With perfect insight, Nizami, writing nearly a thousand years ago, captures the lightness of heart that falling in love can bring, the thrill of shared affection, the sorrows of separation, the pains of doubt and jealousy, the bitterness of love betrayed, and the grief that comes with loss. Nizami maps the whole of the mysterious world of love, leaving no region uncharted. The language of the original poem may be that of twelfth century Persia, but his theme is ...