KHAQANI: LIFE & POEMS Translation & Introduction Paul Smith Born in Shirwan in 1122 he died in Tabriz in 1199. He was a great Sufi poet and a master of the
qasida
and one of the first of the ghazal. He was born into the family of a carpenter in Melgem, near Shamakhy. He lost his father and was brought up by an uncle, a doctor and astronomer at court of the Shirwanshah, who acted 'as his nurse and tutor'. His mother was a Christian and Jesus features in many of his poems. After he was invited to court he assumed the pen-name Khaqani ('regal'). A court poet's life bored him and he fled to Iraq inspiring his famous
masnavi
'A Gift from the Two Iraqs'. He left a remarkable, large heritage of poems in Persian that influenced many Sufi poets. Introduction on his Life, Poetry & Times and Forms he composed in. The correct rhyme-structures have been kept in this selection of his
ruba'is, ghazals
etc, an a section of his famous
masnavi.
Selected Bibliography. 256 pages. Paul Smith is a poet, author and translator of over 150 books of Sufi poets of the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu and other languages, including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan, Obeyd Zakani, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Yunus Emre, Jahan Khatun and many others... as well as his own poetry, fiction, talks, essays, plays, television, musicals, biographies, children's books and 12 screenplays. New Humanity Books amazon.com/author/smithpa