"'Gold,' the title of my book, is a word that recurs throughout Rumi's
poetry. Rumi's gold is not the precious metal but a feeling-state
arrived at through the alchemical process of altering consciousness, of
burning through ego, greed, pettiness, and calculation, to arrive at a
more relaxed and compassionate state of being. In sum, the prayer of
Sufism is 'teach me to love more deeply.' Gold is the deepest love." In
the introduction to her dazzling book, Haleh Liza Gafori opens a window
on Rumi's life, the forcefield that is his poetry, and her gorgeous
aspiration-- as a poet of Persian descent-- to bring the original verses
alive in the medium of contemporary American poetry, while preserving
their irrepressible musicality, conceptual agility and enigmas.
