This Rumi collection features selections from one of the world's great spiritual masterpieces, the Mathnawi . The Mathnawi consists of six volumes of poetry in rhyme—over fifty-one thousand verses—inspired by folklore, the Qur'an, stories of saints and teachers, and sayings of Muhammed. Rendered by Rumi's premier English translators, these excerpts from the Mathnawi are presented in American free-verse style.