Sunday, September 24, 2006

Abou Ben Adhem

I was flipping through my book of poems when I chanced upon a poem I had read during my school days - its relevance to the present world scenario can hardly be ignored.

Without further ado, James Leigh Hunt's "Abou Ben Adhem"

Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a 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 prescence in the room he said,
'What writest thou' - the vision rais'd its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord,
Answer'd, '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 cheerily still; and said, 'I pray thee, then,
Write me as one that loves his fellow men.'
The angel wrote, and vanish'd. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And show'd the names whom love of God had blest,
And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dilipa..

The rise of the Individual and the Conscientious are here..

Ask Sharat if he has any theories/relationships about the power of Belief.. About how to Make your Plans/Dreams come true?.

The Path of Toil is not for the Weak Hearted and those who seek glorey better be prepared for a Honest Introspection.

EmperorFrost said...

dear anonymous,
I must confess, most of your comment flew over the cuckoo's nest. Sure, I'll ask Sharataaaa if he as theories on belief and suchlike. I have no doubt he will and interesting ones at that, but I fail to see the connection to this rather mundane (in comparion) poem. Unless "Abou Ben Adhem" has some metaphysical interpretations I am not aware of. My recent dabblings in existentialism have left me a little insensitive to metaphysics.

and whats with the glory seeking introspection? Anonymous, I am eagerly awaiting some sort of an explanation.

EmperorFrost said...

anonymous, I have replied to your comment on the "Word Play" post. Do check it out.

Tayzwi: I still owe you a reply on the existentialism post. Am getting to it :-). watch out for part 2.

Anonymous said...

I meant that true Belief alone and devotion dioes not get you "Everywhere". You need to plan and execute on that plan.

I read "Abou Ben Adhem" - ,in 9th i guess,and just thought that it was about Devotion and not about gratification.


I wish to reveal myself but you are the person out of Reach here..

EmperorFrost said...

well thats a side to it (the poem, that is). I posted it for I saw this message, "service to man is service to God". Of course, if you are from ISCKON, you might want to reverse that to "Service to God is service to man" and if you are an athiest, oh well forget the whole thing :-)

I am also confused and dazed ;-) do reveal yourself (please, no nude photos)

Anonymous said...

You do know me and I remember the Dilipa from the BMS. Guess ?.

I'm not from ISKCON, but l;ive somewhere there are no religious places(Salt Lake .. Kolkata!).
Forget Nude, i avoid fetting photographed.