Bicentenary Poems and Prose

The Days of Ridvan

The Days of Ridvan1:
Celebrating the Declaration of Baha'u'llah

The First Day of Ridvan:
Sorrow Transformed to Joy

"Verily, all created things were immersed in the sea of purification when, on that first day of Ridvan, We shed upon the whole of creation the splendors of Our most excellent Names and Our most exalted Attributes. This, verily, is a token of My loving providence, which hath encompassed all the worlds."

Bahá’u’lláh

Transforming sorrow to joy,
Baha'u'llah entered the Garden of Ridvan
and pitched his tent
in the center of paradise.

Surrounded
by the singing of nightingales,
the perfume of roses,
and the tents of the faithful
He declared his glorious mission.

The Ninth Day of Ridvan:
The Day of Happiness

Songs rise
from the throats of nightingales
sleepless
because of their love
for the beauty of the Beloved.

Joyful tiding flow
out of the Garden of Paradise
flooding the word
with the knowledge that
God's promise is fulfilled
in the person of Baha'u'llah.

The Twelfth Day of Ridvan:
In The Garden

In the Garden of Paradise
every created thing
was baptized
in the ocean of purification.

In the Garden of Ridvan
the splendor
of the All-Merciful
was shed upon the world.

Footnotes
1  pronounced rez-vahn