In the days of the Commission of Investigation, she was a staunch and
trusted supporter of the peerless Branch of Bahá’u’lláh, and a companion
to Him beyond compare. At the time of His absence in the western world,
she was His competent deputy, His representative and vicegerent, with none
to equal her. In a Tablet from the pen of the Centre of the Covenant,
addressed to His consort, are these words referring to His brilliant
sister: ‘To my honoured and distinguished sister do thou convey the
expression of my heartfelt, my intense longing. Day and night she liveth
in my remembrance. I dare make no mention of the feelings which separation
from her has aroused in my heart, for whatever I should attempt to express
in writing will assuredly be effaced by the tears which such sentiments
must bring to my eyes.’
After the ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to the realm of the All-Glorious, that
Light of the Concourse on High enfolded me, helpless as I was, in the
embrace of her love, and with incomparable pity and tenderness, persuaded,
guided, and urged me on to the requirements of servitude. The very
elements of this frail being were leavened with her love, refreshed by her
companionship, sustained by her eternal spirit. Never for a moment will
her kindnesses, her favours, pass from my memory, and as the months and
the years go by, the effects of them on this mourning heart will never be
diminished.
O Liege Lady of the people of Bahá!
Broken is our circle by thy going—
Broken our circle, broken too, our hearts.
That my tongue, my pen could thank thee were a hopeless task, nor can any
praise of mine befit thine excellence. Not even a droplet of all thine
endless love can I aspire to fathom, nor can I adequately praise and tell
of even the most trifling out of all the events of thy precious life. In
the courts of the Almighty, for this frail being thy sacred spirit
intercedeth, and in this darksome world, the sweet memory of thee is the
succourer and friend of this lowly one. Thy comely face is etched for ever
on the tablet of my grieving soul, those smiles that refreshed my life are
forever and safely imprinted in the innermost recesses of my stricken
heart. Let me not be forgotten by thee in the glorious precincts on high;
leave me not despairing, nor excluded from the never-ceasing
reinforcements that come from the living Lord; and in this world and the
Kingdom, help me to reach what thou knowest to be my dearest hope.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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