"Study the Tablet of the Holy Mariner that ye may know the truth, and
consider that the Blessed Beauty hath fully foretold future events. Let
them who perceive, take warning!"--'Abdu'l-Baha
"He is the Gracious, the Well-Beloved! O Holy Mariner!..."
He is the Gracious, the Well-Beloved!
O Holy Mariner!
Bid thine ark of eternity appear before the Celestial Concourse,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Launch it upon the ancient sea, in His Name, the Most Wondrous,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
And let the angelic spirits enter, in the Name of God, the Most High.
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Unmoor it, then, that it may sail upon the ocean of glory,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Haply the dwellers therein may attain the retreats of nearness in the
everlasting realm.
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Having reached the sacred strand, the shore of the crimson seas,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Bid them issue forth and attain this ethereal invisible station,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
A station wherein the Lord hath in the Flame of His Beauty appeared within
the deathless tree;
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Wherein the embodiments of His Cause cleansed themselves of self and
passion;
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Around which the Glory of Moses doth circle with the everlasting hosts;
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Wherein the Hand of God was drawn forth from His bosom of Grandeur;
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Wherein the ark of the Cause remaineth motionless even though to its
dwellers be declared all divine attributes.
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
O Mariner! Teach them that are within the ark that which we have taught
thee behind the mystic veil,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Perchance they may not tarry in the sacred snow-white spot,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
But may soar upon the wings of the spirit unto that station which the Lord
hath exalted above all mention in the worlds below,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
May wing through space even as the favored birds in the realm of eternal
reunion;
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
May know the mysteries hidden in the Seas of light.
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
They passed the grades of worldly limitations and reached that of the
divine unity, the center of heavenly guidance.
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
They have desired to ascend unto that state which the Lord hath ordained
to be above their stations.
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Whereupon the burning meteor cast them out from them that abide in the
Kingdom of His Presence,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
And they heard the Voice of Grandeur raised from behind the unseen
pavilion upon the Height of Glory:
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
"O guardian angels! Return them to their abode in the world below,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
"Inasmuch as they have purposed to rise to that sphere which the wings of
the celestial dove have never attained;
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
"Whereupon the ship of fancy standeth still which the minds of them that
comprehend cannot grasp."
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Whereupon the maid of heaven looked out from her exalted chamber,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
And with her brow signed to the Celestial Concourse,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Flooding with the light of her countenance the heaven and the earth,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
And as the radiance of her beauty shone upon the people of dust,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
All beings were shaken in their mortal graves.
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
She then raised the call which no ear through all eternity hath ever
heard,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
And thus proclaimed: "By the Lord! He whose heart hath not the fragrance
of the love of the exalted and glorious Arabian Youth,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
"Can in no wise ascend unto the glory of the highest heaven."
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Thereupon she summoned unto herself one maiden from her handmaidens,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
And commanded her: "Descend into space from the mansions of eternity,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
"And turn thou unto that which they have concealed in the inmost of their
hearts.
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
"Shouldst thou inhale the perfume of the robe from the Youth that hath
been hidden within the tabernacle of light by reason of that which the
hands of the wicked have wrought,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
"Raise a cry within thyself, that all the inmates of the chambers of
Paradise, that are the embodiments of the eternal wealth, may understand
and hearken;
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
"That they may all come down from their everlasting chambers and tremble,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
"And kiss their hands and feet for having soared to the heights of
faithfulness;
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
"Perchance they may find from their robes the fragrance of the Beloved
One."
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Thereupon the countenance of the favored damsel beamed above the celestial
chambers even as the light that shineth from the face of the Youth above
His mortal temple;
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
She then descended with such an adorning as to illumine the heavens and
all that is therein.
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
She bestirred herself and perfumed all things in the lands of holiness and
grandeur.
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
When she reached that place she rose to her full height in the midmost
heart of creation,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
And sought to inhale their fragrance at a time that knoweth neither
beginning nor end.
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
She found not in them that which she did desire, and this, verily, is but
one of His wondrous tales.
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
She then cried aloud, wailed and repaired to her own station within her
most lofty mansion,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
And then gave utterance to one mystic word, whispered privily by her
honeyed tongue,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
And raised the call amidst the Celestial Concourse and the immortal maids
of heaven:
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
"By the Lord! I found not from these idle claimants the breeze of
Faithfulness!
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
"By the Lord! The Youth hath remained lone and forlorn in the land of
exile in the hands of the ungodly."
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
She then uttered within herself such a cry that the Celestial Concourse
did shriek and tremble,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
And she fell upon the dust and gave up the spirit. It seemeth she was
called and hearkened unto Him that summoned her unto the Realm on High.
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Glorified be He that created her out of the essence of love in the midmost
heart of His exalted paradise!
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Thereupon the maids of heaven hastened forth from their chambers, upon
whose countenances the eye of no dweller in the highest paradise had ever
gazed.
Glorified be our Lord, the Most High!
They all gathered around her, and lo! they found her body fallen upon the
dust;
Glorified be our Lord, the Most High!
And as they beheld her state and comprehended a word of the tale told by
the Youth, they bared their heads, rent their garments asunder, beat upon
their faces, forgot their joy, shed tears and smote with their hands upon
their cheeks, and this is verily one of the mysterious grievous
afflictions--
Glorified be our Lord, the Most High!
--Baha'u'llah