Poetry Path: Rumi

Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, also known by the honorific Mawlānā or as Rūmī was born September 30, 1207, in Balkh, in what is now Afghanistan and lived most of his adult life in Konya, present-day Turkey. He is considered the greatest Sufi mystic and poet in the Persian language, known for both his lyric poetry about love and loss and for his religious epic Mas̄navī-yi Maʿnavī (an illuminated manuscript of which was first published posthumously in 1295-96), which greatly influenced thought and literature throughout the Muslim world. He died on December 17, 1273, in Konya.

Rumi, “Thirst drove me down to the water / Where I drank the moon’s reflection.” translated by Coleman Brooks, from Selected Poems, Penguin UK, 2015, pg. 35. Reprinted by permission of the translator.

The Poetry Path is made possible through a partnership with Battery Park City Authority, partners in design and fabrication of the Poetry Path, with additional support from our Outreach Partner, Goldman Sachs. Special thanks to the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Foundation for funding the Poetry Path planning process, and to the Marcia Brady Tucker Foundation for supporting Poetry Path educational initiatives for youth and children.

Children’s poet, author, actor, and educator Charles Waters takes us on a tour of the Poetry Path in Battery Park City.