Feast of Words

1 Kalimat 163 B.E. – July 13, 2006 A.D.

On the evening of Wednesday, July 12, at 7:30 p.m., I attended the Feast of Kalimat, the Feast of Words, at the Baha’i Center in Las Vegas. I started out early, because I had to stop for gas and normally, when I have to stop for gas before Feast there are lines at the gas station and I have to wait. There were not lines this time, so I was in and out in record time. I arrived at the center a little early, but that’s OK because I like to sit and meditate before the Feast begins.

The decorations in the main meeting room of the Center were beautifully. There were three vases of flowers. The vase I particularly noticed set on top of the piano. It contained a bouquet of yellow roses. The other two vases contain white and red flowers, not roses, but some other types of flowers. I couldn’t tell you what type of flowers they were because I don’t know the names of them. I can only identify a few flowers by sight. I can identify roses and lilies, but I can’t identify the different varieties.

The readings at the feast were a smorgasbord of sacred writing by Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-Baha, plus prayers in three languages. At the social portion there scrumptious dishes such as watermelon, carrot cake, chocolate cake, a deli wrap, nuts, juice, coffee, and tea. We laughed and talked, everyone had a great time.

I got an idea for a poem; the title of the poem is the Feast of Words. The way I’m going to approach it is to describe attending the Nineteen Day Feast from the point of view of eating a delicious meal. I suspect this may be a long poem, because I’m considering dividing it into more than one section, similar to a multi-course meal. I think I’ll divide the poem into three section. Describe the Feast as a three-course meal, because there are three parts to a Feast. The three parts or courses of the Feast are the spiritual, business, and social portions.

OK, what do I have so far? I have smorgasbord, buffet, salad bar, or desert table for the sections of the poem. Other words I can use, in the lines of the poem, are delicious, tasty, appetizing, yummy, luscious, delectable, mouth-watering, delightful, lovely, wonderful, pleasant, enjoyable, appealing, enchanting, and charming. How about, a smorgasbord of delight met my eyes. That sounds nice, I’ll see what I come up with and add it to the rest of my poems about the Feast. I’m working on my faith book, which has a separate section for each of the Feasts. Each section of the book opens with a poem about a particular feast.