Bahíyyih Khánum | Page 8

IRREPARABLE. INFORM
LOCAL ASSEMBLIES COMMEMORATE BEFITTINGLY
SACRED EXPERIENCES SO RICH, SO SUBLIME, SO EVENTFUL
A LIFE. MAGNITUDE OF OUR SORROW DEMANDS COMPLETE
SUSPENSION FOR NINE MONTHS THROUGHOUT BAHÁ'Í
WORLD EVERY FORM RELIGIOUS FESTIVITY. HER MORTAL
REMAINS LAID VICINITY HOLY SHRINE.

5: O ye who burn in the flames of bereavement! ...
(34) O ye who burn in the flames of bereavement! By the Day-star of
the World, my bereaved and longing heart is afire with a grief that is
beyond my description. The sudden, the grievous and calamitous news
that the Most Exalted, the pure, the holy, the immaculate, the brightly
shining Leaf, the Remnant of Bahá, and His trust, the eternal fruit and
the one last remembrance of the Holy Tree--may my life be offered for
the wrongs she suffered--has ascended, reached me like live coals cast
into a frail and afflicted heart. The foundations of my serenity were
shattered, and tears of desolation came like a flood that carries all
away.
Alas, that I was prevented from being with her at the close of her
earthly days, at that moment when she ascended to her Lord, her
Master, and when her delicate body was placed in the tomb. Not mine
that honour, that high privilege, for I was far away, deprived, bereft,
excluded.
O brothers and sisters in the spirit! In this solemn hour, from one
direction we can hear the sounds of loud weeping, and cries of
mourning and woe, rising out of the throats of the people of Bahá
throughout this nether world, because of their separation from that rich
mine of faithfulness, that Orb of the heaven of eternal glory--because of

her setting below the horizon of this holy Spot. But from another
direction can be heard the songs of praise and holy exultation from the
Company on High and the undying dwellers in Paradise, and from
beyond them all God's Prophets, coming forth to welcome that fair
being, and to place her in the retreats of glory, and to seat her at the
right hand of Him Who is the Centre of God's Mighty Covenant.
The community of Bahá, whether in the East of the world or the West,
are lamenting like orphans left destitute; fevered, tormented, unquiet,
they are voicing their grief. Out of the depths of their sorrowing hearts,
there rises to the Abhá Horizon this continual piercing cry: 'Where art
thou gone, O torch of tender love? Where art thou gone, O source of
grace and mercy? Where art thou gone, O symbol of bounty and
generosity? Where art thou gone, O day-spring of detachment in this
world of being? Where art thou gone, O trust left by Bahá among His
people, O remnant left by Him among His servants, O sweet scent of
His garment, shed across all created things!'
O ye who loved that luminous face! The oil within that shining lamp
was used up in this world and its light was extinguished; and yet, in the
lamp-niche of the Kingdom, the fingers of the Lord of the heavenly
throne have kindled it so bright, and it has cast such a splendour on the
maids of Heaven--dwelling in chambers of red rubies and circling
about her--that they all called from out their souls and hearts, 'O joy
upon joy!' and with shouts of, 'Well done! Well done! Upon thee be
God's blessings, O Most Exalted Leaf!' did they welcome that
quintessence of love and purity within the towering pavilions of
eternity.
At that time, as bidden by the Lord, the Protector, the Self-Subsisting,
did the heavenly Crier raise up his voice and cry out: 'O Most Exalted
Leaf! Thou art she who did endure with patience in God's way from
thine earliest childhood and throughout all thy life, and did bear in His
pathway what none other hath borne, save only God in His own Self,
the Supreme Ruler over all created things, and before Him, His noble
Herald, and after Him, His holy Branch, the One, the Inaccessible, the
Most High. The people of the Concourse on High seek the fragrance of

thy presence, and the dwellers in the retreats of eternity circle about
thee. To this bear witness the souls of the cherubim within the
tabernacles of majesty and might, and beyond them the tongue of God
the One True Lord, the Pure, the Most Wondrous. Blessedness be thine
and a goodly abode; glad tidings to thee and a happy ending!'
To one who was reared by the hands of her loving kindness, the burden
of this direst of calamities is well nigh unbearable; and yet praised be
the God of glory that her fragile frame has escaped from the prison of
continual ordeals and afflictions which, with an astonishing forbearance,
and for more than eighty years, she