of Thy manifold bounties and gifts. Give them, then, to
drink, from the hands of Thy loving-kindness, of the cups of Thy
measureless mercy. Cause them, moreover, O my Best-Beloved, to abide
within the precincts of Thy court and around Thy most effulgent
Tabernacle. Powerful art Thou to do what pleaseth Thee.

And now I implore Thee, by the eternity of Thy Self, to enable me to be
patient in these tribulations which have caused the Concourse on high to
wail and the denizens of the everlasting Paradise to weep, and through
which all faces have been covered with the tawny dust provoked by the
anguish that hath seized such of Thy servants as have turned towards Thy
Name, the Most Exalted, the Most High. No God is there but Thee, the
Almighty, the Inaccessible, the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Compassionate.

All Thy servants, O my God, are occupied with their own selves, so great
have been the troubles which, as decreed by Thee, have encompassed them on
every side. My tongue, however, is busied in extolling Thy chosen ones,
and my heart in remembering them that are dear to Thee and are wholly
subject to Thy will.

Look not on my state, O my God, nor my failure to serve Thee, nay rather
regard the oceans of Thy mercy and favors, and the things that beseem Thy
glory and Thy forgiveness and befit Thy loving-kindness and bounties. Thou
art, verily, the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Generous.

CI: "PRAISE BE TO THEE, O LORD MY GOD! THOU BEHOLDEST..."

Praise be to Thee, O Lord my God! Thou beholdest what the tongue of no one
except Thee can utter, and bearest witness unto things which no mouth can
recount. The floods of afflictions are let loose, and the winds of Thy
judgment have blown, and from the clouds rain down the darts of tests, and
the heavens of Thy decree pour forth the arrows of trial.

Thou seest, O my Lord, how Thy servants, who have believed on Thee and
acknowledged Thy signs, have fallen into the clutches of Thine enemies,
how the doors of ease and comfort have been shut against them, how they
languish in the Fortress wherein neither pleasantness nor hope can be
found. They have suffered in Thy path what no man before them hath
suffered. To this bear witness they who abide around Thy throne, and the
dwellers of the earth, and the Concourse on high.

These, O my God, are Thy servants who, for love of Thy beauty, have
forsaken their homes, and been so stirred up by the gentle winds of their
desire for Thee t