"Rumi's "Divani Shamsi Tabriz" ("The Works of Shams of Tabriz"--Named in honor of Rumi's spiritual teacher and friend) is a collection of lyric poems that contain more than 40,000 verses by America's bestselling poet, and is a classic of Persian literature. Its most familiar form is as a big red book, hence the name. Coleman Barks is famous for his renderings of Rumi's poetry and his work on these particular poems has never been published anywhere. This book represents over thirty-three years on Rumi's seminal classic"-- Provided by publisher.