House of the Báb

HOUSE of THE BAB

I was watering the orange tree when a rush of feelings came over me. How can a simple tree have such an effect? There are trees the world over which have some significance to any number of people. This one, however, had a special meaning to me, and in some ways a host of others. I have been watering this tree for over twenty years and yet, in a way, it has been watering me.

I was but eight years old when my family travelled to the city of Shiraz, Iran, famed the world over for its roses, and the resting place of two of the greatest Persian Poets, Hafez and Sa’adi. What was significant though to my family is that Shiraz is where the Bahá’í Faith started.

I followed my mother and father into a simple home. It was memorable in that it was quiet unassuming. I had, up to this point, seen grand archaeological ruins, palaces, shrines to the poets and other elaborate structures. The memories that strike me from this visit were internal, not external. I followed my parents into the house and we prepared ourselves to visit the room where the Bahá’í Faith started. I did not grasp the import of this visit at the time. What I do remember is that we started up a carpeted stairway. I remember my mother kissing each step as we went up. I asked her “why are we kissing the steps?” She told me that what I did not understand then I would appreciate in the future. I will never forget the feel of the Persian carpet on my lips as I kissed those steps. We entered the room were the Báb declared to Mullá Husayn that he was the promised Qaim and that One greater than him would follow. I remember my mother and father kneeling on the floor. I remember tears, though whose I am not sure. I do remember however, the room and how I felt in it. We, my brother and I, understood at that time that we could leave after a prayer or two and wait for our parents below. I lingered a bit, tugged by the site of my parents in devout prayer and the desire to leave them in peace. Patience does not sit long with an 8 year old. My brother and I went down to the courtyard where we saw a well. We had not seen actual wells in the past and were as fascinated as any young boys would be. In this courtyard there stood an orange tree. We found an orange that had fallen and picked it up. I am sure that pilgrims in similar situations, our parents included, would have loved to have peeled that orange and eaten it as it was from a special tree. My brother and I simply wanted to see how deep the well was and tossed it down.

A little more than ten years from that visit the clergy roused their followers. They orchestrated the complete and total destruction of that most blessed house.

Lessons seem to not always be learned. The fanatics executed the Báb in hopes of crushing His influence on the people. He is now enshrined on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land and revered from every corner of the earth. They thought that by destroying our buildings, cemeteries and homes that somehow they would destroy our belief and our faith. They thought that by killing believers or imprisoning them on trumped up charges would weaken our faith. They just sentenced more Bahá’í’s to prison for simply educating their own fellow believers.

A few years later I was given a tree that was grown from that orange tree in Shiraz. There are now thousands of orange trees the world over that have grown from the seeds of that original tree. Two of these trees stand at the gate of the terrace of the Shrine of the Báb on Mount Carmel. This tree that I water and see every day is a child of that tree that I saw over forty years ago. Though that house is no longer in existence, it lives still in these trees and, more importantly, in the hearts of the believers. When I see that tree I remember kissing those dear and precious steps which still live in my heart.

-Shiidon, October 2011

Image: Copyright 2011, Bahá'í International Community

Upheaval

UPHEAVAL

Unchecked greed

Taking resources

From those in need

To those who

Take no heed

Riches piled on high

While those oppressed

Under burdens do sigh

And babies in the night

From hunger cry

Like misers of old

They hoard their gold

And in unchecked avarice

They’ve grown bold

There is a disconnect

From the masses

To those who direct

We are the ones

They do reject

This rift

That has sent

The world adrift

Is found everywhere

And our leaders

No longer care

And those who have

Are reluctant to share

The common man

Grows weary of this

Most common plan

And is turning away

From this same old way

Of treating each other

As if numbers with which

To play

The problem does not

In a person rest

But in a system

That has long since

Seen its best

This is a new day

The time has come

For us

A new world to become

When we treat each other

With care and love

Without fear

Of love from above

Each night

As we go to sleep

Let us remember

There are others

In the dark, from suffering

Do weep

We are awakening

To a new day

Where we must find

A new way

To share with each other

As if all were our own

Sister or brother

To give freely

From what we possess

Which in turn

Will ease the distress

And will ourselves bless

-Shiidon, October 2011

There is a line that I saw on the site www.bahai.org that sums up what inspired this poem for me. I saw the striving of people around the world for change and the suffering that is beginning to become a shared suffering, even in this, the worlds richest nation in recorded history. This is the line from that web site:

Bahá'u'lláh said, "The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens," and that, as foretold in all the sacred scriptures of the past, now is the time for humanity to live in unity.

I truly believe we are headed for a unity, not in money or power, but in brotherhood and peace. I was raised with the principle of elimination of extremes of wealth and poverty. It is not what you have but what you do with what you have that defines you.

Boundless Care

BOUNDLESS CARE

I think of you often

And like a balm

Thoughts doth calm

And my pain doth soften

Friends are close

Some are far

Some bring joy

And with others we spar

People come and go

And whilst in our life

They help us grow

And a surer path doth show

The more I add years

The more frequent the tears

As more and more friends

Leave this plane

And I here doth remain

The path ahead grows more clear

As my end draws near

There are more years behind

Than those ahead

Though this I do not mind

I look ahead

With both joy and dread

For while I know

T'is a better place I go

I have much failings

In my life that will show

I close my eyes

And reflect

On those who have gone by

And remember the effect

They've had on me

And how much better a person

They've helped me be

This stands true

For both those here and above

As there is no boundary

For a true heart with love

I would be remiss

To not include among those I miss

The friends that have drifted away

In pursuing their own way

And those that remain

Their presence

Easy to obtain

Though in reality

Whether here or there

I still do, their well-being care

And many, of this love

Are unaware

-Shiidon, October 2011

Well it has been almost a month since my last post. This is not because of desire but of a very busy schedule. There is much that has happened and yet little. I am working hard on my various projects and they all seemed to need extra attention at the same time. I had a culmination of hard work for the Texas Bahá'í School and am still doing the wrap up on that as well. Organized chaos is a way I would describe it. I was reflecting on friends and people when this first part of the poem came to me. Within hours I had heard of the passing of an old friend whom I knew in Chicago and the Bahamas who had given me great advise prior to my moving to Los Angeles and then China later on. Some of you may have known her, Yael Wurmfeld. So this poem is in some ways influenced by memories of her and others who have passed on as well as some who have passed in and out of my life.

We are all connected in some way. We are all from the same place and are going to the same place. There is a common love that exists between us all. We can choose to see it or not. It is in its truest form, a gestalt. This reality will be more than evident when we pass from this world to the next, or so I believe.