Feast of Beauty

1 Jamal 164 B.E. – Saturday, April 28, 2007

Today is the first of Jamal, the month of Beauty. I attended the Feast of Beauty at the Baha’i Center on West Oakey. I arrived at the center a bit early. The Feast was scheduled to begin at 7:30, according to the clock in my car, I arrived at 7:08. I’m not sure how long I waited for someone to come and open the door. When I got into the center and checked the clock in the kitchen, it read 7:05 (I think the clock in my car is more than a bit fast).

The spiritual portion was exquisite. The readings were from the writings of Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-Baha. I read the Teaching Prayer for the Western States. You know the lessons we learn in life are interesting. I left my reading glasses at home lying by the computer. Normally if I’m asked to read and don’t have my reading glasses with me, I decline. However, this time I said yes. I said yes without thinking about my reading glasses, whether I had them or, for that matter, anything else. It was only after I accepting the book containing the prayer, that I remembered I didn’t have my reading glasses with me.

I asked Baha’u’llah’s assistance. Then when my turn to read came, I got up, went to the front of the sanctuary, and read the prayer. Everything went well. I’ve learned that it doesn’t matter what I don’t have, when I ask Baha’u’llah’s assistance the situation turns out alright.

The following lines came to me while I was listening to the children say prayers.

The table spread
with fruits from the Tree of Life

I’m not sure where this poem is going. The only thing I am sure of is the title. I’m going to call it Feast of Beauty. I want to include a couple of phrases I want to include in this poem; those are “sweet savors” and “pressed from the grapes of love”.

It’s amazing what I good night’s sleep will do. I wrote the preceding after I got home from Feast last night. I wasn’t tired when I got home, but got tire after I begin composing this entry. So I decided to go to bed and wait until morning to post it. When I woke up, the lines below came to me. Now all I have to do is add punctuation, decide if the poem is finished or not, and determine the layout of the poem on the page. I don’t think I’m going to center or right justify this particular poem. I’m not going to divide it into stanzas either.

the sweet savors of harmony
call humanity
to the banquet of the Lord
to sip the elixir of unity
that is pressed from the grapes of divine love

This isn’t the first time I’ve written a poem about Feast. I’ve written several poems at it. In fact, I think I have another poem called the Feast of Beauty, which need rewritten. My skills as a poet have improved in the past few years. So some of the earlier poems I wrote need a bit of tweaking.