fy
to Thy sovereignty and Thine omnipotence, and proclaim mine own poverty
and my wretchedness when face to face with the revelations of Thy wealth.
Look, then, O my God, upon this sinner whose gaze hath, at all times, been
fixed upon the source of Thy forgiveness, and whose eyes have been bent
upon the horizon of Thy grace and Thy gifts.

Ever since the day Thou didst create me at Thy bidding, O my God, and
didst arouse me through the gentle winds of Thy tender mercies, I have
refused to turn to any one except Thee, and have, through the power of Thy
sovereignty and Thy might, arisen to face Thine enemies, and have summoned
all mankind unto the shores of the ocean of Thy oneness and the heaven of
Thine all-glorious unity. I have sought, all my days, not to guard myself
from the mischief of the rebellious among Thy creatures, but rather to
exalt Thy name amidst Thy people. I have, thereby, suffered what none of
Thy creatures hath suffered.

How many the days, O my God, which I have spent in utter loneliness with
the transgressors amongst Thy servants, and how many the nights, O my
Best-Beloved, during which I lay a captive in the hands of the wayward
amidst Thy creatures! In the midst of my troubles and tribulations I have
continued to celebrate Thy praise before all who are in Thy heaven and on
Thy earth, and have not ceased to extol Thy wondrous glory in the kingdoms
of Thy Revelation and of Thy creation, though all that I have been capable
of showing forth hath fallen short of the greatness and the majesty of Thy
oneness, and is unworthy of Thine exaltation and of Thine omnipotence.

I swear by Thy glory, O Thou Who art the one alone Beloved! I find myself
to be only nothing before the habitation of Thy great glory. Every time I
attempt to extol any one of Thy virtues, my heart restraineth me, for
naught but Thee is able to soar into the atmosphere of the kingdom of Thy
nearness, or reach up to the heaven of Thy presence.

Thy might beareth me witness! I am well aware that were I to bow myself
before a handful of dust, from now until the end that hath no end, in
acknowledgment of its relationship to Thy name, the Fashioner, I would
still find myself far removed from that dust, and incapable of approaching
it, and would discover that such an adoration can in no wise befit it, nor
transcend the limitations to which I myself have been subjected. And were
I to arise to serve one of Thy servants, and to wait at his door