Books by Roxana’s father, Reza Saberi
Available at the below prices on Amazon
(Click here for Reza Saberi’s June 2011 interview with public radio about the Persian poet Hafez.)
An Invitation to Persian Poetry
(Los Angeles, Ketab Corp. 2006)
Selections from 126 classical Persian poets
Translated by Reza Saberi
A bilingual text, Persian-English.
Softcover, 408 pages, $18.00
Excerpt:
Molavi Rumi
Hear from the reed-pipe how it relates its story
And how it complains of separation.
Since they cut me off the reed-field
Men and women have wailed to my melody.
I want a breast rendered piecemeal by separation,
So that I can describe the pain of yearning.
Whoever fell apart from his origin
Will seek to regain the time of his union.
Insights and Intuitions
(Maryland, University Press of America, 2003)
Reflections on the nature of Existence.
Softcover, 310 pages, $15.00
Excerpt:
A Persian proverb says: “One rose does not make a spring.” It is not true. I say: “One rose can make a spring if we know how to see it and how to appreciate it.” To an enlightened person, it is not the multitude and variety that make life beautiful and worth living. It is how one sees into anything that makes the difference in one’s life. To me one flower reflects the whole existence and contains a world of beauty, energy, and spirit. I could even say: To me, one flower is the whole universe with all its energy and beauty. It is not what I see but how I see that matters.
The Divan of Hafez
(Maryland, University Press of America, 2002)
A bilingual text, Persian-English.
Softcover, 685 pages, Contact the publisher 1-800-462-6420
The whole Divan of Hafez is translated from the original Persian, using Dr. Parviz Natal Khanlari’s Edition of Hafez (Tehran, 1375 H. S. =1996 C. E.).
– “A very thorough and well translated text on one of Iran’s greatest poets. Reza Saberi translates the Persian with great accuracy to capture the poetic thought of each sonnet.” (Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Sept. 2002)
Excerpt:
O Sâqi, fill the bowl and pass it around.
For love seemed easy at first, but then fell troubles.
Hoping for the musk the zephyr unlocks from her locks,
Many a heart bled by the curls of her musky tress.
Dye the prayer mat with wine if the Magians’ Pir tells you,
For the Sâlek knows the rules of stations of the Path.
What warrant of joy have I in the beloved’s road-stations?
For every moment the bell cries out: “Bind your litters up!”
A dark night, fear of waves, and a maelstrom so forbidding!
How can the light-burdened of the shore know our plight?
All my deeds led to infamy because of my willfulness.
How can the secret told in assemblies remain hidden?
Hâfez, if you desire a presence, do not be absent from it.
When you have met the one you desired, let the world go.
A Thousand Years of Persian Ruba’iya’t
(Maryland, Ibex Publishers, 2000)
More than 1500 quatrains from 106 Iranian poets, translated from Persian by Reza Saberi.
A bilingual text, Persian-English
Softcover, 590 pages, $25.00
Excerpt:
When in chain, a chain breaker one must be.
Having lost the way, a road guide one must be.
In one moment, a thousand years one must live.
In one instant, a thousand places one must be.
If you are a man of the Path, through blood you must walk.
And if your feet collapse, on you head you must walk.
Plant your step on the road and ask nothing.
For the road itself will tell you how you must walk.
–Attar Nishaburi
The Poems of Hafez
(Maryland, University Press of America,1995)
An English translation of all the ghazals of Hafez by Reza Saberi.
Hardcover, 400 pages, Contact the publisher 1-800-462-6420
Impressions and Expressions
(Fargo, 1992)
A journal of the author’s feelings and thoughts in the course of more than a decade.
Softcover, 248 pages, $7.95
Excerpt:
February 3, 1983
The greatest advantage of having an intelligent mind is that one never gets bored because one never ceases to wonder, seek, and discover. The world is never short of wonders for an intelligent mind. How boring it would be if we knew everything about ourselves and the world and if we were certain there was nothing else to discover. . .
Splendor of the Light 
(Nashville, 1991)
A book about the unity of existence.
Softcover, 170 pages, $7.95
Excerpt:
Throughout history, humankind has been working, often subconsciously, toward discovering unity behind diversity and order behind apparent chaos. Somehow the universal conscious-ness, which is Existence itself, informs human beings—whether savage, children, uneducated or learned—that beneath the differences there are similarities, and behind the many there hides the One. Human beings have made this advancement toward unity through mythology, religion, philosophy, science, humanities, and also through mystical experiences.
The Labyrinth
(New York, 1982)
A novel about the adventures of an Iranian young man.
Softcover, 246 pages, $7.95
Excerpt:
Ali folded the letter and put it in his left pocket, right over his heart. He jumped down and ran out of the dormitory. He walked far from the sight of the soldiers and burst into laughter. He was too happy to contain his laughter. For the first time, he had received a love letter from a girl. So, there was someone who loved him.
The letter caused a revolution in Ali’s spirit. It gave him a new hope for the future. A new horizon opened in the sky of his life. His heart was overflowing with happiness. He walked back to the dormitory and replied to her letter without delay.
