LEIGH HUNT

59 <? Abou Ben Adhem

A SOU 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 wntest thou ? J The vision rais'd 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 thcc, 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 bhow'd the names whom love of God had blest, And lo' Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.

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��599 The Fish, the Man, and the Sprit

TO A FISH

rOU strange, astonished-looking, angle-faced, Dreary-mouthed, gaping wretches of the sea, Gulping salt-water everlastingly, Cold-blooded, though with red your blood be graced, And mute, though dwelkrs. in the roaring wabtc, And you, all shapes beside, that fishy be, Some round, some flat, some long, all devilry, Legless, unloving, infamously chaste:

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