“I am waiting. I am patiently waiting!”

April 2, 1914 
Holy Land

Friends, the time is coming when I shall be no longer with you. I have done all that could be done. I have served the Cause of Baha’u’llah to the utmost of my ability. I have labored night and day all the years of my life.

O how I long to see the believers shouldering the responsibilities of the Cause! This is the time of the proclamation of the Kingdom of Abha! This is the hour of Union and Accord! This is the day of the spiritual harmony of the friends of God! All the resources of my physical strength are exhausted and the spirit of my life is the news of the Unity of the people of Baha. I am straining my ears toward the East and toward the West, toward the North and toward the South, perchance I might hear the songs of love and good fellowship raised from the meetings of the believers. My days are numbered, and save this there is no joy left for me.

O how I yearn to see the friends united like unto a strand of shining pearls like the brilliant Pleiades, like the rays of the sun and the gazelles of one meadow! The nightingale of significance is singing for them; will they not listen? The bird of paradise is warbling; will they not heed? The Angel of the Kingdom of Abha is calling to them; will they not hearken? The Messenger of the Covenant is pleading; will they not obey?

Ah me! I am waiting, waiting to hear the glad news that the believers are the embodiment of sincerity and loyally, that they are the incarnation of love and amity and the visible symbols of unity and concord! Will they not rejoice my heart? Will they not satisfy my cravings? Will they not comply with my request? Will they not fulfill my anticipations? Will they not answer my tall?

I am waiting. I am patiently waiting!

- ‘Abdu’l-Bha (‘Diary of Ahmad Sohrab’; Star of the West, vol. 5, no. 7, July 13, 1914)