The next project we decided to undertake as a translation team working with Persian and Arabic poetry was a collection of verse by some of those Bahá’ís who were noted poets, as well as those who, in times of difficulty, even torture, penned verses as a last expression of their dedication to their beliefs before they were put to death for being Bahá’ís.
Reunion with the Beloved is divided into two parts. The first title “Kings among Kings” is a collection of poems by those who were martyred—or else by those who commemorated the martyrs—during the so-called Heroic Age of the Bahá’í Faith (1844-1921). The second “O You Who Claim to Believe” is a collection of poems by those who were martyred primarily as a result of the persecution of the Bahá’ís after the 1979 Iranian revolution, or else those Bahá’ís who commemorate those same heroic souls.
As with the book on Ṭáhirih, we included the original verse in Persian and Arabic. We took the title “Reunion with the Beloved” from the wonderfully touching final poem by former Universal House of Justice member Hushmand Fatheazam, whose encouragement was extremely appreciated. Published by Juxta Publishing, this work appeared in 2004 with illustrations once again by my daughter, Jill Hatcher Campisciano.