Nightingales and Pleasure Gardens

The earliest turkish verses, dating from the sixth century A.D., were love lyrics. Since then, love has dominated the Turks’ poetic modes and moods—pre-Islamic, Ottoman, classical, folk, modern. This collection covers love lyrics from all periods of Turkish poetry. It is the first anthology of its kind in English. The translations, faithful to the originals, possess a special freshness in style and sensibility. Here are lyrics from pre-Islamic Central Asia, passages from epics, mystical ecstasie