1. God does as He wills in His creation, so bear
The sweet and bitter in your life patiently.

2. What is ordained cannot be resisted;
Fate cannot be warded off by scheming.

3. Put aside any grief that hurts, any sadness,
And entrust your affairs whether joyful or grieving.

4. If a calamity has struck that also struck
The finest of the finest leaders in desert and town—

5. I mean the Bahā’īlites who extended
Their rule over a quarter of the world, east and west—

6. With the death that grieved us all, that death
Until tears streamed like pearls from every eye,

7. That sword which, when drawn, the heads
Of the heads of armies bowed down before it,

8. Time does not last; its hand sheathed the sword
That gave life with the rain. It knew the world

9. And was righteous. Though problems whip up storms
Over the age, it was a sea.

10. Ink of issues, predecessor of examples
In the gate of virtues in every piece of news,

11. Patience is the noblest resort for one visited
By harm, when the days claw at him.

12. If hordes who befriend the point
Of spears and slash of sharp swords guarded him,

13. With a host as dark as the night, its stars
White, descending on the enemy like fate—