Bicentenary Poems and Prose

Meditation on the Surih of Sorrows

Meditation on the Surih of Sorrows

One hundred sixty nine years
after the Bab's martyrdom,
I contemplate Baha'u'llah's words
in the Surih of Sorrows.

These words
are the tears
shed by the Pen of Glory
for the Gate of God.

I can hear
the mourning
of the Celestial Concourse,
and the Maids of Heaven
as I read the sentences inscribed
by the Ancient Beauty.

Even the Holy Spirit weeps
at what has befallen
the Temple of the All-Glorious
in this age.

Poet's Note: ▼

This is poem 30 of the 200 I am writing to celebrate the Bicentenary of the Birth of the Bab. Pen of Glory and Ancient Beauty are titles of Baha'u'llah, the Glory of God. Temple of the All-Glorous refers to the Manifestation of God.