Bahá’í inspired poetry

These are my poems related to being a Bahá’í. Some are directly related to the Bahá’í Faith, e.g. The knowledge of graves – on the desecration of the Grave of Quddús; others by implication in the theme of the poem, e.g. Every truth – achieving a state of grace.

May I also refer you to the prison poetry of Mahvash Sabet, one of nearly two hundred Bahá’í prisoners of conscience, currently and immorally incarcerated in Iran solely for their religious beliefs.

Poems – arranged alphabetically, excluding ‘a/the/that/this’ from the title start

• Alas for we who remain – how to justify sacrifice to those you leave behind?

• And each duly sets – on our relationship with the Covenant

• And so bound – on our relationship with the Covenant

• Another day of Fasting – on participating in the Bahá’í Fast

• Atomicly – how we misunderstand our relationship with God

• As were they – spirits set free

• That boulevard – a story of overcoming African culture clash

• The candle – sacrifice

• Certitude – for my persecuted  Bahá’í brothers and sisters in the Middle East

• The church on the hill – my relationship with the Catholic Church and my father

• The circle – the spiritual qualities of a circle; (not near as boring as you’d think)

• The Copper Tree Tops – by my dearest Lyn Tolar, on fasting

• Dance – pure radiant joy

• Every truth – achieving a state of grace

• The first of forever – a commentary on the story of Abraham and Ishmael

• Faith – for my wonderful wife, Lyn

• The generation of love – the world is in travail and we are awaiting a change

• Hold back nothing – on pain

• The Holy Mariner – The Flood, Noah and the eternal Covenant of God

• I am not here, but I will always be there – a poem of the House of the Báb

• If you are reading this, then… – for those who sacrifice for us

• In a pentacle – the magic of sacrifice, love and teaching

• In a smithy – sacrifice and submission

• In exile – the exiles of Bahá’u’lláh and a lesson for the fast

• In this glass – on the nature of forgiveness

• In truth we lie – the complexities of honesty

• The irony of elemental questions – why do we not stay true to our nature?

• It truly doesn’t – on detachment

• It is not like this, death – time and its relationship to us in death

• Keeping count – for the Dawnbreakers

• Knowledge and voilition – the accounting of folly

• The knowledge of graves – on the desecration of the Grave of Quddús

• Last nights – what do martyrs think of, the night before?

• Let go –  a prayer of gratitude and submission

• The Letters of the Living – on the sacrifice and strength of the Báb and the Letters of the Living.

• Long ago – about praying

• This long, long night – about sleepless nights and receiving comfort

• Louder – on submission to the Will of God

• The math of love – living in the Covenant

• Mercy me – the need for the mercy of God

• Meta, an abstraction of the part – knowledge and humility

• The mirror – what is reality?

• The next after another – the difficulty of giving service to mankind

• Not by half – on the passing of Mirza Mihdi, the Purest Branch

• One by one by one – about humility and grace

• Once skiing – on detachment

• The orange tree – the martyrdom of the ten angels of Shiraz

• Patrick/Marian Burnett’s “After Seven Years” – to my departed friend, Patrick Burnett/a poem by Marian, Patrick’s wife.

• The phoenix – worrying about those we love

• Please – a poem dedicated to the Yarán

• Pray – how easily superstition can reign us

• The quilt – on sharing ourselves and teaching our love

• Rag-tag relics on a rag-tag road – teaching what you believe

• Rend – the meek shall inherit the earth

• The rest is not silence – on death and redemption

• Salt of the earth – a lesson in generosity

• Seven rocks in the garden – a poem for the Seven Martyrs of Tehran

• So what then – failing to take the chance

• Soaring – spiritual transformation

• The steed of the Valley of Love is pain – on the ferocity of love and faith

• Talking With Mr. Mahrami – about the passing of a Bahá’í martyr

• Take me—a prayer – on longing and the comfort of prayer

• Tell me again, will you? – persistence is more important than failure

• There, but for the grace of God… – questioning questioning

• To the test – on the Martyrdom of the Báb, the Prophet-Herald of the Bahá’í Faith

• To trust – on being detached, but emotionally distant

• Upon a time – a memory from when I lived in Africa

• Vector – spiritual transformation; teaching children

• Vision – how to see our world

• Vocatus – on depression and surviving it

• The warp and woof of creation – on our place in eternity

• The well of fire – on submitting to the will of God

• What I owe – sharing what you are

• Where else? – about the suicide of Nabil, author of The Dawn-Breakers

• Where the light dazzles – on the loss of my darling wife, Lyn. What are we really?

• Who teaches, learns – As `Abdu’l-Bahá’ said…

• Words, they hear you say them – the power of the words of God to move us

• Worthy – one perspective  of the turn of the 21st Century