Abdul Abulbul Amir
Lee Hart
Now tales have been told of pirates of old
But the name that fills me with fear
Is not Captain Kidd, or the deeds that he did
But Abdul Abulbul Amir.
He ignored every law, every property right
What he wanted, was his! Bring it here!
Or you’ll rue the day that you got in the way
Of Abdul Abulbul Amir.
Enraged, he would fight with a man twice his height
He’d attack, and they’d cower in fear
No rogue in the land would dare lay a hand
On Abdul Abulbul Amir.
He’d dine on a bug, a rock, or a slug
His stomach was iron, I hear
Six bottles a day could not make him sway
This Abdul Abulbul Amir.
Brave men were astounded; they saw him surrounded
By lions and tigers and bear
For he’d strangle ‘em tight, and just sleep through the night
Did Abdul Abulbul Amir.
He’d grab and he’d kiss each unfortunate miss
Who chanced to come anywhere near
Yet later they’d say it was their lucky day
Meeting Abdul Abulbul Amir.
Finally surrounded; convicted; impounded
Yet he showed no remorse and no fear
And repeated his crime, the judge watching this time
Did Abdul Abulbul Amir.
They threw him in jail, but he cursed such a wail
Grown men had to plug up their ear
And women did shout, “I give up; let him out!”
Free Abdul Abulbul Amir.
But this I can tell; though a toddler is hell
He was such a cute baby last year
If only we knew what he’d be like at two
This Abdul Abulbul Amir!
This was written about my son David when he had just turned two. He was such a delightful baby, and then turned into this miniature tyrant. Actually, he was pretty good for a two-year old; I just didn’t have enough experience with children to know that.
This poem also illustrates a problem I have. An episode of “Star Trek – The Next Generation” had Data (or was it his brother Lores?) reciting a few lines of a poem about “Abdul Abulbul Amir”. It rattled around in my head until this came out. Much later, I discovered that the original poem was “Abdulla Bulbul Ameer”, written by Percy French in 1877. Here’s a link to it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Abulbul_Amir
