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Abou Ben Adhem by James Henry Leigh Hunt   
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James Henry Leigh Hunt (1784 - 1859 / London / England)
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Hunt's father was an American clergyman who came to settle in Southgate, Middlesex. Leigh attended Christ's Hospital school in London, and published h .. more >>
25 poems of James Henry Leigh Hunt
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Abou Ben Adhem

  Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, with .........
........................
........................
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James Henry Leigh Hunt


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  Frank Hughes  (2/27/2009 6:26:00 PM)

My father's favorite
  Pat Keller Iii  (12/2/2008 3:40:00 PM)

Got up this morning and remembered bits of this poem that I had memorized and recited in junior high school in 1967. What was so special about this poem was that fact that I had gone to bed the night before not remembering that I was to memorize and recite a poem that morning in English class. I selected this poem and memorized it during breakfast.... whew will never forget this poem.
  Flora O'barr  (11/19/2008 3:09:00 PM)

My grandmother loved poetry and she memorized those that particularly pleased her. She was 104 when she passed away in 1983. My sister and I vividly remember her repeating this poem. We learned Abou Ben Adhem in Junior high school and since it was already a favorite of hours, remembered most of the words-but not all. My sister is 82 and I have just celebrated my 75 birthday. Both of us have grandchildren, who have never been blessed with Leigh Hunt's poetry. Til Now. Thanks for the memory.
  Michelle Charlton  (9/13/2008 10:24:00 AM)

My mum who is 81 came to visit today. I was telling her about my son having to ask an older person what they were taught when they were at school in RE for his homework and my mother recited this poem. She said that she remembered this because her teacher would not let the pupils leave the classroom until they could recite this poem word for word. To this day she can remember it. It brings her fond memories of her teacher Miss. Gillespie who she says was a wonderful person. I was astonished to log on the computer and see so many comments from people of my mother's age about this poem. I am going to print the comments and let her see them. I am sure they will be of great interest to her.
  Mike Fine  (6/9/2008 5:25:00 PM)

Read this poem 63 years ago and never forgot it. Brings tears to my eyes just looking at it.And I am not a religious person, Just feel that it was written about me...
  Purdy Reese  (4/12/2008 5:01:00 PM)

I haven't heard that poem recited in over 50 years. I always thought of that poem as the description of the golden rule; that is, ..To love your neighbor as yourself, and to love God above all others.
  John Hayes  (2/24/2008 5:33:00 PM)

I learned this poem when I was a wee boy at my junior school in St. Helens Lancashire..........over 40 years ago. it has stayed in the recess of my memory untill I thought about it today abou I believe means 'farther of ' and adam is the name God gave to his creation man and woman jointly, genesis 1 he called them Adam and incidently they were made in the image of God i.e God is man and woman jointly not a man nor a woman but eqally both..........and of course adams tribe is manwomankind the...deep dream of peace is death never intended by God we were created to fill an ever increasing and growing universe the bible says so and if you want my complete thoughts on this you will need to e mail me i will show you from the bible how Gods first and delayed plan spells it out the universe will be filled with his glory
  Emma Corwin  (1/23/2008 10:34:00 PM)

A charming tale and a lesson never out of style.
  Bob Adams  (1/14/2008 10:12:00 AM)

Great to finally locate this poem. It was my Father's favorite when he was at school in the 1920's, so much so that he was known as Abou by everyone who knew him, until his death. As our surname is Adams it is totally appropriate, and his tribe has increased I can assure you all! Many Thanks
  Nan Collie  (9/17/2007 3:52:00 PM)

Delighted to find the full text of this poem, whose first line simply 'popped' into my
mind and speech when speaking on the phone to my 93 year old Aunt, who
lives in Scotland. As she was speaking about her 8 greatgrandchildren, I
just said: 'Like Abu Ben Adhem, may his tribe increase, ......you're like Abu
Ben Adhem! '. And, much to my delight, she recited back to me the second line
of the poem, 'Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace.' I mentioned to her
that I had learned it long ago (I am 63) but, couldn't remember whether it was
American (which I am) or British. And then our conversation moved on to other topics, but, afterward, I wanted to find out the whole poem, and came upon it on this most helpful website. Here, and on other sites, I see it is British in origin, but,
was often memorized by children in the 40's and 50's. So, it could have been from
my Scottish parents, or, at school. At any rate, I am quite happy to have found it on this site, and went ahead and copied down the full poem, whose general narrative I did have in mind, and will seek to commit it to memory once again; it
is a picturesque reminder of one of life's most important truths and aims.
 

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