Upon him be abundant blessings; upon him be tender mercies. May he win a great victory, and a manifest grace in the Kingdom of God. DARVÍSH ṢIDQ-‘ALÍ Áqá Ṣidq-‘Alí was yet one more of those who left their native land, journeyed to Bahá’u’lláh and were put in the Prison. He was a dervish; a man who lived free and detached from friend and stranger alike. He belonged to the mystic element and was a man of letters. He spent some time wearing the dress of poverty, drinking the wine of the Rule and traveling the Path,(22) but unlike the other Súfís he did not devote his life to dusty ha_sh_í_sh_; on the contrary, he cleansed himself of their vain imaginings and only searched for God, spoke of God, and followed the path of God. He had a fine poetic gift and wrote odes to sing the praises of Him Whom the world has wronged and rejected. Among them is a poem written while he was a prisoner in the barracks at Akká, the chief couplet of which reads: A hundred hearts Thy curling locks ensnare, And it rains hearts when Thou dost toss Thy hair. That free and independent soul discovered, in Ba_gh_dád, a trace of the untraceable Beloved. He witnessed the dawning of the Daystar above the horizon of ‘Iráq, and received the bounty of that sunrise. He came under the spell of Bahá’u’lláh, and was enraptured by that tender Companion. Although he was a quiet man, one who held his peace, his very limbs were like so many tongues crying out their message. When the retinue of Bahá’u’lláh was about to leave Ba_gh_dád he implored permission to go along as a groom. All day, he walked beside the convoy, and when night came he would attend to the horses. He worked with all his heart. Only after midnight would he seek his bed and lie down to rest; the bed, however, was his mantle, and the pillow a sun-dried brick. As he journeyed, filled with yearning love, he would sing poems. He greatly pleased the friends. In him the name(23) bespoke the man: he was pure candor and truth; he was love itself; he was chaste of heart, and enamored of Bahá’u’lláh. In his high station, that of groom, he reigned like a king; indeed he gloried over the sovereigns of the earth. He was assiduous in attendance upon Bahá’u’lláh; in all things, upright and true. The convoy of the lovers went on; it reached Constantinople; it passed to Adrianople, and finally to the Akká prison. Ṣidq-‘Alí was present throughout, faithfully serving its Commander.