The Snowflake Chronicles

Inspiration from the Sacred Writing

3 Rahmat 163 B.E. – June 26, 2006 A.D.

“Where do you get your inspiration?” I don’t remember who ask me that question. In addition, I don’t remember my exact answer. It probably went something like this “From everywhere and everything.” Which is true, I can find inspiration for a poem anywhere or anywhen. Sometimes I get up in the morning with a line, a theme or a subject echoing through my mind.

Take this morning for instance. The lines running through my head were “At the first light of dawn, I intone God’s Most Great Name, with the rising sun.” Morning is when I usually, but not always, get ideas for spiritual poem. I thank this is because the first thing I say of a morning, as I get out of bed is God’s Most Great Name. It’s also the last thing I say of a night when I lay my head on my pillow.

This morning I got to thinking about where I get most of my inspiration for my mystic or spiritual poem. My inspiration comes from the sacred scriptures, from any and all of the sacred scriptures, but mainly from the Baha’i holy writings because I read those most often. This got me to thinking about my favorite scripture verses. My favorite scripture verses usually change over time with life experience. Therefore, a verse that’s my favorite one month may not be my favorite the next. However, there are certain scripture verses that are at the top of the list most of the time.

One of those verses is from The Hidden Words of Baha’u’llah, in which he was talking about the creation of the human race. In this verse he speaks using the voice of God.

“O SON OF SPIRIT!
Noble have I created thee, yet thou hast abased thyself.
Rise then unto that for which thou wast created.”
From the Arabic, #22

This verse usually comes to mind when I’m struggling with some of the baggage I’ve brought with me from my past. It’s interesting that when I’m feeling down, one of The Hidden Words comes to mind.

Baha’u’llah revealed these gems of splendor in 1858 on the banks of the Tigris River. I think it’s time I begin compiling my favorite scripture verses. I don’t think I’ll put them in any special order. Fortunately, with computes it’s easy to do this. It must have been really rough when the only thing a person had to write with was a quill pen and parchment. Must have been painful too, I mean can you imagine writing for hours with only a quill pen, or even a fountain pen or a ballpoint pen. I still use ink pens sometimes of course, but I usually use a gel pen rather than a ballpoint pen.

You know that would make a good poem, the pen used to record The Hidden Words. I’ll have to do a little research, but I think it may have been a quill pen or something similar. Humanity has really come a long way since 1858. Actually, that would make a good theme for a poem, series of poems, essay or story.