A Baha’i Prayer and Thai Dance

In honour of the centenary of the Passing of Abdu’l-Baha, the Baha’is of Thailand have created this video which features the words of Abdu’l-Baha chanted in a traditional form of Thai poetry called Sepha. The chant is accompanied by a Thai cultural dance, a high form of art used as a medium in worshiping and honouring the sacred.

Here is the English translation of the prayer of Abdu’l-Baha that is chanted:

O Lord so rich in bounty, so replete with grace,

Whose knowledge doth mine inmost heart and soul embrace!

At morn, the solace of my soul is none but Thee;

The knower of my loss and woe is none but Thee.

The heart that for a moment hath Thy mention known

Will seek no friend save longing pain for Thee alone.

Withered be the heart that sigheth not for Thee,

And better blind the eye that crieth not for Thee!

In all mine hours of deepest gloom, O Lord of might,

My heart hath Thy remembrance for a shining light.

Do, through Thy favour, breathe Thy spirit into me,

That what hath never been may thus forever be.

Consider not our merit and our worth,

O Lord of bounty, but the grace Thou pourest forth.

Upon these broken-winged birds whose flight is slow

Out of Thy tender mercy newfound wings bestow.

Find more Baha’i-inspired video content in Thai on the official YouTube channel for the Baha’is of Thailand.

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Sonjel Vreeland

In her innermost heart, Sonjel is a stay-at-home parent and a bookworm with a maxed out library card but professionally she is a museologist with a background in English Literature. She currently lives on Prince Edward Island, an isle in the shape of a smile on the eastern Canadian coast. Sonjel is a writer who loves to listen to jazz when she's driving at night.