Nature and history have combined to make Georgia a land of poetry. Glistening peaks, majestic forests, sunny valleys, crystalline streams clamouring in deep gorges have a music of their own, which heard by the sensitive ear tends to breed poetic thought; while the incessant struggle of the Georgians against foreign invaders -- Persians, Arabs, Mongols, Turks and others -- has bred in them a sense of chivalry and a deep patriotism which found expression in many a lay, ballad and poem. Now the treasures of Georgian literature have been translated from Georgian into English exquisitely by Venera Urushadze. This anthology, without pretending to be complete, aims at including the specimens of the varied poetry of the Georgian people from the beginning of its development till modern times.