8/25/09

Psalm 45

The Lord is my morning;
~~His word is my dawn, and every point of nearness my awakening.

Daylight delivers color and form;
~~my seeking heart is raised again.

I long to learn the laws of His nature
~~and to earn the ways of His good pleasure.

I long for the Lord the way a man seeks length and generations;
~~I am long for His way, all good ways.

And on the night of my days,
~~the Lord is my certain morning.

8/16/09

Psalm 44

In Persia did our praise aspire;
~~we longed to serve God’s golden verse.

Each sage of ages gone brought every phase and shape of moon and carried lamps of psalm,
~~yet the heart of earth and mountain peaks speak of His godlier, gloried sun.

When one who loves God begins to solve the premise of empires and the danger of his own garden, the hostile and holiest birthplace of faith,
~~then, lighted by delight, he orients the stonier man.

In Iran, on that pleated, petaled sore rose, did rain descend:
~~let the one who ponders this respond.




8/7/09

Psalm 43

In heaven on earth, a temple rises: hands in praise and dawning hearts have built it;
~~in the kingdom of God on earth, a house of worship is raised, a home for the Lord and homage in His quarried realm.

Flowers of civilization, red, white, Asian, African: green leaves of His book ring a new site;
~~in the day of God, nine gardens, nine pools, nine fountains encompass paradise.

Nine avenues advance the followers of light;
~~nine entrance ways ascend to dome the sun.

What is the marrow of a house of worship at time’s end, when every prophecy has been fulfilled?
~~What temple stands past truth of water, faith of birds in flight?
~~Word of God in word, song of God in song, scriptures of every religion recited in limitless light.

8/1/09

Psalm 42 (Psalm for a Planet, Part 2)


I will dwell in a home where the word of the Lord has dominion;
~~All the year* I will dwell where His will is sovereign.

A man of worldly names and knowledge may settle on a hill with barred door,
~~and many men of earthly might and power may secure themselves from the stranger and the poor;

But as for me, I will build my household at the foot of His mountain splendor;
~~I will lodge on the lowlands by the peak of His grandeur.

Beside the shores of His light and loftiness, I will stay;
~~Within His ocean breeze, where scriptures speak, I will remain;
~~I will abide in the clear and cloudy air of questions and answers to prayer.

My shelter will be the lands of His mercy and glory;
~~my refuge will be the place of His perfection.

I will dwell in a house where the Lord may enter in honor,
~~a house so beautiful its dust is gold.

*The virtues in this psalm name the Baha’i calendar months.