Love Poems from God

Book excerpt: In this luminous collection, Daniel Ladinsky interprets the work of twelve of the world’s finest spiritual writers, six from the East and six from the West. Ladinsky reveals his talent for culling the essence of classic poetry for a modern audience. Ladinsky’s poems are not translations in a literal sense. Rather than capture the form of a particular classical work, Ladinsky crafts poems that release the spirit of these timeless writers. Rumi’s joyous, ecstatic love poems; St. Francis’s loving observations of nature through the eyes of Catholicism; Kabir’s wild, freeing humor that synthesizes Hindu, Muslim, and Christian beliefs; St. Teresa’s sensual verse; and the mystical, healing words of Sufi poet Hafiz—these along with inspiring works by Rabia, Meister Eckhart, St. Thomas Aquinas, Mira, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, and Tukaram are all “love poems by God” from writers considered “conduits of the divine.” Together, they form a spiritual treasure to cherish always.