Abou Ben Adhem by Leigh Hunt - The Best Words in the Best Order - #Blogchatter A2Z Challenge - Day 1

Abou Ben Adhem

BY LEIGH HUNT

                                                  Pinterest

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 blest,

And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.

                                                    SoundCloud.com

    ‘Abou Ben Adhem’ is a parable in verse, a poem with a heart. It talks about an event in the life of the Sufi saint Ibrahim bin Adham who believed in the goodness of God implicitly.

    One night, Ben Adhem awoke from ‘a deep dream of peace’ to see an Angel writing in a book of gold. The Angel was recording the names of those who loved the Lord. To Abou’s disappointment, his name was not one of them.  

    A trifle disappointed, Abou stayed cheerful and requested the Angel to put down his name as one ‘that loved his fellow men’. The Angel finished writing and disappeared.

    The next night, Abou once again beheld the Angel who reappeared with ‘a great wakening light.’ As Abou looked on, the Angel revealed the names of those blessed by the Lord.

    ‘And lo! Ben Adhem’s name led all the rest.’

   What a beautiful message the poem conveys! Its central idea shines out as clearly as the Angel’s light in the dim room. When you love your fellow men, you become worthy of being loved by God. The poem embodies the idea ‘Love thy neighbour as thyself.’ If only the whole world could follow this tenet, what a peaceful place it would turn into!

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The Poet: Leigh Hunt (1784 – 1859)

James Henry Leigh Hunt, born in 1784, played a significant role in the Romantic Movement in England. He was a prolific poet, essayist and journalist. His poems were lyrical and vividly descriptive and imbued with atmosphere and mood. A literary critic with a discerning eye, he had the distinction of introducing the great Romantic poets like John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, as well as Alfred Tennyson and Robert Browning to the public. Even writers like Charles Lamb, Charles Dickens and William Hazlitt blossomed under his patronage.

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This post is a part of #BlogchatterA2ZChallenge2021

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