Aspi Supriya Kitaab Khaana

Like wine, it feels one can never have enough of Sufi Poetry. After last month's evening with Sufi poetry, those who came wanted some more. So in this month's Poetry Corner at Kitabkhana, we continue where we left off, with a focus on Omar Khayyam this time.

Myself when young did eagerly frequent
Doctor and Saint, and heard great Argument
About it and about: but evermore
Came out by the same Door as in I went.

“The very best poems produce a shift in awareness that takes us outside ourselves. In this place, momentarily, time seems to slow down or even stop. From this vantage point, we view life from another perspective — one that seems strangely familiar, and perhaps even more real, than our casual, day-to-day way of looking at things. In this way, by stepping beyond ourselves into the Tavern of Wonder, we catch a glimpse of what the deeper self, and our deeper ties, are really like.”

— From the introduction to Love’s Alchemy: Poems from the Sufi Tradition by David and Sabrineh Fideler

Sufi’s are lovers of the truth. Through love and devotion they seek to become one with their beloved. Through poetry many of the great Sufi mystics have been able to encapsulate and share their spiritual experiences.

Aspi Mistry is the founder member of the Dharma Rain Centre for Buddhist Studies, Free Tibet and human rights activist, who prays, with apologies to Shantideva, “May I be a thorn in the sides of those who desperately need a thorn in their sides…”