KHAQANI: SELECTED POEMS Translation & Introduction by Paul Smith Born in Shirwan in 1122 he died in Tabriz in 1199. He was a great poet and a master of the qasida and one of the first of the ghazal. He was born into the family of a carpenter in Melgem, near Shamakhy. He lost his father and was brought up by an uncle, a doctor and astronomer at court of the Shirwanshah, who acted 'as his nurse and tutor'. His mother was a Christian and Jesus features in many of his poems. After he was invited to court he assumed the pen-name Khaqani ('regal'). A court poet's life bored him and he fled to Iraq inspiring his famous masnavi 'A Gift from the Two Iraqs'. He also wrote 'The Ruin of Madain' painting his impression of the remains of Sassanid's Palace near the Ctesiphon. Returning home Shah Akhistan ordered his imprisonment. Released he moved to Tabriz but his small son died, then daughter, then wife. Alone, he soon died. He is buried at the Poet's Cemetery in Tabriz. He left a remarkable, large heritage of poems in Persian that influenced many 'court' and Sufi poets. A major influence on his poems was Sana'i. Introduction on his Life, Poetry & Times and Forms he composed in. The correct rhyme-structure has been kept in this largest selection of his poems including ruba'is, ghazals, masnavi, qasidas, qit'as in English. Selected Bibliography. 197 pages. Paul Smith is a poet, author and translator of over 80 books of Sufi poets of the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu and other languages, including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan, Obeyd Zakani, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Yunus Emre, Jahan Khatun and many others... as well as his own poetry, fiction, talks & essays, plays, television, musicals, biographies, children's books and 12 screenplays.