There are some things more beautiful than flowers, much as I can't believe I'm saying this. Poems, of course, and vistas of the world, but today I received a photograph of someone I love, and I share it with you here.

This is Tahirih. For those who do not know, she is named for one of the foremost heroines of the Baha'i Faith. The original Tahirih was a Persian poetess who accepted the teachings of the Bab, based on a verse from a dream, and because of her audacity and courage, was strangled by the authorities and thrown down a well, where her body was covered with stones. The full story is incandescent, particularly as she was trying, in 19th Century Persia, to proclaim the inevitability of the emancipation of women. You will encounter, in the world, many Baha'i young women named in her honour and memory, and this is a picture of one of them.

This beautiful Tahirih was, for a time, my student at Maxwell School, and at that time became a good friend. I had the joy of visiting her and her parents in their home in Arizona some years ago. Since then, she has been a faithful correspondent and has shared her journey: an undergraduate degree in her native Arizona, then a Master's degree from the London School of Economics, and always, her passion has been and continues to be for the oppressed of the world. Currently she is working on an organic farm on the border of Arizona and Mexico, and in the fall, will pursue a Ph.D. She jokingly tells me she has become "nerdy". She has always been a great reader...and I sent her One Hundred Years of Solitude when she was in China for a year.

This photo is of Tahirih in Guatemala. For some of her story, as told in her own words, look for my forthcoming book, A Warm Place in My Heart: Young Voices on Faith, George Ronald, Publishers (2007). She is there, sharing her life and her work, her passion and her love, with the world. Her pure love for the world shines through. I love her dearly.