The Diwan-e Shams-e Tabrizi is Rumi’s other great masterpiece, a collection of lyric poems (ghazals) dedicated to his lost friend and spiritual alter ego. These poems are marked by a frenetic, ecstatic energy, often composed while Rumi was in a state of trance or during the Sema. The language is visceral and intoxicated, filled with imagery of wine, gardens, and the "Beloved." In these verses, Rumi challenges the intellect, arguing that the mind is limited and that only the heart is capable of perceiving the true majesty of existence. It is a celebration of the annihilation of the self in the presence of the Divine.
