This book brings together two of the most important and fascinating art forms in Arabic culture: poetry and calligraphic painting. Walid Khazendar, one of the leading poets in the Arab world, has selected and translated into English twenty-five texts and twenty-three quotations from ancient Arabic poetry. To date, Khazendar has published three collections. His poetry has been translated in Agenda (1997), Modern Poetry in Translation (1998), and some of his poems are included in Tom Paulin's The Road to Inver (2004). Accompanying the translations, the book contains forty-eight calligraphic paintings in colour by the Arab artist Mouneer al-Shaarani, of the texts and quotations. Also contains an introduction to ancient Arabic poetry, the original texts in Arabic and notes in English on the poets.