Writing Poetry is a Spiritual Experience

For me
writing poetry
is a spiritual experience.

I pray,
intoning the prayers
revealed by Baha'u'llah,
the Bab,
or 'Abdu'l-Baha.

I think,
I meditate,
I contemplate,
and I let min intuition find
the title,
or the first line,
or the rhyme.

I write
allowing my soul's insight
to discover
the rhythm,
the metaphors,
and the similes.


Visit My Portfolio @ Writing.Com

Midnight Prayer

Midnight
I awaken to silence
and feel the tranquility
that beckons me to prayer
and meditation.

I access the prayer app
on my smartphone,
find the Midnight prayer
and intone
the words written by 'Abdu'l-Baha:
"O Lord,..."


Visit My Portfolio @ Writing.Com

Bedtime Prayer

Now I lay me down to sleep, 

I pray the Lord my soul to keep, 

If I should die before I wake, 

I pray the Lord my soul to take. 

There are two or three different versions of this prayer. The one in this entry is the one I learn when I was a child. I don't know precisely how this version of the prayer affected me. When I say the prayer with my Mother or Grandmother, I never thought much about the meaning of the prayer. The only thing I thought about was the protection it gave me, and the spiritual feeling I had after saying it. 

This was the first prayer I memorized. Mom and Grandma saying it with me helped me memorize it. I don't say this prayer anymore. I say a prayer revealed by Baha'u'llah. It isn't anything like this prayer, but it does giving me spiritual feeling when I say or read it. Sometime I just say one prayer, and other times I read more than one. Most of the time I say or read about three prayers before going to sleep. When I read three prayers, I usually pick a prayer by Baha'u'llah, the Bab, and 'Abdu'l-Baha. 

2011 a Stress Filled Year

Fidál (Grace), 19 Qudrat (Power), 168 BE – Tuesday, November 22, 2011 about 1:30 PM Pacific Time

2011 a stress filled year, which may explain why I got this Baha’i year (168 BE) confused with last year (167 BE). The stress was so bad that my psoriases got worse instead of better. The situation has calmed down a bit, my psoriasis is getting better and I have got my dates straight again.

What caused all this stress? I think it was a combination of issues. I am my mother’s caregiver and she has Alzheimer’s disease. Then there were the financial issues plus a bunch of other things; everything just pilled up and I stressed out. Even though the stress is still present, my life is becoming calmer.

I am meditating on the prayers revealed by Baha’u’llah, and the Bab, as well as those written by ‘Abdu’l-Baha. I am writing my problems in an offline journal, instead of using the journal as a place to rant. Ranting seems to increase the stress, while free writing about the issue helps find a solution. Prayer and journaling is the best way to alleviate stress and find solutions to my problems.

Things I am thankful for on July 31, 2008

Istijlál (Majesty), 19 Kalimat (Words), 165 BE – Thursday, July 31, 2008 about 6:04 AM PDT

Today is Thankful Thursday and the idea is gratitude. No matter how difficult life gets, once a week an individual can always find something for which to give thanks. On Thankful Thursday, a person lists then gratitude things.

Today I am Thankful for

1. The prayers revealed by Baha'u'llah
2. The prayers revealed by The Bab
3. The prayers written by 'Abdu'l-Baha
4. Dawn
5. Getting up before the alarm clock sounds
6. Coffee
7. Carrot cake for breakfast
8. My mother still being with me
9. The Nineteen Day Feast
10. The way the morning light shines on my open garage door

Remembering my Grandmother on Sunday Morning

Jamál (Beauty), 8 Kalimat (Words), 165 BE – Sunday, July 20, 2008 about 6:38 AM PDT

On Sunday morning, my Grandma Newland always went to church. She went to a Southern Baptist Mission in Blackwell, Oklahoma. The littler church was located in the Smelter Heights in what many considered the wrong side of the tracks. The rail roadtracks separated the Heights from the rest of Blackwell.

On Sunday morning, Grandma would get up, take her shower, get ready for church and then get the rest of us up (if we weren't already up). Grandma would put on her apron and fix breakfast for us. After breakfast, before leaving for church, she would wash the breakfast dishes and put them away. This done, Grandma would make sure we were all ready to go. My grandparents and four kids would get into Grandpa's car (usually a Ford or a Chevy) and Grandpa would drive us to the little mission, which the First Southern Baptist Church built in the Smelter Heights.

On Sunday morning, Grandma would set at one end of the pew, Grandpa at the other end and we four children between them. This is where my memory gets a bit fuzzy, because I can't remember whether Sunday school was before the preaching or afterwards. However, I think Sunday school was after the church service, which included preaching, singing and praying. After church, we went home and Grandma fixed the noon meal.

Grandma always fixed a huge meal for the Sunday lunch. She fixed mashed potatoes and gravy, vegetables, salad, southern fried chicken, and desert, which was usually a pie Grandma made from scratch. If we had pie for desert then there was ice cream to go on the pie.

I am no longer Southern Baptist and I haven't been back to Blackwell in over thirty years. Yet I still remember Grandma on Sunday morning sitting beside me in a wooden pew. Grandma taught me that I didn't have to wait until Sunday to pray. Grandma helped me learn the Lords Prayer and the Twenty Thirds Psalms, both of which I still remember.

Another thing I remember from my childhood. I could memorize prayers and scripture verses much easier then I can today. It takes me longer to memorize scripture verses today then it did then. I still work at memorizing them, but now I have to review them everyday or every other day or I forget the verse. Right now I'm working on memorizing prayers revealed by Baha'u'llah, the Bab and 'Abdu'l-Baha. I have the some prayers memorized that I read everyday, but it takes longer to memorize a prayer.

On a Late March Evening

Fidál (Grace), 5 Baha (Splendor), 165 B.E. – Tuesday, March 25, 2008 about 5:57 PM PDT

On a late March evening
when the sun approaches the western horizon
I look through my prayer book
at all the prayers revealed by the Bab,
at all the prayers revealed by Baha'u'llah,
at all the prayers written by 'Abdu'l-Baha
and realize
that as my life advances toward its western horizon
and my fortune changes
like the pendulum of a Grandfather clock swing
back and forth
these prayers give me comfort and joy.