Reading is my passion. I read all the time and, lately, I have surprised myself by actively seeking out poetry. It is new for me, as I have often felt oddly distanced from the genre. But what I am discovering is delighting me – and I want to know more.
My curiosity was first piqued in the Iranian city of Shiraz a few years ago. I was wandering in the Musalla Gardens, where the tomb of the great Persian poet Hafez, who wrote of affairs of the heart and spirituality, can be found. It was sunset and the locals were milling about, drinking in the scent of roses and cooling off under the cypress trees. In the open-air pavilion housing his tomb, I had an encounter with one of many woman intently reading his work there.