REVELATION CHAPTER 5 - 10

REVELATION 5

1 I saw in the right hand of him
Who sat on the throne bright and grim
A scroll writ inside and on back,
Sealed with seven seals not to lack.

A book, a book, Beloved, held in Your hand
About to be released upon the band
Of faithful and unfaithful of the earth,
A book of revelation of such worth
That none before’s predicted to have come
From Your hand on Your throne to Your kingdom
On earth. A book, a book, well sealed and taught
The secrets of the truth in what men wrought
As well as the divine secrets above
The universes made for human love.
Beloved, I take the book unsealed and tried,
Recited for the bitter rate of pride,
And tasted like new wine along the ride
Of late summer when vintage reaches glove.

2 Then I saw a strong angel stand
Proclaiming with a loud voice grand,
“Who is worthy to open out
The scroll and loose its seals about?”
3 And no one in heaven or on earth
Or under the earth was found worth
To open the scroll, or to look
At it. 4 So I wept much and shook,
Because no one was found of worth
To open and read on the earth
The scroll, or to look at it there.

There’s cause to weep indeed that none is found
In heaven and earth to equal Ahmed’s bound,
And who refuses to believe his word
Is left bereft of even that word stirred
In Torah, Psalms and Gospels. With eyes blurred
I look upon despair and see its while
Rage in newspapers and in tv smile,
Eternally confronting the debate
On how to find justice in such blind fate.
The book is sealed and none can open it
But the one You have tried and have found fit.
I weep that every fit man’s shunted round
And left out of the place where he’d be found
Alone worthy to raise the precious sound.

5 But one of the elders and fair
Said to me, “Do not weep. Indeed,
The Lion of Judah’s tribe’s seed,
The Root of David, has prevailed
To open the scroll and unveiled
To loose its seven seals regaled.”
6 And I looked, and indeed, between
The throne and the four beasts was seen,
And in the midst of elders, stood
A Lamb as though slain for the good,
With seven horns and seven eyes,
Which are seven spirits of God and wise
Sent out and into all the earth.
7 He came and took the scroll of worth
Out of the right hand of him who
Sat on the throne for worship’s due.

The lamb here is arnion quite a bit
Different from St. John’s amnos which with wit
Is proclaimed son of God and loved as well.
This lamb arises after quite a spell,
After the called out groups that followed Christ
Have sunk into apostasy surpliced.
This lamb is one come in the ordered time
After the seven “churches” reached their prime.
Another messenger sent from Your hand
To break the seals that hold back and in band
Hide the reforms needed to bring the folk
Back into Your fold from Satanic yoke
Denying on one hand Your unity
And on the other straying from Your fee.

8 Now when he had taken the scroll,
The four living creatures in roll
And the twenty-four elders fell
Down before the Lamb, each with well-
Tuned harp, and golden bowls filled up
With incense, which are the prayers’ cup
Of the saints. 9 And they sang a new
Song, saying “You are worthy to
Take the scroll, and to open its
Seals, for You were slain by half-wits,
And have redeemed them to our God
By your blood spilt upon the sod
Out of every tribe, tongue, and folk
And nation, 10 “And have in one stroke
Made them kings and priests to their God,
And they shall reign upon the earth.”

The lamb of the throne vision is obscure.
It’s certain what the book is, no book pure
Exists arising from that century
Except the holy Qur’an. But the free
Expected the lamb by the throne to be
Muhammad, till these words surprise the soul
That climbed the whirling stair to reach the goal
And found Judah’s lion to be none other
Than Ali cousin, Ahmed’s foster brother.
Ahmed was poisoned by the horrid flight
Of one who jealously saw him in sight,
But Ali was the one who gave his blood
Spilled on the masjid’s floor and in a flood
Of martyrdom that made us king and priest
Who find in him the Qur’an’s seals released.

11 Then I looked, and I heard the birth
Of many angels’ voices round
The throne, the living creatures’ sound,
And the elders, their numbers found
To rise to ten thousand times ten
Thousand, thousands of thousands then,
12 Saying with a loud voice, “The Lamb
Who was slain is an oriflamme,
Is worthy to receive the power
Riches and wisdom in the hour,
And strength and honour, glory too
And blessing from many and few!”
13 And every creature which is in
Heaven and on the earth without sin
And under the earth and such as
Are in the sea, and all it has,
I heard them saying “Blessing and
Honour, glory, and power stand
To him who sits upon the throne,
And to the Lamb, forever shown!”
14 Then the four living creatures said
“Amen!” And the twenty-four led
Elders fell down and worshipped him
Who lives forever and not dim.

See here, Beloved, You have revealed to men
That even those whose glory shines again,
You give their blood to fertilize the grace
Set on human hearts blinded in this place,
Even the greatest of men are at last
Not worshipped, but you only at the cast.
Beloved, I honour Christ the witness of
The victory over death and grave’s glove,
I honour the one by whose mouth revealed
The holy Qur’an, and him who unsealed
The meaning of Your revelation’s yield.
Jesus, Muhammad and Ali are steeled,
But You alone, Beloved, I find in field
Worthy of worship, and enthroned above.

REVELATION 6

[632-634 C.E.]
1 I saw when the Lamb opened one
Of the seals, and then I heard one
Of the four living creatures saying
With a voice like thunder obeying,
“Come and see.” 2 And I looked, indeed,
A white horse. One sat on the steed
With bow in hand, and given crown,
He went out to conquer the town.

The start of the Islamic conquest takes
The on-looker beyond what Ahmed makes
To see Abu Bakr send general
To the attack. Descent ephemeral
Takes Bahrain, Oman, Yemen to return
With Halid on to Syria and yet
Beyond to Persia with its drawn lines met.
A bow and crown are taken from the lamb
And given to the rider on the scam,
The fastest of apostasies that woke
When any prophet died beneath the yoke.
The caliphate was won with horse and rider,
The father of Aisha stands beside her.

[634-644 C.E.]
3 When he opened the second seal,
I heard the second living peal,
Saying, “Come, see.” 4 Another horse,
Fiery red, went out on the course.
And it was granted to the one
Who sat on it to stop the fun
And take peace from the earth, and that
They’d kill one another and spat,
And there was given him a great sword.

The same chief of the army that sat down
With Abu Bakr to divide the crown
Sits with Omar for decade of renown
To take Damascus first for glamour town,
And then defeat the Persians at Yarmak
Before Kadesia broken in the sack.
When Ktesefon surrendered, Kufa placed
Itself beneath the Muslim rule effaced:
Jaffa, Jerusalem, Aleppo and
Antioch within four years of the stand,
On to Egypt, and Isfahan and land
Of Farsistan and Kushistan until
The empire waited glowing on the hill.

[644-656 C.E]
5 When he opened the third seal’s cord,
I heard the third living beast say,
“Come and see.” So I looked that way,
And indeed, a black horse, and he
Who sat on it had wonderfully
A pair of scales held in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice of command
Among the four living beasts saying,
“A quart of wheat for dinar paying,
And three quarts of barley for such,
And do not harm the oil at all
Nor the grape juice upon the wall.”

Uthman gave the command to save the toil
Of everything that grew up in the soil
And not to destroy the earth when they rode
Out to the conquest of heathen abode.
The era of the black horse came to lie
Against all Persia and the northern sky
Of Africa until they too were torn
From heathendom and cast beneath the thorn
Of those who usurped from the prophet all
As soon as his cold body hit the stall.
Beloved, I see the whirlwind conquest boil
Across the evening sky in chain and coil
Until the fateful day when Uthman caught
Assassin’s achievement of evil plot.

[656-661]
7 When he opened the fourth seal, I
Heard the voice of the fourth reply,
The living creature saying, “Come
And see.” 8 So I looked at the chum,
Behold, a pale horse. And the name
Of him who sat on it was Death,
And Hades followed his hot breath.
And power was given to them for fame
Over a fourth of the earth’s claim,
To kill with sword, hunger, and death,
And by the beasts of Ashtoreth.

The era of Ali when seen from view
Of the four caliphs is a dismal cue.
What waste of faith and teaching to set out
Against the Lord’s anointed with a doubt
To craze the land with civil war that burns
The innocent along with that which earns
The condemnation of both man and beast!
What waste of years in war that never ceased!
Beloved, the pale horse that Ali must ride
Into the battle for the righteous side
Still glows upon the earth with dismal light
Since the great teaching’s rarely kept in sight.
The white she-camel herself balks and brays
In horror of her mistress and her ways.

9 When he opened the fifth seal, I
Saw under the altar thereby
The selves of those who had been slain
For the word of God and His reign
And for the testimony which
They held in martyrdom’s bewitch.
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying
“How long, O Lord, holy and true,
Until You judge them for our slaying
And avenge our blood on those due
Who live on the earth?” 11 Then a white
Robe was given to each in sight,
And it was said to them that they
Should rest a little longer day,
Until both the number of their
Fellow servants should come to share
With their brothers, who would be killed
As they were, till it was fulfilled.

In so few lines the great event that sacked
The world with darkness to awaken fact
Of righteousness is set out to be seen.
Karbala is the subject of the lean
Verses that tersely meet the clamour for
Justice that never yet came to the door.
Who indeed shall avenge Karbala’s blood?
The roses rise up like a drop in bud,
Burst open, sing a while and then are strewn
About the dry earth of Karbala soon
To fade forever. Still justice awaits
The coming of another, opened gates
Towards a city where the throne is set
And all the prophets and divine guides met.

12 I looked, he opened the sixth seal,
And indeed, there was woe for weal,
A great earthquake, the sun became
Black as sackcloth of hair by name,
And the moon became like to blood.
13 And the stars of heaven fell in flood
To earth, as fig tree drops its late
Figs when it’s shaken by a great
And mighty wind. 14 Then the sky rolled
Back like a scroll turned in the cold,
And every mountain, every isle
Was moved out of its place awhile.
15 And the kings of the earth, great men,
The rich, the rulers, and again,
The mighty, every slave and free,
Hid themselves in the caverns’ lea,
And in the mountain rocks to hide,
16 And said to the mountains and rocks,
“Fall on us and do not abide,
But hide us from the face that shocks
Of Him who sits upon the throne
And from the wrath of the Lamb shown!
17 “For the great day of His wrath’s come,
And who can stand millennium?”

The sixth seal opens up the skies above
To reveal what reaction comes of love
To see the martyrdom upon the plain
Of Karbala in destruction insane.
The very stars are shaken with the wrath,
The sun turned from its ever naked path,
The moon turned hot and cold before the swathe
Of slaughter at Karbala without gain.
I see the lowering sky, I see the rain,
I hear the cry despairing of the throats
That drank a day in Karbala with gloats
Only to rue their part until the day
They call the mountains to fall and to sway
And cover them from evil of their way.

REVELATION 7

1 After these things it was I saw
Four angels standing at the draw
Of the four corners of the earth,
Holding the four winds of the earth,
That the wind should not blow on earth,
On the sea, or on any tree.

The effects of Karbala’s slaughter wore
Upon the heavens a sight like awl to bore,
But still the aftermath rained on the earth
And brought its winds to heel before the dearth
Of righteousness until the time could show
What men who see and do beneath the glow
Of Karbala before the winds could blow.
Beloved, I turn about the earth again
In whirling to find out the names of men
As well as those who call upon Your name.
I see the four winds held as though in shame.
Beloved, send angels still upon the ground
To keep the strife from quenching faith in sound
Of cantillation of Scriptures around.

2 I saw another angel fly
Ascending from the eastern sky,
Having the seal of Living God.
And he cried with a sounding prod
To the four angels to whom it
Was granted to harm earth befit
And the sea, 3 saying “Do not harm
The earth, the sea, or cause alarm
To the trees till we’ve sealed the lot
Of our God’s servants on a spot
On their foreheads.” 4 And then I heard
How many on whom were conferred
The seal: one hundred forty-four
Thousand of all the tribes ashore
Of Israel’s children got the score.

When I was young there still were people who
Spent sleepless nights in anguish over whether
They numbered in the blessed throng and few.
The present generation altogether
Could hardly care if they all went to hell.
It’s not for me to criticise or swear,
Since I pretend to neither clientele.
The worried ones need not have wasted prayer,
Since all the sealed come from the chosen tribes.
But if there is salvation of the soul,
Instead of thinking how so many scribes
And Pharisees will fit so small a hole,
I ask where in the whole world’s population
We’re like to find so large a righteous nation.

5 Of Judah’s tribe twelve thousand sealed,
Of Reuben’s tribe twelve thousand sealed,
Of tribe of Gad twelve thousand sealed,
6 Of Asher’s tribe twelve thousand sealed,
Of Naphtali twelve thousand sealed,
Of Manasseh twelve thousand sealed,
7 Of Simeon twelve thousand sealed,
Of Levi’s tribe twelve thousand sealed,
Of Issachar twelve thousand sealed,
8 Of Zebulun twelve thousand sealed,
Of Joseph's tribe twelve thousand sealed,
Of Benjamin twelve thousand sealed.

Ha! Now we count the tribes with Joseph as
One tribe instead of two, just as twelve has!
And yet the prophecy of Jacob’s felt
Greatly enough to give a rose and welt,
Rose to Ephraim for being younger son,
And welt to Mannaseh for what he’s done
In being born the first. Ah well, just wait
A verse or two and we shall not be late
To see Joseph divided once again
To have a double portion among men.
Count me as one or two, Beloved, but be
My only self to hide behind the tree
Of my descent. Count twelve souls in my self
And leave them all to rest upon the shelf.

9 After these things I looked, indeed,
A great crowd which none could succeed
In counting of all nations, tribes,
Peoples, and tongues, as one describes,
Standing before throne and before
The Lamb, in the white robes they bore,
And with palm branches in their hands,
10 And crying out their loud commands,
“Salvation belongs to our God
Who sits on throne above the sod,
And to the Lamb!” 11 The angels stood
All around the throne as they could
And elders and four living creatures
All fell upon their faces’ features
Before the throne and worshipped God,
12 Saying “Amen! Blessing and glory
Wisdom, thanksgiving auditory
And honour, power, and might be to
Our God forever. Amen due.”

Not only one hundred and forty-four
Thousand of Israelites came in the door
Of Your salvation at the call of blood
Shed by the Euphrates as though in flood.
A mighty crowd of people joined the race
To worship You alone, before Your face
To stand in the light shed by sacrifice
Of self and family before the vice
Of Yezid and the armies of the cool
Who follow anyone who’s got a tool.
Beloved, let me be of that crowd of men
Who stood up once entranced to find again
That You had sent Your divine guide to find
A way to human hearts, even the blind.

13 And one of the elders answered,
Said to me, “Who are these preferred
In white robes, and whence did they come?”
14 And I said to him, “Sir, the sum
You know.” So he said to me, “These
Are the ones who came out of ease
Into great tribulation, and
Washed their robes and made them in hand
White. 15 “Therefore they are there before
God’s throne, and serve Him by day’s score
And night in His palace’s store.
And He who sits on throne will live
Among them 16 “and will never give
Them hunger any more nor thirst,
The sun shall not strike them, nor burst
Upon them any heat. 17 “The Lamb
Who’s in the midst of the throne’s jamb
Will shepherd them and lead them to
Living fountains of waters new.
And God will wipe away each tear
From every eye and all their fear.”

Ali meets every martyr on the path
To paradise a fleeing from the wrath
Of persecutor to hold out a cup
Of green and alabaster, hold it up
Filled to the brim with nectar and the dew
Of Kauthar, enough for many and few.
Beloved, let me be of the crowd that finds
The way to that place where no hunger binds,
And where the sun shall never strike again
The thirsty children and the thirsty men.
Let me be of those who serve at Your throne
Without the memory of tiring bone
Before the battle on Karbala shown.
Beloved, wipe Karbala’s tears away then.

O seventh son and bright eternal day,
Rest and reward that shines out from the throne,
Belovèd, feed me, lead me to my own,
Where it may be, however long the way.
Dumb lamb and day and hour of silent grief,
Let my tears now be shed in penitence,
A Sabbath night-work done in my defence,
Beside the thorn and flower, the fruit, and leaf.
In judgement, when it comes, wipe out my tear
With morning light, clear Sabbath Day and bright,
Beyond the storm and into the full fight
That overcomes eternally this fear.
And I shall stand in middle places bare
And look on all around me everywhere.

REVELATION 8

1 When he opened the seventh seal,
There was silence in heaven, no peal
For half an hour or so. 2 And I
Saw seven angels who stand by
God, and to them were given horns
Seven in number for their bournes.

The effects of Karbala’s sacrifice
Are seen not only in the skies a trice,
Nor among the faithful of men on earth.
The effects go beyond the heat and dearth
To touch those too who fail to follow You,
Beloved, in what they know, believe, and do.
The seven trumpets lifted in the sight
Of humankind leading to Husayn’s plight
And following his death before the row
Will sound and resound in the world somehow
Until the traitor and usurping brow
Is buried in the depth of judgement’s night.
Beloved, hasten the day when all are brought
To judgement and the punishments are sought.

3 Another angel, one who had
A golden censer unforbade,
Came and stood at the altar. He
Was given much incense for free,
That he should offer it with prayers
Of all the saints upon the stairs
Of golden altar there before
The throne at heaven’s open door.
4 The smoke of incense, with the prayers
Of saints, ascended unawares
Before God from the angel’s hand.
5 Then the angel took in his hand
The censer, and filled it with fire
From the altar, and threw with ire
Upon the earth. And there were sounds
Thunderings and lightnings making rounds,
And an earthquake. 6 And the angels
Seven in number who blew spells
On seven trumpets stood to sound
With trumpet blasts on earth around.

The sound of the angelic trumpets brings
The faithful to their prayers for all the things
The din of horns cause on the earth where they
Still live to fast, give alms, and hope and pray.
The timing of the trumpets comes about
The massacre at Karbala in rout,
It gives the prologue to the crime and then
Delineates the perpetrating men
And those who follow in the wake to make
Umayyad empire strong for evil’s sake.
Beloved, I see the history written out
In the prophetic word, and hear the shout
Of rise and fall before the wicked clout
Of caliphs that come in Karbala’s wake.

[661-680 C.E]
7 The first angel sounded: and hail
And fire followed, mingled with grail
Of blood, and they were thrown to earth.
And a third of the trees in worth
Were burned up, and all green grass too
Was burned up. [680-683 C.E.] 8 Then upon his cue
The second angel sounded: and
Like a great mountain burning brand
Was thrown into the sea, a third
Of the sea became blood conferred.
9 And a third of the living creatures
In the sea died and all their features,
And a third of ships were destroyed.

Some say the burning brand was the Qur'an
Sent out to light the world by divine plan.
It was indeed sent out upon the sea
To fill the world with prose and poetry.
But when the sweet words had been spoken free
Against Monophysitic heresy,
They returned from the noble air to fall
Into the clutch and Ummayidic pall.
Like Bible, the Qur'an became the sword
That once softened with hope but turned and gored
In hands of tyrants. O my loving Lord,
Take back Your books and Your commands from me
And show me once Your kingdom as restored,
Your throne high above earth, and You adored.

The first angel blew warning trumpet and
Mu’awiyah came out to rule the land
And slaughter a third of the earth in band.
He poisoned holy Hasan grandson of
The prophet and the one he held in love,
Chewed for the babe in arms the full date meat
And gave it to the child to taste a treat.
That child Mu’awiyah instead of date
From the lips of the prophet, in his hate
Fed poison, may a curse lie on his head.
Beloved, I weep to think that hand that spread
With tiny fingers the prophet’s beard, lay
Still in death from the poison’s wicked way,
Despite the blood that flowed in him as late.

The second angel blew a warning blast
That water should turn to blood from the mast.
Yezid stepped in to rule instead
Of his evil father upon the spread
Of earth, and set destruction of the true
And faithful to relieve the threat that due
Justice might fall upon him. Let him drink
Blood since he kept the water from the brink
Of Hussein and his followers and slew
The best of humankind with devilish crew.
Indeed he is a man of blood, the horn
That shows a sea of blood of the forlorn
Exaggerates in nothing. Beloved, lay
A curse upon his head then and today.

[684 C.E.]
10 Then the third angel trump employed:
And a great star fell from the sky,
Burning like a torch falling by
A third of the rivers and springs
Of water. 11 And the star’s name rings
Out Wormwood. A third of the waters
Became wormwood and wormwood’s daughters,
And many men died from the waters,
Because it was made bitter there
And poisoned both their drink and air.

What guiding, shining star did You raise high,
Beloved, to shine above and in the sky?
Muhammad, the Qur'an, the Ahlilbayt?
See how brightly in heaven is their rate,
And how when they appear upon the earth
Men turn all hope and glory into dearth.
The water of Islam is bitter now,
The people of Islam are still somehow
In poisoned reaches, despite the great fact
That teaching of Islam is closer act
To Your word than the Christian comes to sell.
Beloved, the wormwood worship that befell
The world after Muhammad's still a spell.

The third angel blows warning blast to show
The second Mu’awiyah on the go,
A drunkard and a profligate was he,
And yet retained the name and fame and fee
Of caliph and commander of the free
And faithful, such was his great blasphemy.
Give him to drink the wormwood with his wine,
Beloved, when he comes in the tent to dine,
And let its poison corrupt every vein
And cell from his toe to his pickled brain.
Beloved, cast every curse on caliph set
Before the faithful to persecute yet.
One Mu’awiyah should have been enough
To beat and slaughter and to give the cuff.

[684-685 C.E.]
12 Then the fourth angel winded trump:
And a third of the sun with bump
Was struck, a third of the moon, and
A third of the stars in command,
So that a third of them were dark.
A third of the day too was stark
Within the veil of the night’s park.

Though Marwan lived to reign another year
Beyond the months of Mu’awiyah’s fear,
He was no better than his predecessor
Who drank his liquor before the confessor.
His reign was reign of darkness and the thrall
Of hopelessness to everyone and all
Except the faith sparked by Hussein rose up
To bring a fragrance to the bitter cup.
Beloved, I too live in a dark fed world
Where violence in every flag’s unfurled.
I turn to you with hope the divine seat
Will bring into judgement the strong and meet.
Then Marwan’s kind will be turned back again
From leading from faith into sin all men.

13 And I looked, and I heard once more
An angel fly from heaven’s door,
Saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe,
Woe to the dwellers on earth’s row,
Because of the remaining blasts
Of trumpets of three angels’ casts
Who are about to sound contrasts!”

REVELATION 9

[685-705 C.E.]
1 Then the fifth angel sounded: and
I saw a star from heaven’s hand
Fall to the earth. To him they gave
The key to the bottomless grave.
2 And he opened the great abyss,
And smoke arose up out of this
Pit like the smoke of a great furnace.
So sun and air were dark to churn us
Because of the smoke of the pit.

The final prophet rose to heaven's height,
And took the lion's ring in forty's sight,
Then fell down to the earth as though in fright
To bring Your mighty word and heaven's light.
He opened the fair desert gates to fill
The earth with truth and hope and fervour still,
And sent his messengers to every land
To bring the Qur'an's message to each hand.
But what is this! The quick apostasy
As soon as prophet died, the false decree
Went forth to make Abu Bakr to be
The leader of the faithful Muslim folk.
And so the burning fire turned choking smoke
From Axum to Jerusalem in cloak.

When Abdul-Malik rose in the minbar
To abuse Ali, though Your greatest star,
He opened the abyss and let the smoke
Out to choke every Sunnite wench and bloke.
Beloved, since that day cinders come to fall
Around the world creating such a pall
That few can find their way along the track
Of the Imamate to guide people back
To the faith once revealed to Abraham,
To Adam, Noah, Moses’ anagram,
To David, Jesus and Muhammad when
The pinnacle of faith came down to men
And Ali opened up the mysteries
Of the last book of revelation’s fees.

3 Then out of the smoke locusts fit
Came upon the earth. And to them
Was given power in stratagem,
As scorpions on earth have power.
4 They were commanded at that hour
Not to harm the grass of the earth,
Or any green thing, tree of worth,
But only those men who do not
Have the seal of God on a spot
On their foreheads. 5 And they were not
Given authority to kill
Them, but to torment them at will
For five months. Their torment was like
The torment when the scorpions strike.

The conquests of Abdul-Malik were like
The torment of scorpions when they strike,
And month after month armies went their way
Like locusts on the fields of green and day.
You gave the power to men to fashion thus
Their destiny, and kings will always fuss
To run themselves to hell. Beloved, the green
Thing in the offing always leaves the scene
When locusts have relentlessly in cloud
Alighted on the sod in swarming crowd.
I look about me for the seal of God
Set on the forehead that has met the sod
In prayer, and know that You are still here to
Raise up in power and bring down to the dew.

6 In those days men will seek death and
Will not find it with fire-brand,
They will desire to die, and death
Will flee from them at every breath.
7 The shape of the locusts was like
Horses prepared for battle-strike.
On their heads were crowns of something
Like gold, and their faces looking
Like faces of men. 8 They had hair
Like women’s hair, and their teeth’s share
Was like the lions’. 9 And they had
Breastplates like iron breastplates bad,
And the sound of their wings was like
The sound of chariots and pike
With horses running into war.
10 They had tails like scorpions’ store,
And there were stings upon their tails.
Their power to hurt men overveils
Five months. 11 And they had as a king
Over them messenger coming
Up from the bottomless pit, whose
Name in Hebrew’s Abaddon’s crews,
But in Greek he’s called by the name
Apollyon which indeed’s the same.
12 One woe is past. Behold, still two
More woes are coming in their due.

The Arab hordes that came out to the fray
Of the Umayyad bid to rule the day
Indeed rode like the wind and set their hair
To blowing long behind them black and bare.
The lovely horses were a charming sight
And the brave riders churning in the light.
But they unfortunately joined the fight
Under Abaddon, the Destroyer’s night.
Beloved, I see the cloud of men stung still
To the quick hoping for death to fulfil
Desires of life, but one man found the door
Into the hereafter from poisoned store
Of Abdul-Malik, and his song on scene
Remained silent for Zeynul-Abiddin.

[705-715 C.E.]
13 Then the sixth angel winded horn
And I heard voice on the air borne
From four horns of the altar golden
Which is before God to embolden,
14 Saying to the sixth angel who
Had the trumpet, “Release the crew
Of four angels whose hands are tied
At Euphrates great riverside.”
15 So the four angels, who had been
Prepared for the hour and the scene,
The day and month and year, were set
To kill a third of mankind yet.

Restraining winds at last were set upon
The river of Euphrates, and the dawn
Of the Umayyad power turned into noon
When Walid the First came without a boon.
The full force of the hurricane of fate
From Abu Sofyan’s loins came down with hate
Upon the human fortress and estate,
The winds came loose upon that fateful date.
Beloved, Your hand controls the times of men
And gives to each the choice of right again
Or wrong, and each lifts heart and hand to do
According to the reward of the true
Or for the punishment chosen in bait.
Beloved, Your calendar is never late.

16 The number of the army of
The horsemen two hundred above
Millions, I heard their number spoken.
17 And thus I saw the horses’ token
In the vision: those who sat on
Them had breastplates upon them drawn
In fiery red, hyacinth blue,
And sulphur yellow shining too,
And the heads of the horses were
Like the heads of lions with fur,
And out of their mouths came fire, smoke,
And brimstone like enough to choke.

The very colour of the soldiers’ cloak
Stands here by Your prophetic word that spoke
Your Messiah to angel and to send
To John to write to all who would amend
Their ways and hear Your word that brings life to
Both martyrs and the faithful living crew.
Ummayad armies filled the river land
And spread through Middle East and to expand
Throughout the north of Africa and yet
Into Andalusia where was met
The highpoint of the European set.
Beloved, even the unfaithful that stand
Beneath the Qur’an’s banners lend a hand
To civilized attractions that they get.

18 By these three a third of mankind
Were killed: by fire and smoke in kind
And the brimstone which came out at
Their mouths. 19 For their power and strength sat
In their mouth and for their tails sakes,
For their tails indeed are like snakes,
With heads, and with them they do harm.
20 But the rest of the human farm,
Who were not killed by these plagues' bands,
Did not repent works of their hands,
That they should not worship demons,
And idols of gold, or their sons
Of silver, brass, stone, and wood, which
Can neither see nor hear a stitch
Nor yet walk. 21 They did not repent
Of their murders, did not relent
From their sorceries or their lewd
Fornications or thefts in feud.

The plague of the Ummayad’s brought about
The knowledge of Your revelation stout
In the Qur’an, and yet men did not rise
To repent of their evil in the eyes
Of God, but still in all sorts of disguise
Continue their idolatry to make
The last great faith a mockery at stake.
Beloved, make me one faithful to the lamb
And to the book unveiled before the scam
Of this world’s kingdoms. Let me the words take
Upon my tongue to cantillate and then
Obey each glowing syllable again.
No matter what the others do or try
Reprove me of idolatry thereby.

REVELATION 10

[702-765 C.E.]
1 I saw yet one more angel come
Down from the sky’s exordium,
And clad in cloud with rainbow on
His head and with a face like sun,
And feet like pillars of fire run.
2 He had a booklet spread in hand,
And set his right foot on the sea
And his left foot upon the land,
3 And cried with a loud voice, and see
As when a lion roars. When he
Cried out, seven thunders gave voice.

Muhammad Baqir is not mentioned here,
Nor is the one who poisoned him in fear.
Instead the word rushes on to the fame
Of Ja’fer As-Sadiq, whose blessed name
Is noted for the bringing of right law
In the voice of a lion and the claw
Of seven thunders kept in secret till
He should stand with foot upon both hill
And sea. Beloved, the rainbow at his head
Reflects the throne upon which You instead
Are seated rather than the kings that fell
When the Ummayads went down into hell.
Beloved, the thunders now are clear to tell
In what the Truthful one rang like a bell.

4 Now when the seven thunders’ choice
Of words was said, I thought to write,
But I heard a voice from heaven quite
Saying to me, “Seal up the things
Which the seven thunders’ voice sings,
And do not write them.” 5 Then the grand
Angel standing on sea and land
I saw raised up to heaven his hand
6 And swore by Him who lives to be
Forever and eternally,
Who created heaven and the things
That are in it, the earth and things
That are in it, the sea and things
That are in it, that there should be
No longer time, 7 but in the days
The seventh angel’s sounding sways,
When he’s about to sound, the sum
Of God’s secret would then be done,
As He declared to prophets true
Who were of old His servant crew.

The law is now perfected in the book,
The little book from Ja’fer’s glowing nook,
And time there is no longer, none to raise
A new law or a prophet in our days.
The secrets are revealed, all time has gone,
The revelation met both noon and dawn,
And now is only to hear what You bade
Both men and women to do on parade,
And now is only to follow the craft
Of Ja’fer who is the last one who’s laughed.
Beloved, I look above the sea and land,
I see the splendoured rainbow on the sand,
And take the little book to heart and mind
And learn the lessons of the pure and kind.

8 The voice which I heard from the sky
Spoke to me again and said nigh,
“Go, take the little book that’s by
The angel open, and who stands
Upon the sea and on the lands.”
9 So I went to the angel and
Said to him, “Give the book in hand.”
And he said to me, “Take and eat,
In stomach bitter, but as sweet
As honey in your mouth for treat.”
10 Then I took the little book out
Of the angel’s hand, looked about,
And ate it, and it was as sweet
As honey in my mouth for treat.
But when I’d eaten it, I found
My stomach bitter all around.
11 And he said to me, “You must still
Prophesy again to fulfil
To many peoples, nations, and
Tongues, and kings at the Lord’s command.”

Though time of revelation’s at an end,
It does not mean there’s nothing left to spend
In suffering. There is still to follow on
The course of the true law from dawn to dawn,
There’s still to cantillate the honeyed words
And find the application among birds
Is bitter in the belly when the weight
Of the world goes against Your command’s freight.
There’s still to stand before nations and kings,
The Abbassids have not yet taken wings,
And many martyrs still await their death
Despite the fact Hussein is out of breath.
Beloved, I eat the book to taste the sweet
And find the bitter waiting at my feet.

AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

To purchase the books, please go to:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/thomas-mcelwain/the-beloved-and-i-genesis-to-maccabees/paperback/product-20136835.html

http://www.lulu.com/shop/thomas-mcelwain/the-beloved-and-i-job-to-revelation/paperback/product-20050862.html