poems by
Alexander M Zoltaiinterwoven with passages
from
The Seven Valleys
by
Bahá'u'lláhDedicated 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....'"
In the beginning,
I rush towards
Reunion - my inner
Eye spies a
Gleam that
Dazzles into
Words that
Fall
Far short..."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."
Blazing eyes dancing in a
Dew-fresh, dawn-sweet smile; and her
Swaying to
Pulsations
Deep and
True, so true...
And with all the other reasons to
Adore this soaring soul, there's no
Reason left to leave her
Aura's web.
Yet, the
Dying from her
Passion breeds a
Rhythm all its own and its
Beat is birthing
Magic in my
Soul..."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."
Primal
Fires
Burn and
Melt all
Rationality.
Primal
Feelings
Surge within my
Soul.
Primal, not just
Strong,
Intense,
Acute or
Keenly felt - Primal
Almost to the
Sacred
Tree...
Rationality will
Order all these
Feelings, by and by; but,
No matter what the
Patterns then
Produced,
Primal
Fires are
Ablaze with a
Healing all their
Own; and, they can't, they
Won't now
Ever be
Reduced.
"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:
For the infidel, error - for the faithful, faith;
For Attar's heart, an atom of Thy pain."
Pain sits
Heavy in the
Heart un-
Healed.
Rips at
Judgement,
Opens the
Sealed to
Rip at feelings
Floating in the
Past, to bring them
Up, to make them
Last till
Time, if gracious, can
Mend the
Wound, till space is made that's not
Marooned.
"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."
Playing a deadly game -
Stakes so high
I gamble my heart.
Anguish loses meaning in
Angst lost in love.
Love - word that holds more
Meaning than it can
Bear - bears up the
Heart that's forgotten
Itself.
Suffering won for
Passion's gesture -
Heart's most welcome
Resurrections - repeated until...
"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."
O sweet God, Please take this Fire swirling in my breast!
Breathe Thy Breath into my passion.
May I have no rest from any fervor I may feel nor any blaze
Divine; but, quench my ego in Thy Will and
Love this love of mine...
"A lover feareth nothing and no harm can come nigh him: Thou seest him chill in the fire and dry in the sea.
A lover is he who is chill in hell fire;
A knower is he who is dry in the sea."
As great tides of meaning merge and
Life asks questions that stir us to
Depths untested, we pause in that place
Beyond and embrace the
Fire - the radiant blaze of
Selfhood that stands
Free of
Culture,
Bondage,
Suffering,
Pain.
We embrace the
Fire and find renewal in the glowing
Reflections from
Beyond - beyond the cramp of
Solitude,
Loneliness,
Anguish,
Hurt.
We break with repetition and begin
Regeneration;
Rising on wings of
Passion,
Power,
Freedom,
Love.
"Love accepteth no existence and wisheth no life. He seeth life in death, and in shame seeketh glory."
When the
Thunder of the
Ancient God
Rolls out and says,
"Please don't." There's a
Shiver runs up every
Spine but
Mine.
I believe He's
Right and makes the
Rules that
Guide us all through
Life; but, He made
You, too, and that gives
Pause for
Thought.
There's a
Difference here that
Comes from
Time that lives just out of
Space; and, we
Dance to
Rhythms older than we
Know.
When it comes
Right down to
Choosing which
Path leads to
Safety's den, God's
Way leads me by my
Heart right up to
You.
So the rules work even if my choice is seen as something wrong,
Since, as God's child, you make everything all
Right.
"To merit the madness of love, man must abound in sanity; to merit the bonds of the Friend, he must be full of spirit."
'Back so
Soon with
Scars so
Fresh,
Willing to be
Pressed against the
Sharp
Edge of
Pain?'
'Howling yet from
Severance
Won and
Sacrifice obtained by
Standing in the
Prow of
Life and
Facing every
Tempest hot, I turn
Again and
Lay it down - my
Blood a warming
Storm of
Victory.'
"Blessed the neck that is caught in His noose, happy the head that falleth on the dust in the pathway of His love."
On the edge is where I live, and
Edges can be fine. So fine they
Sever wants from acts and leave no
Blood behind.
This edge I'm on comes from the
Depths - a well of yearning yawns - and
Severance is the
Price to
Pay for
Grace to
Carry
On...
"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 seizeth not upon a living soul,
The falcon preyeth not on a dead mouse."
And the
Waves keep rolling
Over; some of
Blood - most vital
Suffering; some of
Oil - healing
Balm; and, some of
Water -
Mercy granted to this
Heart still coming
Home...
"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.
Love's a stranger to earth and heaven too;
In him are lunacies seventy-and-two."
'Loving her now is
Suffering you say, so
Quit man!' 'Nay, my heart cannot, she's my
Soul's
Touché...'
"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."
Only briefly,
Whispering soft,
Comes the
Visitation.
Tickling limbs,
Diverting thought,
Most precious
Delectation.
Captured in the
Afterglow,
Burning from the
Root.
Death is welcomed as a
Friend for
Life is merely
Moot.
"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.
Kindle the fire of love and burn away all things,
Then set thy foot into the land of the lovers."
The tears will keep the
Flame in check,
The flame that's killing-
Sweet.
My heart throbs white-
Hot, molten
Streams of
Pain from
Love beat down.
The tears will keep the
Flame in check,
The flame that's killing
Me. But,
Dying is the only
Way to keep my
Heart unbound.
The tears will keep the
Flame in check,
Till death from
Love
Reveals that
Love is
Truth and only
Pain from
Love can set me
Free.
The tears will keep the
Flame in check,
Will feed its lonely
Heat till
Love can do its
Mystic work and make a
Blind man
See.
"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."
One thin thread is
All that binds me
Back. A thin,
Steel thread stretched
Taut and tested
True.
One pure thought is
All that holds me
Up. A pure,
Bold thought so
Broad it
Humbles me.
"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
"Split the atom's heart, and lo! Within it thou wilt find a sun."