Bicentenary Poems and Prose

Snow White Bird

Snow White Bird

In dreamless sleep the world reposed
         On that portentous night:
No creature stirred save a snow white bird
         Mounting in silent flight.

Over high mountains a bright star rose
         Turning night into day;
Waking the children of God from
         The beds in which they lay.

Rising it voice in praise of God
         The white bird greeted the light;
Rousing from slumbers of heedlessness
         Denizens of the night.

Arming hate's bow with the arrows of fear
         Aimed at the bird of white;
The sealed in blood its prophesied fate
         Turning day into night.

The weeping years marched slowing by
         As darker grew the night;
Wile all the songs God's children sing
         Were memories of the light.

Above the mountains of men's fears
         Rose two bright blinding stars;
Shedding upon the darkness of hate
         Unity's purifying fires.

Through the sacred Gate of God
         From the Garden of Paradise,
Returned the spirit of the snow white bird
         In the Nightingale of Paradise.

Poet's Note: ▼

I wrote this in 148 B.E. The original title was Christmas Story. The snow white bird is symbolizes the Holy Spirit, which descended on His Holiness Christ when he was baptized. The Gate of God refers to The Bab. The Nightingale of Paradise refers to Baha'u'llah.