Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold:—
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the Presence in the room he said
"What writest thou?"—The vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord,
Answered "The names of those who love the Lord."
"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerly still, and said "I pray thee, then,
Write me as one that loves his fellow men."
The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.
James Henry Leigh Hunt
Photo by Alistair.
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold:—
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the Presence in the room he said
"What writest thou?"—The vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord,
Answered "The names of those who love the Lord."
"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerly still, and said "I pray thee, then,
Write me as one that loves his fellow men."
The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.
James Henry Leigh Hunt
Photo by Alistair.
8 comments:
Hey, Alistair! If you;re feeling better fingers crossed), may I have my free hug now, please? Indigo
Lovely! Here's a virtual hug for you and another for your lady!
I learned this one in school and enjoyed it.
Just goes to prove that even Arabs had complete nutters as well.
After the chaos caused by the Allah film this week this felt right.
Indigo - Consider it done. {The chap in the photo - from the festival - was quite busy. Well he was in EDinburgh, Anything for nowt us Scots!}
Paula - Thanks and right back at ya!
TSB - I didn't think you'd go for this at all. As often happens - you surprise me!
What's with the new name and profile?
Nice to see you and Lady G.
What new name TSB?
I linked the blog to google+ and G has relented somwhat on the anonimity stakes.
Nothing other than that. What are you seeing at your end?
You now appear as Alistair Robertson, and there's a pic of you and Lady G in your profile.
Ah - That's fine.
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