Snow Melt

Death, Eternal Life, and my Favorite Author

The March 6, 2013 prompt for "Blogging Circle of Friends Prompt Forum"  is
Are you afraid of death? Write about your feelings on the subject.

Am I afraid of death? No. Death is nothing to be afraid of because it is only the end for the human body and not the soul. When the body dies, the soul reviews its existence on the material plane and ascends into the next world. I expect to at the time of my death, when my soul and body go their separate ways, I will meet Baha'u'llah, to review my life on Earth, and continue my ascent through all the worlds of God. I do not know precisely what paradise is like because the beautiful of that perfection is concealed from us here on Earth. I can write poem, stories, and blog entries about what I think paradise looks like, but I will not see the Garden of Paradise until after my soul begins the next phase of its journey.

Singing
the lover's soul ascends
intoning God's Most Great Name.

Stopping,
at the Gate of Paradise,
the newly freed spirit greets
the Beloved
with songs of praise
and prayers of thanksgiving.

Thought of the Day: Death proffereth unto every confident believer the cup that is life indeed. It bestoweth joy, and is the bearer of gladness. It conferreth the gift of everlasting life. - Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, CLXIV: page 345

The March 6, 2013 prompt for "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS"  is
Who are your favorite authors? What about their work most interests you or what about their work do you most want to emulate?

Who are my favorite authors? This is difficult to answer because I have several. However, the author that most interests me and whose work I want to emulate is Tahirih. I can only dream of writing mystic poems that even come close to her verses. Unfortunately, I cannot read her poems in their original language, so I must read the English translations, most of which do not diminish spiritual feeling of her lines. My favorite poem by Tahirih is Point by Point. This is the first verse

"If I meet you face to face, I
would retrace--erase!--my heartbreak,
pain by pain,
ache by ache,
word by word,
point by point."

The rest of the poem can be found at http://maraahmed.com/wp/2009/06/09/point-by-point-by-qurratul-ayn-tahirih/