THE ULTIMATE PIRATE (and the Shanghai of Imagination) A FABLE by Paul Smith This long poem and the poems related to it were composed in 1973 while translating 'Divan of Hafiz'. The author had read Meher Baba's masterpiece 'God Speaks' that explained everything and in particular, the inner planes of consciousness... of which this is an imagined fable about such a journey. His 'Creative Imagination' at the time was so acute and deep that the journey at times seemed so real that he passed out from the bliss that he was experiencing. Since a child he had always loved pirate movies and to a certain extent in this poem he pays homage to them through the Ultimate Pirate, this time, his Spiritual Master, Meher Baba. Illustrations by Oswald Hall. 157 pages. COMMENTS ON PAUL SMITH'S TRANSLATION OF HAFIZ'S 'DIVAN'. "It is not a joke... the English version of ALL the ghazals of Hafiz is a great feat and of paramount importance. I am astonished. If he comes to Iran I will kiss the fingertips that wrote such a masterpiece inspired by the Creator of all." Dr. Mir Mohammad Taghavi (Dr. of Literature) Tehran. "Superb translations. 99% Hafiz 1% Paul Smith." Ali Akbar Shapurzman, translator in English into Persian and knower of Hafiz's Divan off by heart. "I was very impressed with the beauty of these books." Dr. R.K. Barz. Faculty of Asian Studies, Australian National University. "Smith has probably put together the greatest collection of literary facts and history concerning Hafiz." Daniel Ladinsky (Penguin Books author). Paul Smith is a poet, author and translator of over 80 books of Sufi poets from the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Hindi, Pashtu and other languages... including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Omar Khayyam, Rudaki, Yunus Emre, Baba Farid, Mu'in, Amir Khusrau, Lalla Ded, and others, and his own poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, children's books and a dozen screenplays.