventions of poetry in English which he grew up with in mid-century." — African Sun Times
“Bly, like other giants of poetic activism . . . has not been content to merely live his times. He has actively challenged them, and his muse, far from abandoning him, has stood steadfastly . . . at his side.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune
"This is an amazingly meaningful translation of Hafiz’s poetry that I deeply appreciate. . . . Having understood the original text in both its technical and non-technical senses, they have presented us with a translation shorn of jargon." — —Baha al-Din Khurramshahi, author of Hafiznama, a two-volume Persian commentary on Hafez’s poetry, Tehran, Iran
"The medieval Persian mystical poet Hafez used sinuous lines and ringing metaphors to write about wisdom, the dangers of repression and the paradoxes of his faith. His blend of simplicity and challenge makes him the most popular poet in Iran today. Bly and Lewisohn (a world-class Sufism expert) present clear and memorable versions of Hafez’s renowned lyric meditations. . . . Though Hafez does not (yet) have the immense Western popularity of that other Sufi mystic, Rumi, his verse has all the ingredients to make a similar splash." — Publishers Weekly