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.

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.

Psalm 41

How high, O Lord, Your Covenant above our universe:
~~What we stand under, how can we understand?

You forgive before us and place a planet at our feet:
~~And what have we to give?

If we offer our obedience, yet this mine of earthly wealth is Your creation:
~~When I bow my head, how great the riches within my reach!

Psalm 40 (a penitential psalm)

I am alone, no, even myself I cannot trust, and ever-faithful death is dead to answer;
~~Lord, I am abandoned where carrion scavengers move on to search for better.

Man imposing his own will loses his balance and becomes ill,
~~but the tiny centipede without fault steps its way along its sum of summer nights.

Generations of vain desires are like snares in a field,
~~yet pitiful tares and weeds thrown to the fire send forth abundant seed.

The noon sun in the valley is hot and the cave in the mountain is cool at night,
~~but Lord, only You can feel the lukewarm heart, indifferent to its godly nature:
~~create in me the one green hope that grows, however slowly, on a sinner’s stony slope.

Psalm 39

. . . . . . . . . . . . . (lilies of the field)

He who gives his earthly riches will receive heavenly wealth;
~~he who sacrifices his worldly goods, a treasury of virtue will be his everlasting gain:

the man who seeks to serve on earth will find a vein of riches in a higher kingdom;
~~the one who serves humankind, never-failing abundance will flow from his hand.