Foreword

Once upon a time, people told stories to each other.  Alas, this ancient tradition dimmed as neon lights grew bright.  Storytelling brings us together.  This book is about how not to do it yourself.  Be engaged, make friends and carry the torch in this dark desert of separation.

Paradise Never Lost is a journey from slumber to storm, from serenity to serendipity, from fish to fowl and  from fowl to moon.

Simorgh is an interpretation of an old story in the  form of a new one, a nocturnal flight through the seven cities of love.

The story of Quest is about a human being who has a kingly ambition.  King Ebrahim is a man or a woman, like us, whose feet are on earth but his crown reaches the Moon and Jupiter.  A king whose kingdom is not bordered by barbed wires but by cherry blossoms.

The story of Passion is about the Prince of quest longing for the Princess of truth.

Bahar and Norooz is a sweet dream without which wakefulness is a nightmare.

Paradise Never Lost is indebted to the souls of Rumi and Attar, two of the greatest Persian poets who have inspired me from the age of four when my mother began to read to me their sweet poems and stories. It also owes to the teachings of my late father, Mehdi Elahi Ghomshei, whose soul was a bridge between our time and the era of Rumi and Attar.

I am thankful to my mother, my sisters and my brothers who taught me the alphabet of love.  My gratitude extends to my dear friends, Nancy Woldnik, Nicole Suarez, Linda Christensen, Amanda Hentes, Ali Nobari, Camyar Chai, Pamela Holm and John Brozak for their encouragement and comments on the manuscript.

Mory M. Ghomshei

                                                 September, 1997