Planting Gardens
03/24/2002
"The vernal equinox — the first day of spring — is also the Bahá’í New Year, or Naw-Rúz, which Israel's community celebrated Wednesday evening with a reception at the David Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem. Despite the cool weather outside, organizers of the reception managed to create a feeling of spring inside the hotel, decorating it with hundreds of flowers and saplings that were brought to Jerusalem from the famed Bahá’í gardens in Haifa. At the end of the festivities, the plants and trees were returned to their places in the gardens. Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, the guest speaker at the event, thanked the Bahá’ís for 'bringing beauty to our lives ... At a time when we are digging trenches,' he added, 'You are planting gardens.'" (from "Bahá’í New Year brings spring to Jerusalem" by Gavin Rabinowitz)
Digging trenches to divide
Using shovels of hate
Each wants this land
For their own ethnic State.
In the midst of the chaos
planting gardens takes place,
uniting the flowers
of God’s human race.
Whilst others destroy,
Buildings crumble to dust.
Lives are lost on both sides
Yet, we build; we have trust
In the future, in this region–
Peace will reign, we’re assured,
So we’re planting gardens
And pledging accord.
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Ridvan is
04/2012
Ridvan* is
a place
a garden
a Holy Season
a state of mind
a state of being
a feeling
Supplicate the concourse on high
Empty the mind
Open the heart
Welcome the connection
Feel the inspiration
Create
Be enveloped in Ridvan
Ridvan is a state of the heart!
* Ridvan - pronounced "rez-wan" - signifies the garden of Paradise.
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Garden of Paradise
04/2015h3>
Buds burgeon in springtime glory
Emblazon the landscape; relume our sight
Myriad colors tell the story
Of all things made new in a world gone right.
Hues complement, enhance one another
The antithesis of adversity —
Scents mingle — don’t smother each other:
Model unity in diversity,
A garden of humanity is found
In every face of every race.
Amity and understanding abound
And we hold Oneness in our close embrace.
The Promised Age of Peace has had its start.
Redolent is the Ridvan of my heart.
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The Bus Driver Remembers
6/15/2023
“Do you know where I’m taking you?
I asked, all the while wondering,
Why are they laughing?
How can they sing
en route to the gallows?
They should be wailing,
crying out for mercy —
instead they seem festive,
as if going to the king’s ball.
“Yes, that’s why we are so happy!”
they told me. I couldn’t understand.
Such beautiful countenances.
Their radiance came from within —
lamps lit by the Holy Spirit.
It enveloped me.
Confused and heartbroken,
tears ran down my cheeks.
Those innocent souls, their devotion,
their sincerity — how could they be,
as the authorities claimed,
dangerous subversives,
malicious malcontents,
enemies of Allah?
Instead they seemed His emissaries.
Did they hang them all at once?
Oh, no. The abject cruelty of the guards
forced them to watch their companions
as, one by one, they had their last dance —
their dance macabre.
The daughter went after first
having to see her mother
breathe her last.
I heard the young girl,
the teenager,
the one they called Mona,
actually ask to be last in order that
she be able to pray for each
of her companions
as they met their fate.
Her turn came.
I watched in awe when after
the guard picked up the rope,
Mona grabbed it from him,
kissed the noose and placed it
herself ‘round her own neck.
Then — she smiled.
Defiance? Fanaticism? Or,
as the women claimed,
joy in anticipation
of true Reunion.
I can’t say. But they moved me.
They touched my heart .
They stirred my soul.
Each one of them.
May Allah have mercy on their souls.
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Your Deaths Were Not in Vain
On the 40th Anniversary of the hanging of ten Bahá’í women (in Shiráz, Írán on June 18, 1983)
6/15/2023
Four decades have passed
since you died —
died as you had lived —
with love in your hearts,
with devotion to Baha’u’llah:
Symbols of faith and detachment
from this glue trap of material life.
While on this earth
you soared in heavenly realms
which finally called you home
Yet still you live.
Yet still your voices rise.
Yet still our hearts connect.
We remember you.
We honor you.
We share your stories.
We serve in your names.
We will ensure
Your deaths were not in vain.
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