Water - by Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi (Paperback)

About the Book

"A follow-up to her ground-breaking translations of Rumi in Gold, poet and musician Haleh Liza Gafori translates a new selection of work by the great Persian mystic that will muster the soul and stir the spirit. Water expands on Gold, Haleh Liza Gafori's inspired and widely praised translation of the lyric poetry of the Persian mystic Rumi. As in Gold, Gafori renders with fluid grace and moving immediacy these indisputable masterworks of world literature, drawing on the deep well of Rumi's work to bring out the worldly wit and wisdom that accompany his otherworldly summons. Behold the divine within and without, he tells us. Question the gnawing hunger for material possessions, fame, and fortune, and the fear of emptiness that drives it. Muster the soul, and experience a more compassionate and liberated state of mind. An eco-poet before his time, Rumi celebrates the immensity and wonder of the natural world while warning us of the havoc that greed and the pursuit of power wreak upon us and our world. His flights of dazzling imagery open up heart-stopping glimpses of the divine, challenging readers to wake from oblivion, and above all, to surrender to the transformative power of Love. Gafori is an acclaimed vocalist and musician as well as a gifted linguist and poet, and in her translations Rumi's poetry sings and beckons as nowhere else. Hers is the work, as the poet Marilyn Hacker has said, "of someone who is at once an acute and enamored reader of the original Farsi text, a dedicated miner of context and backstory, and, best of all, a marvelous poet in English.""--

Book Synopsis

A follow-up to her ground-breaking translations of Rumi in Gold, poet and musician Haleh Liza Gafori translates a new selection of work by the great Persian mystic that will muster the soul and stir the spirit.

"Gafori's selection boasts idiosyncratic connections and ear-catching tempo changes, from sequences and litanies to unimprovably terse epigrams: 'Beloved, when your sweetness rains down / the price of rock candy plummets.'" --Christopher Spaide, LitHub

"Gafori's translation is exceptional: contemporary, razor-sharp, and lyrically expansive but still unmistakably Rumi . . . an accessible, enjoyable, and essential entry point to Rumi's work." --Publishers Weekly, starred review

Water expands on Gold, Haleh Liza Gafori's inspired and widely praised translation of the lyric poetry of the Persian mystic Rumi. As in Gold, Gafori renders with fluid grace and moving immediacy these indisputable masterworks of world literature, drawing on the deep well of Rumi's work to bring out the worldly wit and wisdom that accompany his otherworldly summons. Behold the divine within and without, he tells us. Question the gnawing hunger for material possessions, fame, and fortune, and the fear of emptiness that drives it. Muster the soul, and experience a more compassionate and liberated state of mind. An eco-poet before his time, Rumi celebrates the immensity and wonder of the natural world while warning us of the havoc that greed and the pursuit of power wreak upon us and our world. His flights of dazzling imagery open up heart-stopping glimpses of the divine, challenging readers to wake from oblivion, and above all, to surrender to the transformative power of Love.

Gafori is an acclaimed vocalist and musician as well as a gifted linguist and poet, and in her translations Rumi's poetry sings and beckons as nowhere else. Hers is the work, as the poet Marilyn Hacker has said, "of someone who is at once an acute and enamored reader of the original Farsi text, a dedicated miner of context and backstory, and, best of all, a marvelous poet in English."

Review Quotes

"Haleh Liza Gafori's pitch-perfect translation of Rumi updates and amplifies his mindful, muscular soul. My sense of his poetry, shaped by prior translators, has been rebooted--or entirely, booted--by her prismatic lyricism. Music, wit, and empathy color her lens. What a sweeping, invigorating read." --Terrance Hayes

"These stunning translations of Master Rumi, at once gustatory and spiritual, cut the gloom of our existential doings. Imperative now, as ever, to know this beauty and love." --Anne Waldman

"Water is immediate and timeless. These poems imprint on the heart. To read these verses is to enter mystery and paradox, to be burnished by the sacred fire and broken open by the holiest dance." --Suleika Jaouad

"Gorgeous, fluent, and faithful translations. Gafori renders Rumi's voice on the page with an original integrity that is as skilled as it is unforgettable." --Pádraig Ó Tuama

"Has there ever been a better moment to read or reread the timeless lyrical wisdom of Rumi? As translator Haleh Liza Gafori reminds us in these elegant new translations, Rumi offers both indelible ground to stand on, and energy to move forward with hope and grace." --Naomi Shihab Nye

"This Rumi speaks to us across time, to offer us a way back into our lives. 'Now tell me about the God inside. / For once, enter your own house.' Each poem in this luminous new translation is meant for this moment. 'If your eyes are polluted, / let your tears wash them. / The cure is in your tears.' Haleh Liza Gafori is offering us a gift, to light our way home." --Nick Flynn

"Gafori's elegant translations of Rumi's poems in Water can change your life. Her fidelity to the original Persian, her understanding of the Sufi context in which these poems sprang to life, and her exquisite musical sensibility make Water essential reading." --Christopher Merrill

"Gafori's selection boasts idiosyncratic connections and ear-catching tempo changes, from sequences and litanies to unimprovably terse epigrams: 'Beloved, when your sweetness rains down / the price of rock candy plummets.'" --Christopher Spaide, LitHub

"Gafori's translation is exceptional: contemporary, razor-sharp, and lyrically expansive but still unmistakably Rumi . . . an accessible, enjoyable, and essential entry point to Rumi's work."
--Publishers Weekly, starred review

About the Author

Rumi, Molana, Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Balkhy (1207-1273), was born in or near the city of Balkh, in present-day Afghanistan. Widely considered the greatest poet of the Persian language, Rumi's major works are the Masnavi, a six-volume collection of mystical teachings, and the Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi, a collection of lyric poetry. He died and was buried in Konya, Turkey.

Haleh Liza Gafori is a NYC-born translator, performance artist, writer, musician, and educator of Iranian descent. Her most recent book of translations of poetry by the 13th century mystic and sage Rumi entitled Water was released in April of 2025 by New York Review Books, a follow-up to her acclaimed first volume, Gold, released in 2022, also by NYRB Classics. Since then, Gold has been incorporated in the curricula of universities across the country.A 2024 MacDowell fellow and a recipient of a grant from NYSCA, Gafori has created a musical and cross-media performance based on the books and has presented her work via performances, lectures, and workshops, at institutions such as Stanford University, Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Academy of American Poets, Sarah Lawrence College, Lincoln Center and elsewhere. Gafori's writings have been published by Columbia University Press, Paris Review, Harvard Review, Literary Hub, and others.