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II
SONG OFFERINGS
I BAI‘IA’U’LLAH What can we say of Thee, 0 Heart Sublime! Purer in Word or deed no one hath been. Than Whom no parallel in any age or clime
Hath ever stepped the mortal worlds between.
Almighty God’s Supreme Celestial Throne!
Thy Law is pulsing every cosmic sphere;
Its wondrous potency but dimly shone
To hearts made weak with love, eyes blind with fear.
Majestic Mirror of Divinity!
Robed with God’s Glory in these latter days, Our feeble mutterings ascribe to Thee
Such vain and stunted attributes of praise.
Our hearts are stilled, our tongues forever mute,
Before the glowing radiance of Thy Door}
And though we know Thy Branch,2 0 Ancient Root!
Thy Beauty must enthrall us, evermore.
—-PHILIP AMALFI MARANGELLA
II THE BAB
Transcendent Star, past mortal ken
The glory of your Life through all the spheres
Bathes the unending vista of the years.
The radiance of the Light you brought to men
Has purified the planet’s heart anew!
Your blood was poured upon its dearth like dew,
Ichor of God’s decree, let each drop shed
Raise up the nations, and the living dead,
Revive the vision of the spirit’s youth:
Auroral is the fountain of your Truth.
-BEATRICE IRWIN
945
III
BAHIYYIH lg-IANUM
O Holy Leaf! adorning God’s own Tree, Our humbler hearts we turn to thee.
Help us, we pray, that each new day
May draw us nearer to thy silent way, And lay our deeds, a measure of thy price, Upon thine altar of unending sacrifice.
Give us the vision and the faith to see Our task fulfilled in Temple UnitySymbol of God; beacon of hope for man; Divinely ordered pattern of a new world
planLet thy compassion intercede,
That we may heed, that we may heed, Before the only Guardian of our fate
May write the woeful words: "too late.”
0 Daughter of the Glory! Flame of the
Supreme! Thy life hath told its story, thy love is our dream.
-—PHILIP AMALFI MARANGELLA
IV THE SEVEN VALLEYS
EXORDIUM
He, Who by varied names, in every climc In diverse paths the wayworn wanderers seek;
Omnipotent, Who to the end of time
Shall bow the prideful and lift up the meek; He, Who the sun in the high heaven lit And gave of rarest fragrance to the rose, Who patient, waiting, shall in judgment sit To listen and forgive, because He knows The fleshly weakness: grant to us this day A single spark from His undying fire
To cheer and guide us up the darksome way Lest we turn backward to the earthly mire; Then draw us to His glory from our nightUnveil His beauty to our groping sight.
1 The Báb. 2 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
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THE VALLEY OF SEARCH
Walk here with patience. He Whom here you seek
Hides as a bird, within a bush to sleep;
And who would find must come with spirit meek
And, lest the bird be startled, softly creep.
The searcher as he mounts the upward way
Must cast aside his burdens, free his soul
Of what it gathered in the world of clay
If unencumbered, he would reach the goal.
For man must leave behind the world of men,
New climates must the soul exchange for old,
And bravely journey on, for not till then
Shall the first bud of the Friend’s vine unfold,
Releasing sweetness rarer than the rose
To tell the searcher He is near, and Knows.
THE VALLEY OF KNOWLEDGE
Illumination in this place shall burn
The dross of falsehood, leaving but the gold
Of truth; along this road each turn
Shall strange new beauty to the eyes unfold.
He who here enters, having left behind
The world of fancies, dark as moonless night,
Wherein he wandered, impotent and blind Shall know and worship, in the new-found light,
Him, Who without beginning, without end,
Awaits the traveler, loosed at last of earth,
Who naught seeks here but nearness to the Friend,
The perfect measure of all-perfect worth.
Here time shall cease; here death and life are one g
As long as His swift stream of Being run.
THE VALLEY OF LOVE
This is a land of all consuming fire
Lit with a radiance brighter than noon sun Where each must sacrifice upon love’s pyre Forsworn ideals, and seek alone the One. And he who would approach the Friend,
must first
Find life in death, and glory in defeat; Here must the soul its worldly fetters burst Nor spurn the travail if it here would meet The One, the matchless Friend of Ecstasy. Here, earthly fancies must the seeking heart Upon His altar as an offering lay
THE Bahá’í WORLD
If it would learn that which He would impart;
And free at last of mortal passions move
On to the higher world of endless love.
THE VALLEY OF UNITY
Like as a stream returning to the sea From whence it left in vapor, here the soul At last, within itself, shall cease to be. Who, seeking here, has set his final goal Near to the sanctuary of the Friend
Shall lose himself in timeless unity
That no beginning had, and has no end. Here shall man’s life, of every mortal hope Set free, at last from out the earthly night No longer feeble in the darkness grope,
But walk in paths of beauty, in the light Of Oneness, through ages still to be, Drawn to the Friend in endless ecstasy.
THE VALLEY OF CONTENTMENT
This is a garden where the rarest blooms
In full profusion grow, wet by the dew
Of blessed nearness to the Friend, that dooms
All want and sorrow. Here all things are new:
Here, freed at last, earth’s prisoner shall find
Beauty, where only ugliness before
He saw; when loosed from mortal loves that bind
He has passed through the open, waiting door
Into this place of peace. All truth, all power
Are his who enters here. Here shall he see
The mystery of eternity in an hour
And understand all secrets yet to be.
This is reality. Old wants are gone
As flies the morning star before the dawn.
THE VALLEY OF WONDERMENT
Here every hour is luminous as the dawn After a night of storm, and here the soul To glory after glory travels on,
And to the eyes new beauties do unroll,
So vast that every earthly sight would pale Before this rapture. Mortal happiness Takes flight, and from the heart the heavy
veil
Of earth is lifted, and the air does bless. Unwearied here, where neither day nor night Shall be, the questing soul shall find at last Life’s mystery unraveled, in the light
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SONG OFFERINGS
That shall shine on, when mortal days are past;
A guiding beam for ages yet to come
Sent by the Friend, to lead the wanderer home.
THE VALLEY OF TRUE POVERTY
Here lay aside the ragged robes of earth And leave behind all worldly place and fame, For Oneness here the measure is of worth. Admitted only, those who speak His name In true humility. The souls that here
947
Would walk for all eternity, must first
Seek but the Friend, to Him alone give ear, And for His nectar, be their only thirst. Not by the proud of mind is ever won Admittance here, but by the poor in heart, Stripped of past glory, at the set of sun. Death here is not an ending, but the start At last, of all the soul has hungered for: Oneness with Him, till time shall be no more.
-—EVER,ETT TABOR GAMAGE
Adapted from _“The Seven Valleys” of Bahá’u’lláh, translated by ‘Ali-Kuli Khan.
V
THE SONG CELESTIAL‘""
PRELUDE
’Tis not from sages, nor from learned books
That‘ man gains wisdom. In his secret breast
A Chamber lies wherein he sometimes looks
And listens. There his troubled soul finds rest,
And there, if he adores, his life is blest.
The gloomy dust which rises from men’s minds,
In their eternal search for certainty, Obscures the s pirit’s vision, and so blinds The eye of heart that, failing Truth to see, They grape and wander in perplexity.
But sometimes—Ah, that blessed, unwarned hour!
The dust is scattered by a mystic breeze:
Upon man’s heated mind there falls a shower
From Fount Celestial, and his heart finds ease
Which only God can give—Such hours are these.
ARGUMENT:
Man desires God with all his heart, and in its secret Chamber holds with Him high converse. He asks God why He hides from him; says that he seeks with telescope, microscope and in the mind, but in vain. God warns him that He is not thus to be found but, rather, in the Spiritual Universe, His Home. Man asks how he may find this Universe of God and hears that all the Prophets have come to men as Guides to the way of true Life. Man complains that the Prophets
have always been slain by men: how, then, can God’s love be found in men’s hearts? He is told that the true Man is not mirrored in the lower self of man but in his true Self which is mirrored in the Prophets themselves; that man’s vision is too limited to judge correctly the long history of the race from cell to man, much less the immortal life ahead of him. Man sees no certainty of life beyond the grave for death seems victorious. God assures him that the thought of death as the end of life is superstition and reassures him. Man is content.
HOUR ONE
Man Speaks:
Why dost Thou hide Thyself from me, O God?
Where’er throughout the ages man hath trod
His mind and soul hath sought Thee. All in vain!
He can but hope and trust: but I would know.
I search through far-flung depths of stellar space;
I grope adown the labyrinths of mind;
I peer into each microscopic place
And find all else: but Thee I cannot find.
- Editor’s Note: The beautiful poem “The Song
Celestial” by Howard Colby Ives being too long for complete reproduction in Bahá’í World certain excerpts have been chosen which it is hoped may convey some idea of the power and beauty of the work, the publication of which is by the Landon Press, Chicago, Ill.
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SW48
God Speaks:
It is not I who hide, ’tis thou art blind. Thine insight is so dimmed thou canst not see
That My Creation’s Book revealeth Me; That every atom is an open door
Inviting thee to enter and explore!
What dost thou hope to see
When thou goest seeking Me?
A Face? A Voice? A word writ on the sky? If I should speak who art thou to reply? If I should write some guiding Word to men Could they interpret My Supremest Pen?
For is thine eye so keen, thy mind so sure, That when My Spirit moves thee, and I lure Thy longing soul afar
To probe the mote and star,
Thou canst in such wise hope to limit Me Who doth surround what mind and eye can
see?
Such futile search shall surely be unblest.
What then, My son, didst thou desire to prove?
Canst thy frail mind encompass thus My love?
0 son of Love! For thee can be no rest
Save love for Me and calm upon My breast.
3! There lies but one soul-step ’twixt thee and Me: Take that one step into Eternity.
That Life is now if thou that step wilt take And from thy temple vigorously shake The ragged mantle of mortality.
For that My royal robe I offer thee,
And bid thee share My Eternality.
Man Speaks:
These things have I from youth been taught, O Lord.
I know this as I know some Sanscrit word A learned man once taught me. Ah, but still I seek and find Thee not. I find not God
Within my heart, nor in the star nor clod. ’Tis Thee I want: 0, pray that need fulfil!
A fire glows ever in my yearning breast Which only knowing Thee can quench. No rest
THE BAHA’I
WORLD
Nor peace I ask, no mortal anguish shun,
Could I but purchase thus the vision clear
Of Thee. Not words about Thee: I have done
With words. For this no price nor pain too dear.
God Speaks:
The heavens of My Mercy are so vast; The Oceans of My Bounty so unbound, That never hath a soul besought unblest, Nor any seeker but hath surely found.
It is for this that all My Prophets came That They might lead men thither, and man’s claim To paradise, which like celestial fire I lighted in his heart, substantiate.
Not temples to My Glory dedicate Nor prayers from sullied lips that suplicate, Do They desire, nor can with Me prevail.
My Prophets came that every fleshly veil Be rent between man’s soaring soul and Me, And he, in his Reality, be free.
The whale by seeking cannot find the sea; The eagle, soaring high
Against My blue-domed sky,
Finds not the air, nor can thy mind find Me Who in thy heart of hearts is truly thee.
About thee and above, beneath, within, Thy mystery am I and thou art Mine.
No flight avails: nor height nor depth, nor sin,
Nor death, nor hell can part thee from My Love.
My lamp thou art and I the Light within, Know this, 0 servant, as the swallow knows The air: the fish the boundless seas they rove; The leaf the wind which by My order blows.
Man Speaks:
How can I know this, God, when all I see
Seems fiercely bent on crushing petty me?
That very wind on which the swallow flies
Haply resounds with some doomed sailor’s cries.
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SONG OFFERINGS
God Speaks:
Dost thou, then, seek My love for selfish gain? Did I not hear thee say no care nor pain Would be too great a price to see My face? Yet when a little I withdraw the veils That thou, through suffering, may tread the place Of Holiness, then all thy courage fails.
O son of man! The love that is sincere Seeketh to prove_that love through sacrifice.
Look how the merchant seeks year after year For goodly pearls. The pearl of greatest price Once having found all lesser pearls are naught.
For very joy, and with that joy distraught, He hastens to the market-place and sells
All that he hath that he may buy that pearl.
He selleth all: not lesser pearls alone, But home and fields. He selleth all he hath That he may for those withered gods atone.
And note the moth. It flutters ’round the fight
Though its frail wings be singed. It loves that bright
Consuming flame more than ephemeral life.
These count it not a sacrifice to give
Their all if, giving, they receive far more.
If thou in My Companionship shouldst live
Perchance that bliss would cheapen all thy store.
And dost thou think, O stranger to the
Friend, That there is room within thine inmost heart For Me, the Whole, and any lesser part?
If thou wouldst know Me, know none else but Me:
If thou Wouldst love Me, lesser loves deny.
If thou shouldst die in Me I’ll live in thee:
For this, My son, Wouldst thou not gladly die?
Man Speaks:
Such things are far too high for my weak mind
Or heart to compass. Lord, how can I find
949
This Path that leads to Thine Abode? How gain
The strength, the will to be that which I fain
Would be? To do that which I yearn to do?
The souls who thus attain are sadly few.
I look abroad upon Thy world and see That man is bent on everything save Thee. Nor heart, nor mind, nor will contains Thee,
God!
Beneath his cruel feet Thy sacred sod
Is spread with empires wrecked. In Thy blest Name
He drags Thy saints and heroes to the flame,
The rack, the sword, the dungeon and the cross.
He gains no whit: he findeth only loss,
And yet he blindly goes his way. He strews
The earth with bones of innocence. The news
Of daily crime and lust befouls the page
Of history. He vents his filthy rage
On every brother man. He lifts the rod
Of hate in home and church, in court and mart.
He seems to hold all hell within his heart
Not Thee——not Thee! Is this Thy Will, O God?
God S pea/as:
Why speakest thou of "man”? Thy heart’s page scan. Is Christ thus listed, the true Son of Man?
Man is not Man because of wealth and fame, Nor yet because he calls upon My Name. Not learning nor refinement marks true Man: He’s only such when he conforms to plan Divine, and with My attributes adorns
His temple: for the true Man ever scorns The beast within, the relic of his long Ascent from primal cell. His triumphs throng That Path which led from mineral to man.
And dost thou dream that thy blind eyes can scan
That journey vast, thy mind give judgment plain
Of gain and loss through aeons long of pain?
And how much less art thou fit to discern
Thine age-long future which My plans concern?
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950
Man Speaks:
My age-long future? What do these words mean?
I see death stalking all the world: He takes
The high and low. The tree of life he shakes
Remorselessly and man drops from the scene.
He pays no need to pleading nor complaint:
His cold hand strikes the sinner and the saint.
The heart of mankind bleeds and, bleeding breaks.
Man is—is not. He lives, and then—hath been.
God Speaks:
O son of man! Death have I made for thee As tidings glad: at its approach why flee? That darkness have I for thee kindly made A beckoning glory, not a threatening shade. Why dost thou screen thee from this splendid light And close thine eyes, insisting it is night?
Look thou with keenly penetrating eye:
Canst thou in all My Universe descry
A trace of death? ’Tis change thou seest here
A change which leadeth but to life again:
Death is a superstition born of fear. 3!’ 33' 3'
Think how the unborn babe would fear the pain
Of parturition. If he could foresee
That venture vast would he not be aghast?
Would he not say that life can nowise be
Outside his mother’s womb? “ ’Tis her life blood
That nurtures me; it is her heart that beats
In mine; my very life is in her breath;
Tear me from her! Ah, that, indeed were
death!”
Yet, could he think, were he not wholly blind,
Within his very being he would find
A proof most plain of wider life to be. For, in his organs, forming in the womb
Is evidence that soon he will be free
To use them. Even so it is with thee,
For, in the matrix of this world thy part
It is to build thy future life; thy heart Of love to warm; thine insight keen attend; Thine ear instruct; thy limbs to service bend.
THE BAHA’I WORLD
Thy world, compared to Mine, is more a tomb
Than life. Thou shouldst prepare thee to ascend.
For, in this transient tavern now engaged
Thy hunger for true life is not assuaged. 3.‘ 31' 33'
ARGUMENT:
Man’s longing still unappeased, and God having encouraged him to ask until all doubts are set at rest, Man asks how he may find God in the created world. After a brief direction as to how man may find a key to such search God tells him that a Guide is necessary, and that such Guides have been provided: at which man is rejoiced and demands His Name. He is asked if man is sure that he would recognize his Guide if disguised in lowliness and hidden beneath human clouds, and whether man is willing to sacrifice all and follow him when Man is overwhelmed but still unsatisfied. He asks regarding "Iudgment Day” and "Heaven” and "Hell.” God explains these symbolic words.
HOUR TWO
Man Speaks:
Anon I heard Thy heavenly accents say That every atom is an open door
Inviting me to enter and explore.
This door is closed to me: unclose, I pray.
God Speaks:
In mineral and plant, in beast and man, Thou mayest discern the working of My Plan Which hath one aim: that I may fully be Revealed to every heart that seeketh Me.
Cohesion, growth, the senses and the mind Are the four steps which through the cycles wind
That from the void of non-existence may Existence come, and that My Love may find, Some far-off Day, its full expression. Nay, That I Myself may tell man’s ordained story In Man, the very temple of My Glory.
For, in this gloomy and disastrous age Man may perceive, if he will scan My Page, The secret of Creation. There is he
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SONG OFFERINGS
Told of My Wisdom: for Humanity
Hath borne indeed its noblest fruit; My Love
Disclosed in Man his Lord, that he may prove
All things and thereby with My aid may reach
The summit of the truth I fain would teach,
That all man’s probing eye and mind can see
Hath but one purpose: to uncover Me.
By every grain of dust shall man be told
Of Me. The rushing wind shall cry: “Behold!”
The still, small Voice within his heart
Shall whisper low: "I am of God a part.”
Lo all things, from their silence shout aloud!
My Voice falls from each bright or lowering cloud!
My Trumpet peals from every star and clod:
“There is no God but Me - but Me no God!”
Why else should I create, O son of man? In My eternal Being hid I knew
My love in thee and framed a gracious Plan, Age-long, in which I might My Self re-view And see My Love expressed in Form and
Power.
Thus through the ages, countless hour by hour, Have I in It made known My Love; to Man Revealed My Beauty. “Be!” My Will but spake And My beloved Creation came awake To mention Me. Wherefore love only Me That My Command may summon thee to Be.
Man Speaks:
O God! The spacious picture is too vast! My struggling mind entangled in the net Of all the differing teachings of the past
In vain strives to get free. I pray Thee let Me penetrate the clouds still hiding Thee!
Of what avail can all these marvels be If still they are enigmas unto me?
951
God Speaks:
Perchance, My son, thy strivings are too great: Let now thy frenzied agonies abate.
It may be thou shalt find all thy alarms Are struggles in the folding of My Arms. If thou abandon self and love but Me My hastening Love with joy embraceth thee: But if, content with self, thou lovest Me not My Love is vain, since in thy heart no spot It finds to rest.
Let fevered strivings cease, Upon each soul who follows guidance Peace!
Man Speaks:
Thou knowest that I love Thee, blessed Lord! My thirsty heart is drinking in Thy Word, This water which is life. A stranger I, Returning to my Home Supreme. I cry Aloud for help. Where shall I find a Guide To lead me through this thorny desert wide?
God Speaks:
If Thou in some vast wilderness shouldst be
And longing for thy home, what wouldst thou do?
Wouldst thou not seek a height, if but a tree,
Whence thou couldst all surrounding country view?
And if a lofty mountain thou couldst climb
Thou wouldst not grudge the bleeding feet, nor time i
However weary, if thy long-lost home
Thou thence mightst glimpse, and need no longer roam
The wilderness, and to thy fireside come.
If, then, thou seekest a Guide unto thy Home
Eternal turn unto the mountain peaks
Of men, that by their counsel thou mayest come
To what thy heart desires and thy soul seeks.
For never have I left My world without
A Witness unto Me. Their mighty shout
Hath summoned men alway unto My Path,
The straight and narrow Path that to their life
Of freedom leads. knife
Their wisely severing
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Cuts all earth’s bonds. To him Who, listening, hath
But heeded Their sweet call, of all most sweet,
And hath with girded loins, and eager feet,
And heart courageous, trod this Path, he comes,
He surely comes to Me his Home of homes.
If thou My Holy Spirit then Wouldst gain,
And to the World of Certitude attain,
Join company with those blessed Noble Ones
Who through the rolling ages have like suns
Illumined men and nations. They have quaffed
Of My Immortal Chalice. They have laughed
Disdainfully at all this world could do:
For, dwelling on the topmost Heights, They view
The Promised Land. They quicken all the dead
Within the tomb of self. O let them lead
Thee to thy destined Home—My Pleasant mead!
Man Speaks:
Ah, how my heart responds to every word! Can I, then, really find a Guide, my Lord? A very Man, who wisely in mine ear
Shall whisper all my spirit longs to hear?
Who is He, God? Where is He? That I may This instant rush and all my problems lay At His dear feet? The wind is not so fleet As I shall be. My inmost heart’s aflame! Tell me His Name, O God! His Name! His
Name!
Goa’ Speaks:
O heart presumptuous! O thy hasty word! Is it so easy, then, to find thy Lord Amongst thy fellow—men? If Him you find He may not be at all unto your mind.
Perhaps a murderer as Moses was;
Perhaps a camel-driver, friendless, poor; Perhaps a peasant workman, fatherless, Despised and scorned, forsaken of all men.
Wouldst thou, then, that He was thy Guide, be sure?
THE Bahá’í
WORLD
And wouldst thou recognize His glory then?
And if thou didst it may be He might ask
Of thee some diflficult, some mighty task.
He might renunciation seek of thee:
Might say, "What wilt thou sacrifice for Me?
Art thou prepared to face the worldling’s scorn
That thou mayest into My new Life be born:
Prepared to shun the song thy fathers sung
And seek sole guidance from My rapturous Tongue?”
For when My Messengers to any age
Bring My new Law, They cancel every page
Writ by the past except the page of Love,
For this is writ on Tablets firm as rock
Unchanging, ageless: and Their hands unlock
With love the door that to My Kingdom leads,
Blest is the soul who Their injunction heeds.
They speak not as the scribes, with learned lore
Culled from the out-worn teachings of the past,
Which leave men darker than they were before,
As blind lead blind.
They speak not as men speak. In accents wise and yet sublimely meek They tell of what I whisper to Their soul.
But even They tell not the Story whole, For men cannot receive it. Many things They would reveal if mankind had the wings To soar with Them to Where, beyond men’s sight,
And hidden from their searching mind,
I dwell, veiled in pure Love, behind
My seventy thousand barriers of light.
“What go men out to see when they’d behold A Prophet?” Was the question asked of old: “A reed by breezes shaken?”
Aye, a ReedAn empty Reed, and shaken by the Breeze Of My new Revelation. Such are these,
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SONG OFFERINGS 933
The Guides of men, They speak My Word, indeed.
Blest are the souls who to Their Beauty look,
And whom the Fragrance of My Union shook,
And to My Day-Spring turn. My Blest are they
Who from their darkness glimpse Eternal Day
And rise amongst the dead to mention Me.
For they have resurrected from the tomb Of self: no longer captive in the womb Of Nature they are now sublimely free, And all desires fulfilled in meeting Me.
To every age My Prophets speak of Me; To every cycle give what men can bear. My Trumpets They who call men to be free.
They call all men: but to My chosen Few, Who heed My clarion Trumpet when they hear, New Heavens and earths disclose. These nothing fear But, hoisting their heart’s anchor, which hath clung With passionate attachment to the clay Of mortal perishings, all bravely steer Their ship of life into My Course. These brew Celestial nectar from earth’s horrid stew; They make of their heart’s blood a vintage rare For My loved lips. They turn their backs on all Which heretofore held in thrall.
their whole lives
When from this world’s dark matrix thou art free
What hath that stifling room to do with thee!
Man S peaks:
Anon I heard Thy heavenly accents say: Blest are the _souls who rise amidst the dead Attaining to Thy Union: but I’ve read
That this can happen on Thy Judgment
Day Alone. Enlighten my dense darkness, pray!
God S pea/as:
Each day is Judgment Day: but comes a Day Of Days when I Myself in Power rise Amongst the dead and open ready eyes Unto My Glory. In the atmosphere
Of faith in My past Prophets these have died To self, the world and all but Me beside.
Hast thou not heard? “Those who in Christ are dead Shall meet Him in the air.” These nothing fear For they shall know Him when He doth appear, No matter what His Name or Birth or Nation; No matter what may be His earthly station, For from the sea of Names they long have
fled.
They know Him by the shining of His Light,
As those whose eyes are open see the bright
And cloudless sun: for the benign bestowing
Of His great bounties, like the sunlight flowing,
Declare Him. He hath Names unto the knowing.
Their spirits meet Him, their long-promised One:
With man’s interpretations they have done;
Their longing hearts in Certitude find rest;
They recognize My Song and seek My Nest.
It is by this, of all My tests the Test Supreme, that men are judged. I judge them not: Man is himself the judge and his own lot Decides: for he who turns away from Him, My Chosen One, is thus discarding Me And all My Messengers throughout the dim And endless past. But those who see beneath The veils which cloud the mirror of My Sun, And in His breath My Holy Spirit breathe, And in His Face, My Face, adoring, see, And follow Him, obeying His command, Have found Me and My Love. My Promised Land
They have attained.
These birds of paradise
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954
Hear My Celestial Song and swiftly rise
To meet Me. They can never any more
Be satisfied to flit on low-branched trees.
Their home is high, with Me. They, singing soar
And fling their joyous wings into My Breeze,
And high above earth’s transient, petty things
They shake its dust from sun-lit flashing wings.
But those poor earth-bound birds which chirp And twitter their unreal imaginings, And eagerly with clay besmear their wings, And hence are all incapable of flight, Seek in this mire their petty grains of food.
These rashly dare My Power to usurp Of Judgment. On their heads be their own blood.
These seek to turn My Day-Spring into night; They cloud My radiant, all-embracing Light With literal interpretation. Vain Are they of this, the melancholy cloud Raised by their scratching feet. They proudly stain My glorious Morning with their raucous crowing, And speak of Heaven and Hell as their bestowing.
Man Speaks: Thy Heaven and Hell, O God! Thy Hell
and Heaven!
How hath my spirit wrestled with these words!
How hath my wistful mind their meaning riven.
And for their fuller explanation striven!
I vainly seek to understand. The Lords Of Life have seemed to speak of streets of gold And pearly gates, where saints forever dwell In heavenly mansions. And, again, they’ve told Of fiery pits whose flame is never quenched And gnawing worm dies not, where fools behold Their endless doom because they rashly sold
THE Bahá’í WORLD
Their capital of Life for fleshly lust,
Or fame, or some vain heritage of dust.
How often hath my childhood’s spirit
blenched Before this horror! O my God! Pray tell Me of this mystery of heaven and hell!
Goal Speaks:
O questioning lover! know
One millionth part of what Love’s gifts bestow
On man, to answer this would be no task,
Nor such vain questions wouldst thou need to ask.
Couldst thou only
Know this, my son, thy Heaven is My Meeting ' And separation from Me, Hell. These fleeting Doubts and fears I bid thee put away: This is My stern Command to thee, Obey!
Dost think that when My longing lovers call To Me, and for My Holy Spirit pray, That they do so for any hope of bliss Or fear of doom? One only fear they know: That from My Presence they should banished 303 One only hope, My garment’s hem to kiss.
The fragrance of that Garment’s holiness Hath so intoxicated them with love
They seek for sacrificial ways to prove
Its purity. What pain hath hell in store Compared with exile from My Loveliness? What joys can heaven offer them that’s more Entrancing than My smile and fond caress?
These comrades of My Everlasting Throne Seek Me for Love alone:—for Love alone.
The symbols which My holy Prophets used,
And which man’s ignorance hath so abused,
Were used to show what absence from Me meant
And found no words suficed that vast intent.
Perforce They used the langauge which They found:
But through ephemeral words They sought to sound
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Eternal meaning. Read thou them aright, And pray that I will open inner sight,
And thou shalt their significance perceive And all the world’s interpretations leave.
These sing Celestial songs to deafened men;
They write Celestial Truth with My pure Pen
For purblind men to read. But man translates
Their Scroll of Love to satisfy his hates.
Men gaze through tinted glasses on My Book
Of Life and see their own imaginings.
They might have soared among Celestial things;
They might on stars and mystic beauties look;
They might have used My gift of such strong wings
To soar: but they prefer to flit around
The underbrush and hug the sordid ground.
On men I have bestowed a priceless gift,
The love of beauty, but their selfish lust
Hath spun a web which binds them to the dust.
On Beauty’s Self they gaze, but cannot lift Their hearts, so clouded by corroding rust, Above the ground where shifting shadows are,
And through dark spectacles they stare Unblinking at the splendrous Sun
Of My pure Prophet and pronounce it-——dun.
They strain out gnats and swallow camels whole And, doing thus, they lacerate My soul.
I say to thee again, and yet again:
My universe holds naught but love. I send Upon the world the pains men see
But that they may be driven unto Me.
If earth held every joy would men attend When to their hearts I call, or ever bend Their footsteps, straying in the easy road, So broad, and to their blindness blithe and sweet,
Into My narrow road?
They call it "wrath” When I would urge My sheep into My Path,
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And prick them sharply with My loving goad,
And beckon them to rest their weary feet
In Pastures green and My cool waters greet.
Wouldst thou, then, gladly sin and suffer not?
Wouldst thou find every transient, earthly spot
So satisfying to thy pride to be
That thou wouldst never think of seeking Me?
I tell thee, O My son, If thou couldst know The happiness, the peace, I would bestow On thee if thou wouldst listen to My Voice, Thou wouldst not think of any other choice, Nor dream that these fast-fleeting, shadowed days Have any purpose but My love and praise.
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Man Speaks:
Anon Thy animating Voice did say
That I must from the tomb of self arise
And soar with Thee into the blissful skies
Of Thy desire. How can I thus ascend
When this world’s shackles ’round my limbs still bend?
God S pea/as:
Why thinkest thou that I have made so fair
This world and showered on all My tender care?
Didst never hear of lilies and of birds
Which toil and spin not and yet never need?
And dost thou dare to dream that My pure seed,
The topmost point of My creation, man,
Is left outside the all-enclosing span
Of My protecting, My providing Hand, Or that for him alone I have not planned?
Nay! Know that I have destined unto man
A fate so high he could not even scan
Those Heights with his earth-clouded eyes. He feeds
His spirit with a food which conquers death.
All creatures saving man find their life’s needs
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Completely met when they are warmed and fed:
But in man’s timeless spirit I have bred Eternal Life and I have breathed My Breath Into his nostrils. He can never rest
Until his head is laid upon My breast.
ARGUMENT
Man asks concerning the problem of endless toil and fear of poverty. God explains the dignity of work if done in the spirit of service, using N ature’s service as an illustration. Man fears that if he serves alone he will be trodden down by selfish men. Hence, he is told an entirely new World Order is necessary and that His hosts are now building it. Man thinks this a dream, seeing no signs of this new Order. God assures him that His Command has gone forth and must be obeyed. He is also told that all who work for Right are in His Armies, whether they outwardly acknowledge Him or not, and that He has a Chosen Few who will lead His Hosts to victory. Man is at last convinced and dedicates his life to the search for, and obedience to, His heavenly Guide. God promises His aid and confirmation.
HOUR THREE
Man Speaks:
Thy words have brought a calmness to my soul
Not known before: but yet I still am wide
From understanding. All around me roll
The strifes of men who put their selfish pride And bodies’ need above all else beside.
And I too feel the pressure of my need;
I have aspired to more abundant life.
Should not man eagerly this longing feed And seek the full enjoyment of this world Wherein he hath, without consent, been
hurled?
God Speaks:
Upon the sweetness of pure servitude Man’s spirit feeds. I have adorned the face Of Nature with this Truth: who of this
food Eats not can in My Kingdom find no place.
Behold the sun: it asks no pay nor praise
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WORLD
Yet see: its service makes thy nights and days!
And even the grass, in humble service sweet,
Makes all the earth a carpet for thy feet.
Shall man alone, defying My wise Plan, Demand a price to serve his brother man?
When man attains the station of re-birth
Into My Kingdom’s Love no more shall dearth
In midst of plenty curse the race of Man:
The meek shall then inherit all the earth.
Man Speaks:
If I am meek men tread me in the mire. My spirit longs to serve none else but Thee, But how can I be humble and aspire
To servitude? This world imprisons me.
O help me, God, My soul longs to be free!
God Speaks:
Throughout My universe I have ordained The Law of Energy. Lo! All things work. Age—long My toiling spheres have not complained Nor, slothful, sought their heaven-born task to shirk,
Yet note their endless travail. And behold The atom! Here a universe unrolled
In miniature before thy wondering eye:
Its bright electrons see, they ceaseless ply With noiseless speed and not a jot abate Their toil, that they may aid Me to create.
Thus doth the universe acknowledge Me And in its constant toil do reverence.
’Tis man alone who in his work doth see
A means for selfish gain. To penitence
For this dread sin against My Love I called Him by the scourge of crime and poverty, That through his suffering he may wiser be, And know work as a means to worship Me.
Lo, how the whole world now doth stand appalled
Before the wreck such wa_ntonness hath made!
This is My bounty, making man afraid
Above all else to brave My chastening Rod:
Hence My Command to "Fear the Lord thy God.”
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Man S peaks:
My Lord! How may I find Thee in my toil? My heart leaps with new ecstasy to hear That labor may no longer be to moil
And sweat beneath the awful lash of fear: Ah, what a royal crown might Labor wear!
God S pea/es:
How sweet is work, an attribute of Mine! Shall man deprive himself of this divine And sacred gift? Again I call to thee And all men: seek in servitude the wine Of union. If thou wouldst My lover be Pour all thy love on men; if thou wouldst find True wealth of joy to thine own joy be blind; If thou wouldst fill thy barns with harvest store See that thy brother men shall have still more.
0 give and all to thee shall then be given.
How vainly men for self have fought and striven
Throughout the ages! Is it not enough?
Come, build on earth the Kingdom of My Heaven!
Thus shall earth pour her riches in men’s hands;
To him who gives My stars give in their turn;
From one Ray of My Generosity
Such Suns of generosity shall rise
That men shall look on men with glad surprise
And wonder that it took so long to learn.
The splendor of this luminosity, Which from My Sun shall pour upon all lands, Shall bathe My people in Celestial light, And all their terrors, creatures of the night Of Self, their poverty and shame, the bands Of steel which made their sordid toil a curse, Shall, like all phantoms of the dark, take flight And men shall find in work their truest prayer, The fruits of which they all together share. This is the law of all My universe.
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To all My World I call: This is a Day The light of which beyond the noon-day sun Is sanctified. It is the Day foretold.
See how the nations late so proud and bold
Are humbled in the shadow of their doom.
Their councils are in tumult; earthquakes roar
As the oppressed of men toss in the gloom,
And threaten those whom late they bowed before.
My Messenger hath come with healing wings And sword of Justice. To all wrong He brings Destruction; to the Right triumphant sway. This is the meaning of My Prophet’s Word: “Behold the Great and Fearful Day of God.”
My Trump hath blown: My Holy, venging Sword
Hath cast the mighty from their seats. The sod
So long drenched with the blood of innocence
Shall bloom again. The time for penitence
Is past. My Justice and My Love shall reign
And earth shall be a paradise again.
Bewildered are the learned and the wise Of this world, and the nations tremble sore To their foundations. But those blessed eyes Which kept awake and watched that they might see And greet My coming, these My Name adore And write upon their hearts My high Command. They take My Chalice from My generous Hand And drink with joy, their pure hearts all aflame, And cry aloud in every Prophet’s Name:
“Praise be to Thee, our long—awaited Lord!
Praise be to Thee, we cling to Thy strong Cord!
Praise be to Thee, our souls to Thee are turning!
Praise be to Thee, beloved of our heart’s yearning!”
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This is the Day for which My dear Son prayed
And taught men thus to pray. He with My aid
Worked for My Kingdom; Its foundations laid
In all men’s hearts with loving servitude.
=5 32- =5 My kind forbearance made oppressors bold;
My patience negligent their hearts hath made,
Till now the flags of passion they unfold
And ride their steeds to death all unafraid.
But know that I love Justice over all: None may neglect it who desireth Me. The hidden secrets of all hearts I see And mark them well. The wicked surely fall. An eagle fierce is now pursuing them And ordeals dire upon their footsteps tread. Except they turn and grasp My Garment’s hem Of justice, they are numbered with the dead.
For while they to their sure destruction ride, My Spirit, once again enshrined in flesh, My Very Self, comes hastening to man’s aid And summons a vast Host, unto His side To build My Kingdom on the ruined plan For power which those rabid wolves have made.
The tread of these, My Hosts, shall shake the world,
And make each tyrant totter on his throne.
Look! Even now have they not sternly hurled
A horde of them unto their doom! prone
They lie who late their filthy dunghill strode
And blatantly their barnyard triumph crowed.
Now
For all such cocks the last dread hour hath struck.
The vengeance of My marching Hosts shall pluck
Them from their seats. Among forgotten things
Soon—Soon shall they be numbered. Look! Their wings
THE Bahá’í WORLD
Have now been clipped: they speedily shall fall
Into the pit they for their brothers dug
And none shall hark nor heed their dying call.
Man Speaks: Thy Hosts! Thy Hosts triumphant? Who
are these, O God! I see them not. The tyrant seems Triumphant: When one falls his vacant place Is taken by another worse than he. How canst Thou let such huge injustice be!
In vain man dreams of his long-sought release
From slavery to arrogance. His dreams
Of liberty and truth across the face
Of History float like a wraith. It seems
That warfare triumphs, not Thy promised Peace;
Of brotherhood sincere there’s scarce a trace.
God S pea/as:
I am the Lord of Hosts! My hosts indeed Are those who from all human ties are freed, And rise to serve My Everlasting Truth.
Each one of them holds in his righteous hand A trumpet, sounding loudly in each land The call to free and more abundant life.
These walk above the world by My Great Name,
And, like a searing, devastating flame
Destroy the forts of wrong and still man’s strife.
From every human attribute set free They take commands from Me—-from only Me!
See how the shadow moveth when its lord,
The sun, commands. So do My servants stand
And move, and raze and build at My Command.
These rule the world with Justice, My Keen Sword.
My attributes adorn their earthly frame; Their very names are lost in My Great Name;
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SONG OFFERINGS
Their brows illumined with My Holiness They singing march all evil to redress.
So hath My love their total being won:
So hath It through their veins and arteries run,
That every part and limb obeys My Voice:
They can no other for they’ve made their choice.
When once My servants listen unto Me
They hear none else, for they at last are free
From all dependence on men’s praise or blame.
My smile their glory is, My frown their shame.
My Power assists them: one alone pursues A thousand and ten times that number flee At threat of two. Before their thundering feet
All strongholds fall as Jericho once fell. The chains of slaves, the bars of prisons greet
Their shouts and vanish when they sound the knell.
Such are My Hosts. They have bound up their thews
With My all-conquering omnipotence.
Who can resist them whom My Power endues!
3% =‘.'- % 3.’ The Tree of Man Must bear My fruits. He must affirm My Plan. He must abolish slavery and war. He must compassion have on all My poor. He must establish Justice in his gates. All prejudice, all ignorance, all hates He must abolish from his inmost part And love his enemies with all his heart.
He must establish Unity; know all Religions, races, creeds and flags as one.
Humanity with two wings flies. If one
Be clipped how can My servants soar and sing?
Hence Woman must be free—her slavery doneThat she may fly with man on equal wing.
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One language must he learn to speak, that so The winds of vague distrust may cease to blow.
He must to all details of life apply
The Law of Love. Thus all his social needs Shall be immersed in My pure Sea, and seeds Of hatred, born of envy, quickly die.
For economic ills, howe’er involved
Are by the science of My Love resolved.
I have decreed all work to worship be, And work for service done is love for Me.
Man must all ancient barriers cast down,
Inherited from days when Nature made
Men strangers, pagans, foes unto each other.
All man-made walls that fearfulness- hath laid
To keep man from his friendly, unknown brother,
Must nevermore upon My children frown.
Man must upon My Singleness agree;
In all My Prophets see My Unity,
And in Their Meeting know that they meet Me.
For all are but the Trumpets of My Voice
Who in My heart’s companionship rejoice,
And bring men to My Kingdom for their choice.
All peoples must a general council call To form a Parliament of Man, that all Mankind in friendly conference may meet And frame a Universal Law for Man,
The Race, based on My Word revealed today.
Blest is the soul who loves and serves his kind,
Not he who loves alone his native land.
Thus all My children gather at My feet; Thus all conform to one generic Plan; Thus all, with joy, My Will, not man’s, obey.
Men’s eyes shall then see Glory, late so blind. Rejoice! Rejoice! This is My fixed Command.
For Lo! My Day of Justice now hath dawned, And hell its final wickedness hath spawned.
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All men who love this Light and tend Its burning:
All men who, prejudice and hatred spurning,
Follow Its Gleam, are in My Host enrolled.
All men who have the Universal mind;
All men who limbs of weeping slaves unbind;
All men who for each thought of war do hold,
And firmly hold, a stronger thought of peace;
All men who in their inmost heart enfold
The Christian, Moslem, Jew, and never cease
Proclaiming Oneness; Men who treat the white,
The black, the yellow——each one as a flower
Within My Garden, varicolored light
Which makes My perfect spectrum; all who shower
My Knowledge on the eager minds, (what men
Call science), and who know they have found Me
Anew when any Truth is found, My Pen,
My Pen Supreme, records such loyal men
As of My Host: of such My Kingdom be.
For that blest hour which no man knew hath rung;
My angels to man’s longing ear have sung;
The Light hath shone from East unto the West;
My wandering birds are homing to their
Nest.
The thief was in the house while owner slept.
If only men had prayed and vigil kept
They would have known Me when in Man My Throne
I mounted, and My Light upon them shone.
With My great Besom now I sweep the world.
Soon all the flags of evil shall be furled.
The self-called great shall learn how small they are
When My transcendent Oneness they ignore.
All such are likened unto reckless boys In puddles playing on My sea’s vast shore. Soon they shall hear My venging Ocean roar
THE BAHA’I WORLD
And see its waves o’erwhelm their childish toys:
And they themselves be swept to doom so great
That none would stoop to envy their estate.
Man Speaks:
O Glorious Lord! My heart is living song; At last I glimpse the light for which I long.
My heart bursts with the hope of meeting Thee! Now all my questions, asked and unasked, flee Before Thy Mighty Word. O, may I be Enrolled with these, Thy chosen ones? May I Be privileged to die, unknown, for Thee: Or, self—forgetting, be allowed to live And all my dedicated powers give That my own fellow-men no more may lie In graves of their own digging? So may Thy Long-promised Kingdom now be built on earth; That so in midst of plenty may be dearth No more, and from all sorrowed, weeping eyes Shall tears be wiped away, and anguished cries Replaced by joyous song! My eager being flies To seek my longed-for, promised Guide; Nor is the night so dark nor world so wide But I shall find Him and His Word obey.
O, Voice of God! Assure success, I pray! Confer illumination on my day!
God Speaks:
When man calls unto Me with heart sincere As thine, Lo! I become the very ear With which he heareth My assured reply.
Unto thy eager knock My Love all doors unlock.
Man Speaks:
Now to myself at last—at last—I die!
And, risen to true Life, armed with Love’s sword,
I march beneath Thy banner, nor care when,
Nor where, nor how I meet my shining Lord
Enthroned in Man, for I shall know Him then!
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God Speaks: My glory rests upon thee. On thy head My confirmations fall. Before thy tread All obstacles shall fade and I will lead Thee to thy heart’s desire. I grant release To thee from bondage; from all fear surcease.
To every soul who followeth GuidancePeace. THE END
-HOWARD COLBY IVES
VI
AT THE GRAVE OF THORNTON CHASE
O blessed spot! Where once the Master trod! ’Twas here He lifted up His voice in
prayer, Unto that Glorious One, with Him to share His poignant grief. For here, beneath the
S ,_ O’ershadowed by the murmuring leaves which nod In autumn’s breeze—the earthly temple fair Of him——His faithful son without compare, Was laid,—this servant of the Will of God.
0 holy shrine! They come from every land To honor him, in western world the first To see the Light of this New Day. To Whom The Master station gave. His blest command With joy we heed. We seek his shrine, athirst For peace, which vibrates from this sacred tomb.
—GESENA KocH
VII
L O N E - S T A R Dedicated to Martha Root
Star-soul upon your further voyage bent, You leave our orbit gladdened by your light!
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Through years, the purpose of your high intent
Was but to cleanse and uplift human sight
To Bahá’u’lláh’s Sun of Truth!
To give this purblind world a youth
Of hopes and dreams, born of His Kingly word
Whose lucent power makes space a womb of wealth
Rich with a freedom forged in spirit’s fire!
Upon that anvil, you laid down desire
For the companioned ways of human love
And in lone beauty shone o’er many lands,
Your chart of hope surrendered to His hands.
The world was but a bead upon the thread
Of your life’s work, a faith, a prayer,
That moved so silken through the weight of night,
Cupping your heart, to catch the love and light
That lead this age to a transcendent morn!
Who knows what mysteries shall there be born? v
—BEATRIcE IRWIN
VIII THE WORLD OF TOMORROW
I know not how I chanced upon
That glorious Orb beneath the sun, Nor can I now recall the way
That brought me to that Golden Day. I only know it led along
Invis’ble tracks of even—song
And wound its way thru pricks and goads Down dense and dark primeval roads. I know not how I came upon
That splendid Orb beneath the sun;
I cannot tell . . . unless it be
That half-awake and aimlessly,
I wandered by, and, from within,
A gust of Love had drawn me in.
Or it may be, by way of sport,
A storm-cloud blew me to that Port. I know not how, but one bright day I found myself a cycle away
From bonds of dread and bonds of dearth, Upon a new uplighted earth,
The like of which was never seen
By anyone, however keen,
Who lives bereft of inward mirth Upon Today’s benighted earth.
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That Planet has no parallel
In any sphere where mortals dwell: Supporting it as on a throne,
Its broad millenial cornerstone, Around, before it and behind, Proclaims the Oneness of Mankind; The while a new and joyous dream Supports each sacred, massive beam; And the whole structure of its frame, Alight with Justice and aflame
With Righteousness from base to dome, Has rendered it a true World-Home, Where all desire only the good
Of all its various brotherhood.
The Orb itself is like a tide
Of gold and grain on every side, And overflows each vale and wold, Like some great vat, too full to hold, And spills in fountains gold and grain On rugged places and on plainThat all may gamer and may share The plenty which is everywhere. Besides its seas that shine and roll, And oceans which surround it whole, On one side rise from mists of things White mountains like celestial wings; And on the other, pillars rise,
Rise high and noble to the skies;
And here and there an arch and dome As of castles in some starry home. And all around in even flow,
Upon the high hills and the low, Deep rivers feed the fertile lands
Like multitudes of loving hands. There is no valley but has fountains, No highland but has golden mountains, No wilderness but has a pool,
And every root is glad and cool.
For, as, in gratitude, unto
A Kind, that’s merciful and true, That keeps the Justice and the Peace, Nor knows the ways of avarice,
The elements, it seems to me,
Work there in conscious ministry, And they, together with the earth, Contrive that bounty and that mirth.
The Orb, I said, is like a tide
Of gold and grain on every side . . . But, ah! to what shall I compare The peerless peoples assembled there! The righteous nations that understand
Their Planet is a Fatherland!
What I saw there no man has seen
Save he so blest as there to’ve been, Save he who chanced, with weary breath, From out a world, plunged deep in death, From out a sphere, impelled by din, Outwardly live, but dead within,
To look into an Orb that beams
With Justice and with Truth redeems! A World that knows not of such things As risen clowns and fallen kings;
Or any place or path, along Men straining at the leash of wrong; Or burning yokes that bend awry;
Or cank’ring wounds that brutify;
Or rabid men commanding fate;
Or mad men at the helm of state;
A world where no one wants or needs, Where no one prides or lusts or greeds, Or grinds or crushes any more,
Or shatters or destroys by war;
Where all inventiveness and skill,
The learning and the common will
Is consecrated to a-grace
And dignify the human race.
And everywhere I saw the same,
In little lands and lands of name;
The teeming earth, the plenteous wine, The shade and refuge of the vine,
And all the milk and myrrh and mirth Are shared by all who dwell on earth. And none who labor there are dreary; And none who serve are ever weary; And none are waxen fat and sleek; And none are portionless and weak;
But all are strong and mount up high, With wings, like eagles, to the sky; And like the eagle, unbound and free, Is all of that humanity;
And there is singing in the fields,
And there is gladness in the yields, And understandings never cease,
And ah! there is no end of Peace.
And what a glory ’twas to see,
(I did not dream such things could be), A World all clean and wholly freed
Of every barrier of race and creed! Whence everything, that leads astray, Was swept, as by the wind, away; Whence all the images of old,
The molten ones of brass and gold,
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And graven ones of silver bars, That vied in shining with the stars, Were cast away, like things unclean; Are never spoken of or seen.
And none proclaims the praise of gain, And none bow low to what is vain, And none are serving turbid needs, And none are trafficking in creeds, And no false prophets, in disguise, Are blinding men with baleful lies, Not anywhere, in any place!
But everywhere a nameless grace . . . For every acre that World around Is holy, consecrated ground,
And all the Sphere, with one accord, The Tabernacle of the Lord Since all cohere and all declare
The Oneness of Religion there.
And. ah! this too was good to see;
A Planet, calm and tumult-free, Whence all the uproar and mistrust Has vanished in a cloud of dust:
As tho the Lord had stretched His Hand And touched each mouth in every landAll speak a universal tongue!
And high and low and old and young, And peoples from all parts and poles. Converse together like kindred souls And members of a single band,
Or children of one native land.
And lo! there’s nowhere the confounding And the confusion so astounding, Which drove apart and led astray
The crumbling Babel of Today . . .
But everywhere the harmony
Of branches on a leafy tree,
And pure, ah pure, enlightened hearts And understanding in all parts;
And all the earth, replete with gloryUntold as yet in any story.
For how make known, to what compare The bounties of the spirit there?
Such outpouring of nameless grace
As a United Human Race?
Or faiths of every shade and notion Merged, like rivers in an ocean?
Or all the thousand tongues men spun Reduced to clearness and to One?
And how describe and how compute Such harvests of eternal fruit
As bowed-down men, grown straight and tall, With Peace on earth, Good Will to all?
I know not how, I said, before,
I chanced upon that Golden Shore; Nor can I tell what magic steed, In faith or fun, had done this deed; I know not how, I know not who, But this.I know, this thing is true: I saw, with eyes undimmed and clear, Tomorrow’s All-Inclusive Sphere, Anchored in Truth that sets men free And leads to all Infinity!
—SYLVIA MARGOLIS
IX ROARS THE LION
The world is charged with strife and din As fiends engage in slaughter.
Confusion reigns; the blot of sin
Befouls air, land andwater!
The Day of Wrath with violence booms, Conflict of mind and matter.
Dense clouds but veil relief that looms Which armies cannot shatter!
Monarch of courtliness and grace With strength beyond all measure, Inspire the zeal to blend the race Like rainbow in its azure.
What can subdue the wrath of death With trumpet from the living breath? Behold the King’s Majestic Might
Shall put all wrongs and woes to flight!
BEAMS THE SUN
O Day Star of the boundless skies Unrivaled in thy splendor,
Our spirits yearn with stronger eyes To view what thou dost render.
Without thy power to feast our sight, Thy genial warmth to cheer,
What Stygian gloom would be our plight, What bleakness and dull fear!
A sign thou art of Central Sun Which rules the Realms of Right, Around which circle as they run Celestial Orbs of Light.
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And now to earth descend the rays Of spirit from the glad New Sun That ecstasy of love the days
May brighten with the task well done.
EXHALES THE ROSE
Of all the flowers that breathe to earth The incense of the heart,
What sweetness can attain thy worth? What charm approach thine art?
0 lovely Attar, heavenly fee,
Thou rich, ethereal treasure,
A trace of thee, fond dreams of thee Distend all nostrils’ measure.
Yet lovelier than fair Beauty’s goal, Excelling its aroma
Is Fragrance wafted to the soul Dispelling its dread coma.
In Garden planted by the Wise Full-blooms the Rose of Paradise. This Lure of East and Spell of West
Now binds them in heart-eager quest.
SINGS THE NIGHTINGALE
There’s music in expanse of air, In sky and land and sea;
The concord of a nature rare In mount and dale and lea.
What cadence in the anvil’s ring,
In orchestra and choir;
In gentle word that peace doth bring In love’s expressive fire!
But Queen of Song with tender note Heart ravishing in rhythm
Bids silence: And all others vote That each tune in with Heaven!
So be it when the Muse of God Which gave to man his voice, Bestows upon this mundane clod Clear Guidance for his choice.
0 be all ears, all hearts unstopped
Sweet Strain of Words, Divinely dropped! 0 Mystic Bird, our souls release
To vibrate songs that joys increase!
CHORUS The Bird and Rose by night and day
To earnest souls glad news convey: The Lion’s voice and Beam of Sun Proclaim mankind though varied, one!
The New Earth clings to Him Who brings To mortal man Seraphic things. Supreme o’er all His Abhá fame. His title is the Greatest Name!
—I.oUIs G. GREGORY
