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TABLET OF THE HOLY MARINER
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“Study the Tablet of the Holy Mariner that ye may
know the truth, and consider that the Blessed Beauty
hath fully foretold future events. Let them who perceive,
take warning!”—‘Abdu’l-Bahá
“He is the Gracious, the Well-Beloved! O Holy Mariner!…”
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He is the Gracious, the Well-Beloved!
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Bid thine ark of eternity appear before the Celestial
Concourse,
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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Launch it upon the ancient sea, in His Name, the
Most Wondrous,
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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And let the angelic spirits enter, in the Name of
God, the Most High.
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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Unmoor it, then, that it may sail upon the ocean
of glory,
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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Haply the dwellers therein may attain the retreats
of nearness in the everlasting realm.
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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Having reached the sacred strand, the shore of the
crimson seas,
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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Bid them issue forth and attain this ethereal invisible
station,
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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A station wherein the Lord hath in the Flame of
His Beauty appeared within the deathless tree;
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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Wherein the embodiments of His Cause cleansed
themselves of self and passion;
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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Around which the Glory of Moses doth circle
with the everlasting hosts;
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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Wherein the Hand of God was drawn forth from
His bosom of Grandeur;
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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Wherein the ark of the Cause remaineth motionless
even though to its dwellers be declared all
divine attributes.
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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O Mariner! Teach them that are within the ark
that which we have taught thee behind the mystic
veil,
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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Perchance they may not tarry in the sacred snow-white
spot,
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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But may soar upon the wings of the spirit unto
that station which the Lord hath exalted above all
mention in the worlds below,
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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May wing through space even as the favored
birds in the realm of eternal reunion;
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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May know the mysteries hidden in the Seas of
light.
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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They passed the grades of worldly limitations
and reached that of the divine unity, the center of
heavenly guidance.
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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They have desired to ascend unto that state which
the Lord hath ordained to be above their stations.
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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Whereupon the burning meteor cast them out
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from them that abide in the Kingdom of His Presence,
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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And they heard the Voice of Grandeur raised
from behind the unseen pavilion upon the Height
of Glory:
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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“O guardian angels! Return them to their abode
in the world below,
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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“Inasmuch as they have purposed to rise to that
sphere which the wings of the celestial dove have
never attained;
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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“Whereupon the ship of fancy standeth still which
the minds of them that comprehend cannot
grasp.”
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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Whereupon the maid of heaven looked out from
her exalted chamber,
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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And with her brow signed to the Celestial Concourse,
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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Flooding with the light of her countenance the
heaven and the earth,
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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And as the radiance of her beauty shone upon the
people of dust,
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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All beings were shaken in their mortal graves.
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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She then raised the call which no ear through all
eternity hath ever heard,
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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And thus proclaimed: “By the Lord! He whose
heart hath not the fragrance of the love of the exalted
and glorious Arabian Youth,
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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“Can in no wise ascend unto the glory of the
highest heaven.”
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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Thereupon she summoned unto herself one maiden
from her handmaidens,
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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And commanded her: “Descend into space from
the mansions of eternity,
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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“And turn thou unto that which they have concealed
in the inmost of their hearts.
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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“Shouldst thou inhale the perfume of the robe
from the Youth that hath been hidden within the
tabernacle of light by reason of that which the
hands of the wicked have wrought,
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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“Raise a cry within thyself, that all the inmates of
the chambers of Paradise, that are the embodiments
of the eternal wealth, may understand and
hearken;
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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“That they may all come down from their everlasting
chambers and tremble,
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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“And kiss their hands and feet for having soared
to the heights of faithfulness;
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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“Perchance they may find from their robes the
fragrance of the Beloved One.”
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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Thereupon the countenance of the favored damsel
beamed above the celestial chambers even as the
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light that shineth from the face of the Youth above
His mortal temple;
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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She then descended with such an adorning as to
illumine the heavens and all that is therein.
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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She bestirred herself and perfumed all things in
the lands of holiness and grandeur.
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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When she reached that place she rose to her full
height in the midmost heart of creation,
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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And sought to inhale their fragrance at a time that
knoweth neither beginning nor end.
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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She found not in them that which she did desire,
and this, verily, is but one of His wondrous tales.
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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She then cried aloud, wailed and repaired to her
own station within her most lofty mansion,
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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And then gave utterance to one mystic word,
whispered privily by her honeyed tongue,
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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And raised the call amidst the Celestial Concourse
and the immortal maids of heaven:
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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“By the Lord! I found not from these idle claimants
the breeze of Faithfulness!
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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“By the Lord! The Youth hath remained lone and
forlorn in the land of exile in the hands of the ungodly.”
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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She then uttered within herself such a cry that the
Celestial Concourse did shriek and tremble,
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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And she fell upon the dust and gave up the spirit.
It seemeth she was called and hearkened unto
Him that summoned her unto the Realm on
High.
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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Glorified be He that created her out of the essence
of love in the midmost heart of His exalted paradise!
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Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
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Thereupon the maids of heaven hastened forth
from their chambers, upon whose countenances
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the eye of no dweller in the highest paradise had
ever gazed.
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Glorified be our Lord, the Most High!
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They all gathered around her, and lo! they found
her body fallen upon the dust;
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Glorified be our Lord, the Most High!
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And as they beheld her state and comprehended a
word of the tale told by the Youth, they bared
their heads, rent their garments asunder, beat
upon their faces, forgot their joy, shed tears and
smote with their hands upon their cheeks, and
this is verily one of the mysterious grievous
afflictions—
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Glorified be our Lord, the Most High!
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