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Nine Tempestuous Moons

The Story of A Relationship

poems by
Alexander M Zoltai

interwoven with passages
from
The Seven Valleys
by
Bahá'u'lláh

Dedicated To
My Daughter
Audra


"...It is related that one day they came upon Majnun sifting the dust, and his tears flowing down. They said, 'What doest thou?' He said, 'I seek for Layli.' They cried, 'Alas for thee! Layli is of pure spirit, and thou seekest her in the dust!' He said, 'I seek her everywhere; haply somewhere I shall find her....'"

"And if, by the help of God, he findeth on this journey a trace of the traceless Friend, and inhaleth the fragrance of the long-lost Joseph from the heavenly messenger, he shall straightway step into The Valley of Love and be dissolved in the fire of love."

"In this city the heaven of ecstasy is upraised and the world-illuming sun of yearning shineth, and the fire of love is ablaze, and when the fire of love is ablaze, it burneth to ashes the harvest of reason."

"Now is the traveler unaware of himself, and of aught besides himself. He seeth neither ignorance not knowledge, neither doubt nor certitude; he knoweth not the morn of guidance from the night of error. He fleeth both from unbelief and faith, and deadly poison is a balm to him. Wherefore Attar saith:


"The steed of this Valley is pain; and if there be no pain this journey will never end. In this station the lover hath no thought save the Beloved, and seeketh no refuge save the Friend. At every moment he offereth a hundred lives in the path of the Loved One, at every step he throweth a thousand heads at the feet of the Beloved."

"O My Brother! Until thou enter the Egypt of love, thou shalt never come to the Joseph of the Beauty of the Friend; and until, like Jacob, thou forsake thine outward eyes, thou shalt never open the eye of thine inward being; and until thou burn with the fire of love, thou shalt never commune with the Lover of Longing."

"A lover feareth nothing and no harm can come nigh him: Thou seest him chill in the fire and dry in the sea.

"Love accepteth no existence and wisheth no life. He seeth life in death, and in shame seeketh glory."

"To merit the madness of love, man must abound in sanity; to merit the bonds of the Friend, he must be full of spirit."

"Blessed the neck that is caught in His noose, happy the head that falleth on the dust in the pathway of His love."

"Wherefore, O friend, give up thy self that thou mayest find the Peerless One, pass by this mortal earth that thou mayest seek a home in the nest of heaven. Be as naught, if thou wouldst kindle the fire of being and be fit for the pathway of love."

"Love setteth a world aflame at every turn, and he wasteth every land where he carrieth his banner. Being hath no existence in his kingdom; the wise wield no command within his realm. The leviathan of love swalloweth the master of reason and destroyeth the lord of knowledge. He drinketh the seven seas, but his heart's thirst is still unquenched, and he saith, "Is there yet any more?" He shunneth himself and draweth away from all on earth.

"He hath bound a myriad victims in his fetters, wounded a myriad wise men with his arrow. Know that every redness in the world is from his anger, and every paleness in men's cheeks is from his poison. He yieldeth no remedy but death, he walketh not save in the valley of the shadow; yet sweeter than honey is his venom on the lover's lips, and fairer his destruction in the seeker's eyes than a hundred thousand lives."

"Wherefore must the veils of the satanic self be burned away at the fire of love, that the spirit may be purified and cleansed and thus may know the station of the Lord of the Worlds.

"And if, confirmed by the Creator, the lover escapes from the claws of the eagle of love, he will enter The Valley of Knowledge and come out of doubt into certitude, and turn from the darkness of illusion to the guiding light of the fear of God."

"His inner eyes will open and he will privily converse with his Beloved; he will set ajar the gate of truth and piety, and shut the doors of vain imaginings. He in this station is content with the decree of God, and seeth war as peace, and findeth in death the secrets of everlasting life. With inward and outward eyes he witnesseth the mysteries of resurrection in the realms of creation and the souls of men, and with a pure heart apprehendeth the divine wisdom in the endless Manifestations of God. In the ocean he findeth a drop, in a drop he beholdeth the secrets of the sea."

Two seas met
In the ocean of life.
The passage between was narrow
And full of hazard.
Yet, they met
And their waters mingled.

Each sea had its own storms.
Each had its own shores.
Yet, they met
And their shores touched;
But, their storms were calmed
In that narrow, hazardous passage.

Each sea had its own commerce.
Each had its own depths.
Yet, they met
And traffic through that passage was
Difficult.
But, their depths were joined and
The waters which were deep had
A trade all their own.

The land surrounding their passage was
Mysterious.
And things happened in those rocky cliffs;
And things happened in those lush green hills;
Things that no tongue can tell...

Time, as it will, passed...
And, the depths continued to deepen;
And, the common shore widened;
And, the land still held its mystery...
But, most gradually, there was created a
Wider channel, more common shore
That both seas used to
Lay up treasures.

Many said they couldn't believe
There was ever a time when the
Passage between the seas was
Narrow
And
Hazardous.

But, the
Seas
Remembered.
Remembered
The days of uncertain passage,
The days of hazard.
And
They
Laughed





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Alexander M Zoltai, Far Shore Publications, 1998-1999