eareth me witness! I sorrow not for the vexations
I endure for love of Thee, nor feel perturbed by the calamities that
overtake me in Thy path. My grief is rather because Thou delayest to
fulfill what Thou hast determined in the Tablets of Thy Revelation, and
ordained in the books of Thy decree and judgment.

My blood, at all times, addresseth me saying: "O Thou Who art the Image of
the Most Merciful! How long will it be ere Thou riddest me of the
captivity of this world, and deliverest me from the bondage of this life?
Didst Thou not promise me that Thou shalt dye the earth with me, and
sprinkle me on the faces of the inmates of Thy Paradise?" To this I make
reply: "Be thou patient and quiet thyself. The things thou desirest can
last but an hour. As to me, however, I quaff continually in the path of
God the cup of His decree, and wish not that the ruling of His will should
cease to operate, or that the woes I suffer for the sake of my Lord, the
Most Exalted, the All-Glorious, should be ended. Seek thou my wish and
forsake thine own. Thy bondage is not for my protection, but to enable me
to sustain successive tribulations, and to prepare me for the trials that
must needs repeatedly assail me. Perish that lover who discerneth between
the pleasant and the poisonous in his love for his beloved! Be thou
satisfied with what God hath destined for thee. He, verily, ruleth over
thee as He willeth and pleaseth. No God is there but Him, the
Inaccessible, the Most High."

IX: "MAGNIFIED BE THY NAME, O LORD MY GOD! I KNOW..."

Magnified be Thy name, O Lord my God! I know not what the water is with
which Thou hast created me, or what the fire Thou hast kindled within me,
or the clay wherewith Thou hast kneaded me. The restlessness of every sea
hath been stilled, but not the restlessness of this Ocean which moveth at
the bidding of the winds of Thy will. The flame of every fire hath been
extinguished except the Flame which the hands of Thine omnipotence have
kindled, and whose radiance Thou hast, by the power of Thy name, shed
abroad before all that are in Thy heaven and all that are on Thy earth. As
the tribulations deepen, it waxeth hotter and hotter.

Behold, then, O my God, how Thy Light hath been compassed with the
onrushing winds of Thy decree, how the tempests that blow and beat upon it
from every side have added to its brightness and increased its splendor.
For all this let Thee be praised.

I implore Thee, by T