# Abbottabad Poem **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 4, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbottabad-poem/580656 "2011-05-04T03:33:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbottabad-poem/580656/1 "2011-05-04T03:33:33Z")
> [@](#): > > I remember the day when I first came here > And smelt the sweet Abbottabad air > > The trees and ground covered with snow > Gave us indeed a brilliant show > > To me the place seemed like a dream > And far ran a lonesome stream > > The wind hissed as if welcoming us > The pine swayed creating a lot of fuss > > And the tiny cuckoo sang it away > A song very melodious and gay > > I adored the place from the first sight > And was happy that my coming here was right > > And eight good years here passed very soon > And we leave you perhaps on a sunny noon > > Oh Abbottabad we are leaving you now > To your natural beauty do I bow > > Perhaps your winds sound will never reach my ear > My gift for you is a few sad tears > > I bid you farewell with a heavy heart > Never from my mind will your memories thwart A rather appropriate poem on this occasion. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbottabad-poem/580656/2 "2011-05-04T03:35:35Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > A rather appropriate poem on this occasion. Attribution? ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbottabad-poem/580656/3 "2011-05-04T03:42:01Z")
“Tho’ I’ve belted you and flayed you, By the livin’ Gawd that made you, You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din!” ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbottabad-poem/580656/4 "2011-05-04T03:44:44Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Attribution? Sorry, Major James Abott: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbottabad\_%28poem%29](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbottabad_%28poem%29) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbottabad-poem/580656/5 "2011-05-04T04:01:15Z")
Clearly a poem written by someone who doesn’t write a lot of poems. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbottabad-poem/580656/6 "2011-05-04T05:33:49Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Clearly a poem written by someone who doesn’t write a lot of poems. Or anyway, shouldn’t… ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbottabad-poem/580656/7 "2011-05-04T05:46:49Z")
Dear God, that’s almost MacGonagall bad. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbottabad-poem/580656/8 "2011-05-04T05:58:47Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Clearly a poem written by someone who doesn’t write a lot of poems. > [@Sam\_A.Robrin](#): > > Or anyway, shouldn’t… > [@Scissorjack](#): > > Dear God, that’s almost MacGonagall bad. You do know that it was written by the guy that _founded_ the city, right? ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbottabad-poem/580656/9 "2011-05-04T06:15:36Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > You do know that it was written by the guy that _founded_ the city, right? Well, Shakespeare, New Mexico is a ghost town in the middle of nowhere. So what does that tell you? ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbottabad-poem/580656/10 "2011-05-04T06:36:17Z")
> [@panamajack](#): > > Well, Shakespeare, New Mexico is a ghost town in the middle of nowhere. So what does that tell you? Ummmmm… what? I’m going to go with “not much”. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbottabad-poem/580656/11 "2011-05-04T06:39:48Z")
By the way, I’m not defending the poem’s artistic value. I just think it’s historic value is somewhat interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbottabad-poem/580656/12 "2011-05-04T06:48:42Z")
Cecil Rhodes was the original Rhodes scholar, and he founded . . . um . . . i think it was Cecilvania? ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbottabad-poem/580656/13 "2011-05-04T06:58:19Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Cecil Rhodes was the original Rhodes scholar, and he founded . . . um . . . i think it was Cecilvania? No, he founded Rhodehouse with Sir Patrick Swayze. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbottabad-poem/580656/14 "2011-05-04T07:47:49Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > You do know that it was written by the guy that _founded_ the city, right? He should have stuck to Empire-building 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbottabad-poem/580656/15 "2011-05-04T15:27:29Z")
Well, at least it’s not as bad as this partial poem from an early Illinois newspaper. The third line is an approximation from memory, but the other three lines quote directly: Oh, do you remember the Black Hawk War When nature’s own was struggled for? Terror was spread the whole country through, Raised by oppression’s buggaboo… “Oppression’s Buggaboo” is a great band name, by the way. I almost wet my pants when I first heard it. My co-workers whom I insisted on reading it to were less amused. I’m sorry. I’ve hijacked this thread. Maybe we need a whole new thread for bad poetry. Heyyyy… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbottabad-poem/580656/16 "2011-05-04T15:42:59Z")
“‘Abbottobad’ sounds like the name most New Yorkers would have invented for the fictional place where they would love to kill bin Laden.” – John Stewart ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbottabad-poem/580656/17 "2011-05-04T15:46:45Z")
TERRORIST: “Khu is our cell leader, Khwatt is our bomb-maker, Aidunneh-noh is our pilot . . .” INTERROGATOR: “Goddammit, answer the question! Who is your cell leader?!” TERRORIST: “Right!” [waterboarding ensues] ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbottabad-poem/580656/18 "2011-05-04T15:50:34Z")
I read yesterday that Maj. Abbott wrote a poem about the city named for him. I was misinformed. EDIT: And the thread title should read “Abbott, a bad poem.” ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbottabad-poem/580656/19 "2011-05-04T15:56:13Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Sorry, Major James Abott: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbottabad\_%28poem%29](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbottabad_%28poem%29) [Costello] Heyyy Abbott… I’ve been a baaad boy.[/Costello] ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbottabad-poem/580656/20 "2011-05-06T04:32:01Z")
It could have been much _much_ [worse](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_the_Eagle_Soar).